The Colorado Health Institute (CHI) will be conducting geographic information systems (GIS) technical workshops in communities around Colorado in 2009. Health professionals, grant writers, policymakers and others interested in visually displaying data about their communities are invited  to register for a one-day hands-on session that will take attendees through the basics of GIS to create  layered maps of health and population data from CHI’s growing inventory of community- level indicators.

The fundamentals of GIS, including the spatial analysis of health and demographic data, will be presented using a hands-on approach with the most current ESRI software, ArcGIS 9.3. Participants will learn how to access, analyze and create the geographic display of data related to their community and create professional quality map products. This is a beginner workshop introducing participants to the basics of GIS; no pre-existing knowledge of GIS is needed. A working understanding of Microsoft Windows is desirable.

All participants will receive:

• A comprehensive workbook, which includes take-home practice exercises that will further reinforce the material learned during the workshop;
• A CD containing relevant geographic data for their area and the state;
• A 60-day free trial CD of ArcGIS (ArcView 9.3) software; 
• Limited GIS support from CHI staff; and,
• An inventory of GIS support and training resources such as forums, listservs, local GIS groups and free data resources available on the Web.

Workshop attendees are encouraged to bring laptops, so data and a free trial version of ArcMap can be loaded to their computers.

CHI will individually design each workshop to be relevant to the specific workshop location. For example, attendees at the Denver workshop will focus on mapping the Denver Metro Area. 

At the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with professional quality maps they have produced.