Helen Hands

DPRK Project with iMMAP/WFP, 2012

The work has involved digitizing the road network and water features from topo maps.  It has given me a real appreciation for the work involved to produce the spatial datasets we routinely download and use. I have also benefited from seeing how this team effort is organized so that each member is interpreting and digitizing the top maps the same way.

I started using GIS 15 years ago to map wetland habitat.  At the time, I only thought of GIS as being useful for environmental projects.  Now I have first-hand experience using GIS for visualizing and querying U.S. Census and school district data needed to write grant proposals for a local public television station.  It’s amazing how ubiquitous GIS has become.