LONG BEACH — The Columbia Pacific GIS Users Group is hosting GIS Day 2014 on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Long Beach City Hall located at 115 Bolstad Avenue West.

Presented by Oregon and Southwest Washington URISA members Mark Scott and Ric Vrana, the event’s theme is “Better Information = Better Decision Making = Better Government.” GIS stands for geographic information system, a type of computer technology that gathers vast amounts of data about our world in an easy-to-use format.

This event is an interactive demonstration of powerful GIS mapping tools using modern open source technology like most have never seen. The interactive map of local counties and cities contains a robust catalog of federal, state and local government and private GIS information.

Presentation times are as follows:

• 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., What’s new in Geo-Moose 2.7;

• 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Utility Mapping for Engineers and Land Developers;

• 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Local Hazard Mapping;

• 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Local Interest Mapping.

Anyone with an interest is welcome and encouraged to attend including: engineers, real-estate agents, title experts, insurance agents, planners, emergency responders and managers, foresters, engineers, federal, state, city and county agency employees, auditors, assessors.

Attendees will learn how easy it is to interact with and search for hard to get land information. The GIS map is specifically setup to assist in immediately obtaining useful documents for planning and land-research activities in Pacific County. “In a wide variety of situations where you can’t get help, you will know exactly what to do because now all the information you need is now at your fingertips,” organizers say.

For information, call Mark Scott at 360-607-0807 or email evlero@hotmail.com.