Janet MacFall, director of the Elon Center for Environmental Studies, presented an invited paper March 3 at the NC Geographical Information Systems conference in Winston-Salem. Her paper is titled, “Student assessment of the Haw River corridor using GIS.”
Her talk focused on past Environmental Studies senior seminar projects, where students created a design for a riverfront park for the town of Swepsonville, NC. This work was used as the foundation for a final plan developed by a planner with the National Park Service, which is now being implemented by the town.
Students also worked with the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments to create a river protection plan for three miles of the Haw River as it passes through Burlington. Their work was the basis for a larger study by the Council of Governments, with recommendations from the plan now being implemented by local governments and non-profit groups.
Both projects used GIS to analyze assessment information and create final recommendations and reports which were distributed to other project stakeholders.
The GIS conference is held every other year and is the largest state GIS conference in the nation. More than 1,000 people attended this year’s conference.