Anybody got any insight on GIS studies at Iowa?

D

dagdaj

Well-Known Member
Because nobody cares.... I was at field level at the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Field the other day....

This is a really really long way of asking if any of you have any insight on GIS studies at Iowa, I'd loooove to hear them. Direct, indirect, circumstantial experience/exposure. Word of mouth. Rumor. Any insight, I'll take it.

Now commencing the really long, useless, unnecessary set of observations on OU's stadium, campus, and overall appeal.

Due to my kid's initial academic interests, OU was potentially a good fit so we took a visit. On the tour, they took us into the stadium and right up to the field (where the Oklahoma player smashed into the brick wall in the endzone and got a concussion....they've added pads).

Interesting. Stadium is like right in the heart of campus. Which would just be nuts on game day if you were a student. I mean, it'd be like if Kinnick was where the English/Philosophy building is. Absolutely ZERO reason to not go. I wonder if student attendance is part of the 20k plus extra it holds over Kinnick as OU is just slightly bigger enrollment than Iowa. Dunno. 3 full sections are student sections. They get discounted games if they buy the whole season, but they have to buy TX tickets separately. Presumably for a lot more. Stadium itself? Zero character. I mean, zero. Which, is fine...if you're like "OK, I just want a field and some stands". I'm not opposed to that. As for 'campustown? Not a lot of bars. Doesn't look like enough to support a game day, even just for students. But, I guess only freshmen live on campus and there must be pockets of other places where upperclassmen go and drink that we didn't see.

Stoops is still in all their marketing and "so, you're thinking about going to OU" videos.

They are spending a metric b*tt-ton on dorms. Almost admittedly to keep up with Texas/Alabama/etc. Totally doing away with any kind of communal living. 95% of the tour was dorms.

Didn't see the basketball venue, other than they do one game a year that is "students only" and is held in the building across from the football stadium that usually hosts wrestling/gymnastics/volleyball. Kinda cool idea. It's like just a big, nice, high school gym with configurable bleachers.

But, OMG. The dorm spending. And other spending there? Not one building looked old....even the old ones going back to near the founding in 1890. Not even "tired". Now, we didn't see inside everything. But, externally? Everything looked brand new. Even the old Carnegie library (it wasn't the library for very long).

Sort of astounding to me how Iowa is still more expensive. (OU plays fast and loose with 'tuition'....it's super low when you search "tuition"....because that doesn't catch the $10k in 'fees' they add). I guess it's oil money? We were closer to the source and paid $2.03/gallon in Norman.

I went from being milquetoast on OU to kinda liking it a lot.

Bottom line, my kid wasn't impressed. He's still set on Iowa. And despite the fact that GIS is under the meteorology department (which is spectacular at OU)....it's not making the GIS department shine above and beyond anyone else's. So, he's still jonesing to go to Iowa. Mizzou is basically throwing money at him and Iowa out of state is a hit.

Any insight on Iowa's GIS.
 
What TF are GIS studies?

I know I'm an idiot and probably in the minority, but it might help to tell people what GIS is. Or maybe it's an IYKYK thing...
 
Fryowa said:
What TF are GIS studies?

I know I'm an idiot and probably in the minority, but it might help to tell people what GIS is. Or maybe it's an IYKYK thing...
Click to expand...

We're well familiar with it here in The Lou. Bunch of people who work at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. There's a guard shack and those big steel pistons that go up and down in front of the parking entrance. You meet a lot of people who work there. When you ask them what they do, they....they don't tell you. Even if all they're doing is looking at forest coverage in eastern Europe, as opposed to something like monitoring the construction at known Iranian nuclear facilities.

Geospatial Information Systems
Maps on crack with lots of data.

They all use some specialized software using satellite data/maps to do everything from surveying/urban planning/deciding where pipes go and then creating drawings for the contractors, to plotting routes for freight/delivery, figuring out how best to lay out roads, subdivisions, buildings....quite a bit of stuff. Quite a bit of it used in agriculture too.

I'm only familiar with it because of the government facility here. But, that's attracted a lot of other private outfits to the area.. My kid has always loved maps and stuff. And playing that GeoGuesser thing on Google maps. So, I was like..."why not look into that"? He has for awhile now. He's even interning with fairly large municipality around here. Two projects. Updating city park maps for their website and helping fix the broken system that allowed you to click on a map and have it pop up with your ward #, alderperson, school and other relevant data. Kinda make work for a school intern program, but actual legit experience. The click-on thing is actually a big deal. I want the state to hire him to do the same thing for sales tax districts, but that's another thing altogether.
 
dagdaj said:
We're well familiar with it here in The Lou. Bunch of people who work at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. There's a guard shack and those big steel pistons that go up and down in front of the parking entrance. You meet a lot of people who work there. When you ask them what they do, they....they don't tell you. Even if all they're doing is looking at forest coverage in eastern Europe, as opposed to something like monitoring the construction at known Iranian nuclear facilities.

Geospatial Information Systems
Maps on crack with lots of data.

They all use some specialized software using satellite data/maps to do everything from surveying/urban planning/deciding where pipes go and then creating drawings for the contractors, to plotting routes for freight/delivery, figuring out how best to lay out roads, subdivisions, buildings....quite a bit of stuff. Quite a bit of it used in agriculture too.

I'm only familiar with it because of the government facility here. But, that's attracted a lot of other private outfits to the area.. My kid has always loved maps and stuff. And playing that GeoGuesser thing on Google maps. So, I was like..."why not look into that"? He has for awhile now. He's even interning with fairly large municipality around here. Two projects. Updating city park maps for their website and helping fix the broken system that allowed you to click on a map and have it pop up with your ward #, alderperson, school and other relevant data. Kinda make work for a school intern program, but actual legit experience. The click-on thing is actually a big deal. I want the state to hire him to do the same thing for sales tax districts, but that's another thing altogether.
Click to expand...
Gotcha. I had to use GIS maps when I applied for my privacy fence permit. And for fun I like to go on our county's GIS site and creep on farmer's land valuations and find out who owns how much ground.
 
Fryowa said:
Gotcha. I had to use GIS maps when I applied for my privacy fence permit. And for fun I like to go on our county's GIS site and creep on farmer's land valuations and find out who owns how much ground.
Click to expand...
Do China corporations actually own as much land as you hear about? Also, does Bill Gates also own a ton of land like you hear? Curious.
 
dagdaj said:
Because nobody cares.... I was at field level at the Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Field the other day....

This is a really really long way of asking if any of you have any insight on GIS studies at Iowa, I'd loooove to hear them. Direct, indirect, circumstantial experience/exposure. Word of mouth. Rumor. Any insight, I'll take it.

Now commencing the really long, useless, unnecessary set of observations on OU's stadium, campus, and overall appeal.

Due to my kid's initial academic interests, OU was potentially a good fit so we took a visit. On the tour, they took us into the stadium and right up to the field (where the Oklahoma player smashed into the brick wall in the endzone and got a concussion....they've added pads).

Interesting. Stadium is like right in the heart of campus. Which would just be nuts on game day if you were a student. I mean, it'd be like if Kinnick was where the English/Philosophy building is. Absolutely ZERO reason to not go. I wonder if student attendance is part of the 20k plus extra it holds over Kinnick as OU is just slightly bigger enrollment than Iowa. Dunno. 3 full sections are student sections. They get discounted games if they buy the whole season, but they have to buy TX tickets separately. Presumably for a lot more. Stadium itself? Zero character. I mean, zero. Which, is fine...if you're like "OK, I just want a field and some stands". I'm not opposed to that. As for 'campustown? Not a lot of bars. Doesn't look like enough to support a game day, even just for students. But, I guess only freshmen live on campus and there must be pockets of other places where upperclassmen go and drink that we didn't see.

Stoops is still in all their marketing and "so, you're thinking about going to OU" videos.

They are spending a metric b*tt-ton on dorms. Almost admittedly to keep up with Texas/Alabama/etc. Totally doing away with any kind of communal living. 95% of the tour was dorms.

Didn't see the basketball venue, other than they do one game a year that is "students only" and is held in the building across from the football stadium that usually hosts wrestling/gymnastics/volleyball. Kinda cool idea. It's like just a big, nice, high school gym with configurable bleachers.

But, OMG. The dorm spending. And other spending there? Not one building looked old....even the old ones going back to near the founding in 1890. Not even "tired". Now, we didn't see inside everything. But, externally? Everything looked brand new. Even the old Carnegie library (it wasn't the library for very long).

Sort of astounding to me how Iowa is still more expensive. (OU plays fast and loose with 'tuition'....it's super low when you search "tuition"....because that doesn't catch the $10k in 'fees' they add). I guess it's oil money? We were closer to the source and paid $2.03/gallon in Norman.

I went from being milquetoast on OU to kinda liking it a lot.

Bottom line, my kid wasn't impressed. He's still set on Iowa. And despite the fact that GIS is under the meteorology department (which is spectacular at OU)....it's not making the GIS department shine above and beyond anyone else's. So, he's still jonesing to go to Iowa. Mizzou is basically throwing money at him and Iowa out of state is a hit.

Any insight on Iowa's GIS.
Click to expand...
No insight, but I sure enjoyed your post. Thanks!
 
MelroseHawkins said:
Do China corporations actually own as much land as you hear about? Also, does Bill Gates also own a ton of land like you hear? Curious.
Click to expand...
Those Chinese owners generally create LLCs with what we'd call American-sounding names. And those LLCs are owned by other LLCs and so on and so on.
 
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