Auburn Montgomery’s Geographic Information Systems program has received a generous grant from Google Inc. for software and support to develop a public access website similar to Google Earth. It is the first university project of its kind sponsored by Google.
Auburn Montgomery’s Geographic Information Systems program has received a generous grant from Google Inc. for software and support to develop a public access website similar to Google Earth. It is the first university project of its kind sponsored by Google.
Google is providing the technology and support to enable AUM’s GIS program to upload data to its server and pull in information from Google Earth to provide website visitors the ability to turn on and off information of interest.
Initially, AUM will use the technology and applications provided by Google to build a website mapping the historic remnants and modern location of the Old Federal Road – a project funded by the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service and the AUM School of Liberal Arts. The project is a collaborative effort by a team that includes scholars from AUM, Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, as well as educators, community members and local historians.
Originally designated as a postal route through the Native American frontier, the Federal Road stretched through Creek territory in lower Alabama. According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, it was a major thoroughfare for the western migration of settlers and slaves into the Old Southwest for the first three decades of the 19th century.
The Alabama Virtual Old Federal Road Project has mapped and surveyed the precise location of Old Federal Road in areas where visible traces of the historic highway remain. Due to modern roadways and development, the historic route remains unknown in many sections. The fieldwork for the project has taken place in Montgomery, Macon, Russell and Lowndes counties. Another team from the University of South Alabama has mapped the southern sector with funding from the Alabama Department of Transportation.
The Alabama Virtual Old Federal Road Initiative website, created by AUM, will launch early in the new year at http://oldfederalroad.aum.edu.
“This website is the first of its kind,” said Terry Winemiller, director of the AUM GIS program and associate professor of anthropology and geography. “Additional information will be added to this as it is provided by agencies and researchers around the state. We are also making it possible for users to provide input. It’s a work in progress, a living document that will continue to develop.”
AUM offers a certificate program and undergraduate and graduate concentrations in GIS – equipping students to use spatial theory, technology and data to unearth and explain relationships, patterns, entities and attributes related to geographic areas. Students in the program also study geography, learning to understand how the interaction between people and their environments impacts culture, economics and ideology.