Newswise — Once upon a time, in order to trace the path of a meal from your table to the source, you may only have had to take a short jaunt to a nearby field. But in these days of modern transit, when the foods that people consume hail from various regions of the United States and even the globe, that path, many times, is much more complex; the more complex the path, the more complex the data are about that path. GIS, or "geographic information systems," technology provides a way to display such data visually.
In celebration of Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 16-20), Linda Zellmer, government information and data services librarian at Western Illinois University Libraries, has utilized GIS to prepare a website (available at faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html) that links to PDF versions of the maps that show where the foods consumed at the traditional Thanksgiving meal -- such as turkey, cranberries, squash and green beans -- originate. In addition, the website has a link to a comprehensive poster (also a PDF) that shows where all of the Thanksgiving foods are grown in the United States.
The poster, and other information and demonstrations about GIS, will be on display at Western Illinois University's GIS Day from 1-4 p.m. Nov. 18, in the Leslie F. Malpass Library Garden Lounge.
"GIS is a collection of computer software and data used to organize and view geographically referenced information -- it helps people collect and organize information about places, so that it can be easily displayed," Zellmer explained. "I used the data from the 1997, 2002 and 2007 Agricultural Censuses for this project."
Zellmer said she began working on the project several years ago, while she was working at Indiana University, and started it because she wanted a way to show how GIS can be utilized to display information.
"Thanksgiving was the following week, so I decided to develop maps showing where some typical Thanksgiving Day foods are grown," she said. "I have continued to update the maps since I made the first set, and I decided to recreate the maps and modify the poster, which was developed by a friend of mine from IU, and use them here at WIU," Zellmer said.
According to Zellmer, GIS is a service that University Libraries provides to people who use data and maps. She also noted that other entities on Western's campus also utilize GIS and offer GIS services.
"The geography department here also uses GIS, as does the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA), which is housed here at Western. For example, the IIRA has developed the Illinois Site Selection tool [available at illinoissiteselectiontool.org/siteselectiontool/] to help companies identify potential locations for businesses or industrial development," Zellmer added.
Educators in elementary, middle and high schools may also find Zellmer's work particularly beneficial for pre-Thanksgiving Day lessons.
"Teachers might be able to use the Thanksgiving maps to relate the food we eat to geography. They might also want to have the students examine the maps (and data) more closely to identify which states produce the most cranberries, turkeys and other foods. They could also dig a little deeper and look at weather, climate and growing conditions to try and determine why pecans only grow in southern states and cranberries only grow in a few states," she said.
Visit faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html to access Zellmer's maps and the comprehensive poster online.
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