White Mountains Community College Can Help You Find Your Way Around
This will help you answer the question, "Why is geographic information part of your everyday life and a huge career opportunity, now and more so in the future?" Do not get lost, learn to find your way!
Recently I read an article which reported that neurological researcher Dr. Veronique Bohbot of McGill University is concerned that over reliance on Global Positioning Systems will cause us to use the spatial capabilities of the hippocampus less, therefore causing it to atrophy, diminishing our ability to get around without a technological device telling us precisely where to go.
Sometimes it seems like many people are losing their spatial capabilities already. During the hiking season in the White Mountains, we hear stories almost daily of hikers lost on the mountains because they took their electronic devices with them and left their common sense at home. It's not so much that they had those devices with them, but that they misused them. A new tool is only as good as its user, as the popular saying about computer generated information tells us, "Garbage in, garbage out."
At White Mountains Community College, students in our Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program don't have to worry about their hippocampus shrinking. The program utilizes the Environmental Systems Research Institutes latest GIS software packages while giving students a solid grounding in cartography, remote sensing and digital image processing, database development, and survey methods. Students are taught to analyze spatial data, not just follow the directions of a computer-generated voice telling them to Turn right in half a mile.
The GIS program is just one of the areas of concentration for our Spatial Information Technology Program. Other degree concentration options offered are Environmental Science and Surveying Technology. Students can also earn a Professional Certificate in Surveying Technology and a Certificate in Geographic Information Systems.
For those worried about the size of their hippocampus, one of the GIS basic courses, Introduction to Cartography, is an excellent way to ward off any mental shrinkage. This course covers the history, theory, and practice of map making. In the course Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, students will learn basic aerial photo interpretation and photogrammetry techniques.
The program has practical applications beyond keeping the mind healthy and fit. The skills learned can be applied in many professional positions, from surveying to public safety and emergency management. Forest managers increasingly rely on the use of GIS to give their timber surveys greater detail. All of the above still know how to read maps, and use maps and other charts, because a dot on a blank piece of paper is meaningless without greater context.
White Mountains Community College is more than a dot on a piece of paper, too. Our Berlin campus, at 2020 Riverside Drive is bordered by the Androscoggin River. South of Berlin, our Conway Academic Center is at 53 Technology Lane, just a stone's throw from the Saco River. Going west, our Littleton Academic Center is at 646 Union Street, not far from the Ammonoosuc River. Our Woodsville Academic Center is at 9 High Street, in the Woodsville High School, which is close to the Connecticut River.
Now, wasn't it more interesting to read the above paragraph with the information about the rivers thrown in? No doubt you drew a mental map of our locations, exercising your hippocampus!
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