This year marks the 25th anniversary of GIS Day global celebrations.
And the theme — Mapping Minds, Shaping the World: 25 Years of GIS Excellence — reflects the profound impact of Geographic Information System (GIS) on how we perceive, navigate, and shape our planet.
GIS Day — November 20, 2024 — is a day dedicated to showing, teaching, and inspiring others. In a few simple steps below, join a GIS Day event or register your own. Plus find resources and swag for the big day.
This is a day which is about celebrating the good work of all GIS professionals, teaching others to collaborate.
Enjoy the GIS Day 2024 message from Jack Dangermond, Esri president and co-founder, and consider the positive impact of your GIS Day activities.
Esri has supported GIS Day since its inception in 1999, and encourages participation by students, educators, and GIS professionals.
Jack Dangermond surrounded by a few dozen students during the first GIS Day at Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
The first GIS Day celebration.
On November 18, 1999, Jack Dangermond, Dr. Roger Tomlinson, and a few dozen students celebrated the first GIS Day at Murch Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
Jack Dangermond credits Ralph Nader as the person who inspired GIS Day. Nader imagined GIS Day as an inclusive, grassroots effort to educate youth and adults alike about the uses and benefits of GIS.
Get inspired by GIS professionals around the world—from cartographers and data scientists to writers and designers.
The Passion Behind Esri
Explore GIS Day 2024 events.
Use this map to find a GIS Day event near you. Click any location to learn more about the event. Please, confirm all dates and times with the event host.
Click the expand button to view in full screen.
Register your event.
Each of us has the power to inspire and change the world through GIS. Join the movement on GIS Day!
From open houses to demos, over 2,000 people worldwide hosted GIS Day events last year.
GIS Day is November 20 this year, but you can host an event any time. Promote your event and reach mappers worldwide through our GIS Day 2024 map.
Complete the survey to register your event now. And put your dot on the map.
GIS Day and Geography Week overlap each year in a global celebration of place and people. Brush up on the basics.
Treasure Hunt: Celebrating 25 Years of GIS Day
Read a question and find the answer (a location) on the map. Will you find all twelve? Start the quiz.
Misconceptions
Discover some common geographic mental misplacements. Explore the story.
The National Park Bird's-Eye Quiz
Guess the location of stunning U.S. National Park Service landmarks. Read the story.
Congratulations! You know your geography. Keep scrolling for more ways to apply that knowledge.
Explore the Living Atlas.
The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is the foremost collection of authoritative, ready-to-use global geographic information ever assembled from Esri and the GIS user community.
And anyone can explore the Living Atlas! Explore a 3D scene of trees around Washington, D.C. (left), or search a global earthquake map (below).
With the Living Atlas, you'll discover people and places around the world as well as the natural and man-made influences that impact them. Always changing and evolving like our world does, the Living Atlas contains information that educates and informs.
Inspire and communicate with place-based storytelling.
ArcGIS StoryMaps combines rich text, maps, and media to create a compelling and interactive narrative that's easy to publish and share. And the flexible, easy-to-use builder makes storytelling a snap for beginners and seasoned storytellers alike. Explore the stories below for inspiration.
An Alexander von Humboldt landscape painting displayed in the Smithsonian American Museum of Art
Alexander von Humboldt and the U.S.
Take a tour through the Smithsonian American Art Museum's virtual exhibit (left). Explore the story.
A blue Spilhaus map of the ocean floor
Why we map the ocean floor
Discover new technologies that are shining a light on the long-enduring mysteries of the seabed. Explore the story.
A hand-drawn image of a dinosaur skeleton
Digging up dinosaurs
Get a refresher on all things dinosaurs and unearth some fascinating new dino facts in this prehistoric story. Explore the story.
Take a field trip with National Geographic Explorers.
Discover the power of geography in this series of video shorts by National Geographic and Esri, featuring National Geographic Explorers who are using GIS to map a better future.
Animated Happy GIS Day in white with a lime green background
Snap photos during your event. Take a video of your GIS Day cake experiments. However you celebrate, share widely with the thousands of GIS Day participants around the world.
