Temple College Geographic Information Systems student Melanie Yarberry, under the direction of GIS instructor Joe Zebrowski, Director of Facilities, Construction/Facilities Planning Skeet Powell, and Campus Horticulturalist Reid Lewis, assisted the Landscape Committee by preparing a map of the campus. In addition to basic features such as buildings, roads, sidewalks, and parking lots, the map shows the location of plant beds, trees, and grassy areas. The map, and the accompanying database that identifies the types of plants and trees occurring on the campus, are the primary planning tools used by the committee in monitoring the location and status of Temple College's unique collection of Texas native and adapted plants. In its electronic form, committee members and the public will eventually be able to query the plant database based on a plant's name or other characteristics, such as size or shade tolerance, and see where the plant occurs on campus.

The Temple College Landscape Map is the first step toward developing a campus geographic information system (GIS) that can support tracking the location of utilities, inventory of equipment and resources, event planning, and campus planning. The GIS will also be a valuable teaching tool, helping to prepare students for careers in GIS, mapping, and community planning. Temple College offers an Associate of Applied Science and Level I certificate in GIS and in Computer Aided Design. Contact the Technology Department at 254-298-8316 for details.

Interested in doing a landscape project?