GIS enthusiasts across the University of Delaware community celebrated on Nov. 19, to see the university and the Delaware Geographic Data Committee receive an award from the Delaware General Assembly, recognizing their commitment to growing and supporting the study and usage of GIS.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS), is a computer-based technology that allows you to store, measure, edit and map data inputs. Even without us realizing it, GIS is used in our everyday lives. Whether asking a maps app for the fastest route to work or looking at live weather updates, that is GIS being used.

The tribute took place at UD’s annual GIS Day celebration and was commemorated by State Rep. Cyndie Romer. During the event, Romer presented with a certificate and spoke about the importance of GIS at the university.

“I think the university is doing some really important work in that space and we wanted to recognize all the effort that goes into it,” Romer said.

Romer explained that GIS studies at the university play a huge role in her work at the state level of government.

“Especially in Delaware, we really rely on a lot of our institutions of higher education to help us with data analysis,” Romer said.  “I know they are using GIS to get a lot of that information for us.”

Olena Smith, lead geospatial information consultant at the university, described receiving the award as “an absolute honor,” and said it was a “privilege” to have Romer attend the event.

Now heading into its 10th year at the university, GIS Day is an annual event featuring research presentations, product demos, career spotlights, and more as they relate to GIS. The Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the founding company of the celebration, said the day is “dedicated to showing, teaching and inspiring others through GIS.”

Through events like Coffee Hours and the annual Mapathon, Smith said this year’s recognition was a result of UD’s efforts to spread awareness of the importance of this technology. 

“What we are trying to do is foster this understanding,” Smith said. “We are trying to promote GIS learning and collaboration. We showcase what GIS can do, and people are inspired by it. That's our impact on the community.”

Presenters at the event had a chance to win awards for their work. This year's best poster award was given to Manan Sarupria, a graduate student pursuing a PhD in Geography and Spatial Sciences at the university.

Sarupria’s research used GIS to monitor the impacts of saltwater intrusion across the Delmarva region and his work was recently published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment. He explains that sea level rise, groundwater pumping, hurricanes and coastal storms have allowed ocean water to get further inland than before, resulting in the increased salinity of inland soil.

In this study, Sarupria has showcased that salt patches on farmlands in Delmarva have increased three-fold since 2017.  The increase in saltwater intrusion will negatively affect coastal ecosystems and severely degrade agricultural productivity.

“Most of the poultry in the East Coast is fed by the corn we are growing here,” Sarupria said. “Corn is highly sensitive to even trace amounts of salt in the soil. As soil salinity rises in agricultural farmlands, crop yields face a serious risk of decline.”

Sarupria’s research examines over 2,000 farms in the region and inspects them for saltwater intrusion. He explained that without GIS, this work would be impossible. Through GIS, he has been able to take publicly available satellite images and run them through machine-learning models that he has trained to identify areas with saltwater intrusion.

“When you are dealing with anything with pixels, you need GIS to handle that data,” Sarupria said. “You need GIS to convert that satellite image to something that is more informative. It’s the difference between just looking at a picture of a landscape versus transforming that picture into hotspots of where there is salinization, that's the power of GIS.”

Having identified the areas in Delmarva experiencing saltwater intrusion, Sarupria explained that his next step is to understand how different environmental factors like rainfall, evapotranspiration, storm surge, elevation, and multiple soil properties are contributing to salinization on farmlands.

One of the highlights of this year's event for Sarupria was a presentation by Eric Wagner. Wagner is an employee of ESRI and presents at the event every year, showcasing new technologies the company is producing and demonstrating how they work.

“He presents the products of ESRI, the power of them and how easily you can use them,” Sarupria said. “He executes things on the fly on the screen so that people can know you are just ten clicks away from something super cool.”

Having been a part of the very first GIS Day at the university, Smith hopes to host again next year with a larger room as this marked the first year since its inception that the event had to be capped due to attendance.

Her long-time involvement with the technology has allowed her to see the importance of the event and how it can spread the study of GIS.

“Sometimes people don't realize the power of GIS,” Smith said. “Us running these events will show them how they can release the power of GIS.”