Students and faculty in the Geographic Information Science and Technology program map down-to-Earth data for community-based projects using drones and other advanced scanning techniques.
License to Fly (Remotely)
The Geographic Information Science and Technology program launched the GEOG 314: Introduction to Uncrewed Aerial Systems class in fall 2025, offering vital skills and experience for students seeking certification to use drones professionally.
Sometimes information-science learning takes students out of the classroom into the field—and sometimes into the air.
The Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) program within the Department of Geography and Sustainability combines data management, data science, data visualization, and geography to give students a foundation in spatial thinking while also gaining practical, hands-on experience to become adept spatial-science practitioners.
They begin applying this foundation through outreach that addresses location-based questions and helps solve problems for community partners in business; in public, private, and nonprofit organizations; and across academic research. Efforts like the GIS Outreach and Engagement Lab and classes like GIS in the Community expand learning for students through outreach projects that benefit everyone involved.
“The engagement identifies local organizations that could benefit from applied geospatial technology but lack the internal resources to conduct the work themselves,” said Michael Camponovo, GIST program director. “We then do our best to partner the organization with students, faculty, and/or staff to support their goals, simultaneously helping students build both technical and soft skills as well as helping our department build stronger relationships in our community.”
Technology Applied to Honor Memories, Build Community
In one outreach project, GIST faculty and students worked with partners from Keep Knoxville Beautiful and Knox Heritage in spring 2026 in their efforts to protect the West View Cemetery District, identified on the Knox Heritage list of “Fragile and Fading” historic locations in the city. The district features multiple cemeteries with varying degrees of upkeep.
“The community around Crestview, Southern Chain, and Longview Cemeteries is interested in preserving the history of the people buried there while simultaneously honoring their memory by preserving the physical location as well,” said Camponovo. “While Crestview Cemetery is well maintained, Southern Chain and Longview have overgrown vegetation making it difficult to impossible to find the headstones for the people buried there.”
The UT team used lidar (light detection and ranging) sensing technology, UAVs (uncrewed aerial vehicles, a.k.a. drones), and precision GPS (global positioning systems) to determine locations of the headstones hidden by the vegetation so that cleanup efforts could begin with minimal impact to the sites. This provided baseline data needed by the two organizations to pursue grant funding—data they also share with relevant campus partners like the School of Landscape Architecture and the Department of Anthropology.
The Crestview project included Camponovo, GIS Lab Manager Tim Kane, and undergraduate student Ellie Bernstein, who gained valuable experience meeting with community partners and assisting during drone-flight excursions and in researching the history of the sites.
“It was incredibly impactful to work on a project with real-world implications that can make a substantial, community-wide difference,” said Bernstein. “When taking courses, it’s easy to view assignments and learned skills as requirements that need to be completed to pass, but opportunities such as this transform these skills into something meaningful.”
Urban planning figures largely into Bernstein’s career interests, and she appreciates that the field experience and the technology used will help her stand out to employers.
“I’m gaining these skills with the goal for them to be a tool in my toolbox,” said Bernstein. “I’ll be grateful if I get to use them in my professional career, but if I do not, they will help me communicate with and understand the responsibilities of any GIS technicians or UAV operators that I work with.”
The Skills to Build the Data
The GIS in the Community class also connects students to impactful projects in real-world environments beyond the textbook. Students Gwyn McClelland and Liz Short applied skills introduced in the class to collect and map nationwide data on invasive species—and the detrimental parasites they carry—in a collaboration with Becky Trout Fryxell, a professor of entomology and plant pathology with the UT Institute of Agriculture (UTIA).
“My time in the GIS in the Community course was the first time I applied GIS to a project outside of university, and I gained invaluable experience in using GIS to support the goals of organizations,” said McClelland. “I gained skills in real world data collection and organization along with experience in communication and collaboration when working with outside groups.”
The team used these skills in data collection and related software technology to produce interactive maps that are now embedded on the UTIA’s Exotic and Invasive Vector and Vector-borne Disease website.
“This class helped me strengthen not only the technical skills I used in the project with UTIA, but also valuable communication and critical thinking skills I can apply to other classes and projects,” said Short.
McClelland and Short continue work in this area, mapping the spread of the Asian longhorned tick, which carries a protozoan parasite that causes severe disease in cattle. This mapping is essential in helping to protect livestock production across the country.
“Going into this invasive species mapping, I felt more prepared knowing I already had experience in collecting and managing real world data,” said McClelland. “The GIS in the Community class was a great opportunity to learn how to apply GIS in a practical, efficient, and accessible manner.”
by Randall Brown