Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
2025 GIS Day & Geography Awareness Week
Exploring geography deepens our understanding of the planet. The Brown community is invited to celebrate GIS Day & Geography Awareness Week with special activities grounded in building our awareness of place.
2025 GIS Day & Geography Awareness Week
Exploring geography deepens our understanding of the planet. The Brown community is invited to celebrate GIS Day & Geography Awareness Week with special activities grounded in building our awareness of place.
Photo contest: November 1-13
Geography has long been devoted to describing and understanding the natural and urban landscapes, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. To celebrate the Geography Awareness Week with us, please submit a photo that you have taken that falls in one of the following categories:
Natural Landscapes and/or Geology
Urban Landscapes
People and/or Culture
Rules:
Photographer must be a Brown student. (You may be prompted to log into your Brown account to access the photo submission form.)
Only photos that have been personally taken by you can be accepted.
For photos in which recognizable individuals are featured, photographers must obtain permission from the individuals highlighted in the photograph to submit it to this contest.
Photos should be a minimum of 980x552 pixels.
Each person can enter only one photo per category.
Winners will be announced on November 19. There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place of each category. Good luck!
Schedule of events
Space is limited to 20 participants for certain events. Sign up through each event listing to reserve your spot!
This day-long, hands-on workshop provides a thorough introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) using the free and open source software QGIS.
Spatial AI: Innovations and Applications | Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the ways we visualize, analyze, and interact with spatial data, transforming geographic analysis, mapping, and decision-making. In this talk, you’ll explore how Generative AI at scale opens new frontiers in social science and enables novel approaches to universal questions such as human flourishing.
This short tour of the Sciences Library map collection showcases our 20th century topographic, geologic, street, and thematic maps from the US and around the world.
Help map disaster-affected areas and provide vital data for relief efforts.
Interested in where GIS skills can take you beyond the classroom? Join us for a panel featuring professionals who have built diverse careers in transportation, utilities, government, and environmental planning. Moderated by Garth Hoxsie Quinn, the panel will include brief introductions followed by an open Q&A, giving students the chance to learn firsthand how GIS expertise translates into meaningful career paths.
Learn how remote sensing data plays a crucial role in mapping, using electromagnetic spectrum, resolutions for detailed observations, and methods for classifying extracted data using GeoAI algorithms
Get ready to learn the basics of OSM data and sharpen your Python powers!
This short tour of the Sciences Library map collection showcase 20th century topographic, geologic, street, and thematic maps from the US and around the world.
AI Across the Curriculum, GeoAI Across the Globe: Building Programs & Advancing Land-Change Research
Kick off the final day of Geography Awareness week with a series of rapid-fire presentations showcasing how GIS is being applied across public and private sectors. In this fast-paced session, speakers will deliver concise overviews of their projects, giving the audience a broad look at the many ways spatial data and mapping inform real-world decisions.
Sanchez, Senior Project Manager and GIS Manager at BETA Group, Inc., will discuss "The Convergence of AI and GIS: A Framework for Data-Driven Asset Management."
Brown’s Geography Awareness Week is hosted by:
Organizing Partner: The Rhode Island Geographic Information System (RIGIS) - A consortium promoting the interests of Rhode Island’s geospatial community
Top banner image photo credit: Previous contest winner Kaiyuan Wang in the Urban Landscapes category. Sunset over the expanding suburb at Lianyungang city, urbanization slowly encroaching into farmland.