A familiar refrain is that the most important component of GIS is not hardware, software, data, or procedures, but rather, the people who make up the community. The importance of the community in the field of GIS seems to grow each year.

I remember poring through the World Book encyclopedia in my school library while growing up. Back then, some of us imagined a future where thousands of computerized encyclopedias could be at our fingertips, especially after seeing the Star Trek episode showing a future library filled with nothing but computer disks! I wonder, though, how many of us imagined that we would be able to socially network using computers? Today, Web 2.0 tools are making it easier for GIS users to share data and curricula, and now, allow for the creation of a knowledge base. A new resource, Wiki.GIS.com, allows GIS users in academia, government, industry, and nonprofit organizations to post information, and benefit from the knowledge available from others in the community.

Wiki.GIS.com can be useful for education in several ways, including:

• As a resource for students and professors in Geography and GIS to find key terms and learn about GIS concepts.


• By creating new pages and editing the content that already exists, wiki.GIS.com can serve as an evolving resource to meet the needs of the user community.


• Use the discussion pages to talk about ways to improve existing pages or to spark new ideas for new pages. Each wiki page has a discussion page that can be edited by clicking on the “discussion” tab located along the top.


• Images can be uploaded and added to wiki pages to add to existing information or to help illustrate a concept within a wiki page you are creating.


• Add terms to the GIS Glossary or expand existing terms.

Create an account and start using wiki.GIS.com to help you advance your knowledge or contribute and collaborate to help advance someone else’s knowledge of GIS!

-Collin W., wiki.GIS.com Administrator, ESRI Support Services, and Joseph Kerski, ESRI Education Manager.