CHEVY CHASE, Md. – Most people with smartphones know digital mapping has made huge strides in recent years, but have no idea how the technology works.
Some local teenagers do.
Geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) are integral in the design of digital mapping.
Young people in the sixth annual 4-H National Youth Science Day at the group’s Chevy Chase conference center took part in a hands-on experiment, called 4-H Maps & Apps.
And that could help them land a lucrative career.
“The field is growing at an exponential rate, says Jennifer Sirangelo, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the National 4-H Council.
“Jobs in the field are growing at 100-percent per year,” says Sirangelo.
Using sheets of clear plastic, markers and crayons, students learned how layers of information combine to produce a total picture.
“You can have a list of all the trees in a park, and all the physical structures, but putting it on top of each other is what we see today in Google and on our phones,” says Sirangelo.
Jennifer Sirangelo explains how digital interactive maps work: