There are a great many sites on the Web devoted to GIS.  Our goal in this exercise is to explore and document some of these. You should work with 2 or 3 classmates on this exercise to minimize the chance of finding the same sites.

    First, find your partners.  Then, with each person using a different search engine (yahoo, altavista, google, directhit, etc.) search for sites dealing with GIS.  When you find a good one, tell your mates and make a note of the exact address so that they do not use the same site.  Then, move on to find the next site.  After you have found four (4) unique sites, you can go back to them and write a review of at least one paragraph.  When you are done, email the write ups to me.  I will compile them for a reference web site for the class.

        Things to keep in mind:

            - Go for diversity.  Find a variety of .com, .edu, and .org sites. And do not count more than one site from the same organization or group, for instance the USGS, which has a lot of GIS web sites.

            - In your write up of the web sites you choose, tell who you think might find a particular site useful, in addition to your description of the site.
 
            -Suggested format :

www.gis.com
    A general introduction to GIS hosted by ESRI, the people who make ArcView and Arc/Info.  It has information on what GIS is, data and software for GIS, education and training, news and events, and an online store.  The highlight of the site is the world atlas of biodiversity, an animated, interactive atlas which approximates an online GIS.  There is also a button entitled "GIS Jump Station" which is a GIS-only search engine, quite useful.  Buttons also are provided for the latest on GIS day (in November), the Geography Network, and a Map Gallery from ESRI.  When last accessed (8/26/02) this site was not working properly. When working properly it is an excellent introductory GIS site.