The publication suggests Digital Quest’s SPACESTARS as a commercially available solution for schools and colleges that prefer not to develop curricular materials on their own. Through the SPACESTARS curriculum students utilize a locally-customized GIS to learn detailed information about their local community and master the use software and tools standard in the geospatial industry. SPACESTARS is divided into three areas of need: 1.) general geospatial knowledge (GEODESY); 2.) adding geospatial skills to existing career paths (SPACE); and 3.) standardized, entry-level certification (STARS).
“The certification program (STARS) is the area of need that fits the Body of Knowledge,” said Eddie Hanebuth, President of Digital Quest. “The first three levels of the STARS curriculum cover a series of important and diverse topics including, geospatial problem solving, remote sensing, basics of map making, visualization methods, and ArcGIS extensions (including Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst, and 3D Analyst). The first three courses are formatted as a classroom-delivered program or as a self-study program. The forth and final course is a capstone project. The students complete a self-paced, campus-based GIS/RS project. At the end of the curriculum, an internet delivered exam is administered. The exam results, completed project, and a portfolio are submitted to a committee located at the Center of Geospatial Excellence at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center for certification approval.”
Published in 2006 by the American Association of Geographers, Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge addresses how higher education should prepare students for success in the variety of professions that rely upon geospatial technologies. Since 1998, scholars from many of the more than 80 institutions represented by the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) have contributed to the publication. It is expected that this book and its subsequent editions will become an important reference work and classroom resource for teachers, students, and GIS&T professionals alike. More information about this publication can be found at www.ucgis.com or www.aag.org/bok/.
“We are pleased to see the UCGIS recognize the niche that we have carved out in the geospatial training field,” said Susan Radke, President of the Berkley GeoResearch Group. “We have been working on the SPACESTARS series of courses since 1999 and have been successfully helping schools implement geospatial education programs since 1996.
Digital Quest, Inc. is a Mississippi-based development and training oriented company with a primary focus of enabling educational institutions to provide skill training in the new and ever-more vital field of Geospatial Technology. Digital Quest, an active member of the EIGS geospatial technology cluster, is headquartered in Ridgeland, Mississippi and operates the SPACESTARS Geospatial Training Laboratory at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. For more information about Digital Quest, visit www.digitalquest.com or contact Eddie Hanebuth at 1-877-573-6683, Email Contact.