September 11, 2009 -- Ridgeland, MS – Digital Quest is pleased to announce that the adoption of its book, AGIS in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources, is providing a useful guide for practical application for Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) where they recently launched a course that introduces students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Developed by Digital Quest in collaboration with Terry Brase and his colleagues at AgroKnowledge ( http://www.agrowknow.org/), the book focuses on the uses of Geospatial Technology in the Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources career cluster as defined by the States’ Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI) www.careerclusters.org.

Dr. Nels Hansen of the Ohio State ATI saw a need for instruction in GIS when he arrived at the institute in the fall of 2005. By the spring of 2008 the Engineering Technology course Introduction to Geographic Information Systems was in place. Students in the Crop Management and Services program and the Environmental Resource Management program go through this course as a way to learn about spatial relationships in urban and rural landscapes using global positioning and GIS. During the 2009 spring semester, the Digital Quest book was adopted.

When asked why the book was chosen, Dr. Hansen stated, "The AGIS Agriculture Book is one of the first texts written specifically for agriculture. The importance of helping students understand GIS using agricultural examples cannot be overstated. Students simply showed little interest when we were using [other] examples."

AGIS Introduction to Geospatial Technology includes ten lessons designed to demonstrate key concepts, software capabilities, and future opportunities in the geospatial industry. The lessons contain overviews of career profiles including examples of industries and individuals that use this technology. Students will gain hands-on experience using industry-leading ESRI's ArcGIS software in eight lessons that explore agriculture, business, information technology, logistics, public safety, health science, tourism, and technology engineering.

“We feel this title will be a valuable resource for instructors in geospatial technology and agriculture industries,” stated Eddie Hanebuth, Digital Quest president. “The agriculture industry is actively using geospatial analysis, and we wanted to create a tool to bring this technology straight to the classroom.” Hanebuth added, “The guidance Terry Brase has provided has been instrumental to this book’s success and our team has greatly appreciated his input.”

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Digital Quest, Inc. is a Mississippi-based development and training oriented company with a primary focus of enabling educational institutions to provide skill training in the new and ever-more vital field of Geospatial Technology. Digital Quest, an active member of the EIGS geospatial technology cluster of the University of Mississippi, operates the SPACESTARS Geospatial Training Laboratory at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. For more information about Digital Quest, visit www.digitalquest.com or contact Scotty Weller at 1-877-573-6683, Email Contact.

The Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute is an educational unit of Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. It was founded in the mid 1970's to meet the growing need for an applied approach to educating students in the state of Ohio. The institute has three divisions: Arts, Science, and Business Division; Horticultural Technologies Division; and Engineering Division with currently over 750 students enrolled.