Joel Haugen got to know the NAU campus better than most parents—or new students—when he helped his son Andy move in two weeks ago.
Haugen plotted NAU buildings and facilities on a campus map using Global Positioning System coordinates.
“I use GPS devices frequently and find them very useful for finding locations that I am unfamiliar with,” Haugen wrote in an e-mail.
“Since I am in the process of assembling various GIS applications samples for a conference later in September, I thought that I might as well use the NAU campus for one sample,” he writes.
Haugen said the exercise took three or four hours to complete “with a couple of coffee breaks.”
Asked if the exercise would help orient his son to campus, Haugen responded with the experience of a father: “Andy does not like getting advice from Dad, so he may or may not use the map information to his advantage.”
But, he noted, “This sample may also have some utility for you in terms of your ‘techie’ students, staff, parents, etc., who use the Global Positioning System.”