INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD COME TO POLIS CENTER AT IUPUI TO LEARN ABOUT GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY

INDIANAPOLIS - Twenty-one international arts, culture and humanities experts who are developing a web-based, interactive world atlas are attending a specialization training session at The Polis Center at IUPUI.

The week-long Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (ECAI) Institute is being held at University Library, 755 W. University St.; and The Polis Center, 1200 Waterway Blvd, Suite 100.

Educational and technology experts from the United States, Japan, England, China, Taiwan, Shanghai, and the Republic of Georgia are at IUPUI to learn about the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) technology. These scholars are members of ECAI, an international organization formed by leading universities to create a virtual worldwide cultural atlas.

GIS is a specialized software application used for mapping and analyzing objects and events. In its simplest form, a GIS system links electronic maps to databases, making the data more accessible and visible, and thereby facilitates intuitive analysis of the information.

When completed the ECAI-created atlas will provide teachers, students, travelers, and arts and humanities enthusiasts an interactive web-based resource containing curriculum guides, glossaries, video and audio files and interactive maps. The atlas will serve as a source for illustrating concepts that were previously difficult or impossible to visualize.

Businesses, educators, government organizations and community groups all use GIS technology for a wide range of projects involving environmental protection, health care, land use, conservation, business efficiency, education, and social inequities.

Thematic and regional teams of ECAI specialists are identifying suitable data sets and facilitating the incorporation of that data into the virtual atlas. The Polis Center is the leader of the North American Atlas team and an acknowledged leader in the application of web-based GIS.

One of the challenges faced by the ECAI project is the lack of GIS technical and managerial expertise among all but a select few members. The Polis Center seminar is designed to address that issue.

"Since 1989, government, not-for-profit, faith-based institutions, and health and human service organizations have come to rely on The Polis Center to help address the many challenges and opportunities confronting community analysis development," said David Bodenhamer, executive director of The Polis Center.

"Since then, The Polis Center has evolved into a leader in the development and use of advanced information and web-based media technologies, especially GIS. Organizations that partner with The Polis Center today find that they are better able to access and understand complex data. We are pleased that this international collaboration has recognized our expertise and asked us to provide leadership in this creative use of GIS," Bodenhamer said.

This week's seminar includes a session on how to download datasets from the Electronic Atlas of Central Indiana (EACI), which includes census, educational and environmental data.

ECAI members expected to attend the GIS training seminar include representatives from the Chinese University of Hong Kong; The Newberry Library of Chicago; the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan; The Peking University Library in Bejing, China; the National Place Museum of Taipei, Taiwan; the Georgia Academy of Sciences of Tblisi, Georgia; and the British Library of London; and others.

Note to editors/reporters: For interviews with seminar instructors and participants, please call Diane Brown at (317) 274-7711.

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