Imagine yourself using the same technology behind Google Maps, Pokémon Go, and social media location tags to help track wildfires, protect drinking water, and solve real environmental problems. What if your future career let you combine technology, gaming-style mapping, climate science, drones, coding, graphic design, and outdoor adventure into one exciting job? Could you see yourself using maps and data to protect communities, explore new places, and help solve some of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today?
In this presentation, Hannah Walters, a GIS Analyst at Denver Water, shares how her love for hiking, maps, science, and exploring Colorado’s mountains turned into a career using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to solve environmental problems. Hannah explains how GIS works like “Google Maps mixed with detective work,” using layers of information like wildfire risk, weather, population, drought, and water systems to help communities make smarter decisions. From tracking wildfire threats in Colorado watersheds to building interactive emergency response maps, Hannah gives a behind-the-scenes look at how technology and mapping are used to tackle real environmental challenges caused by climate change.
Hannah also shares how GIS connects to things you already use every day — from Google Maps and weather apps to Pokémon Go, social media location tags, video games, and even sports analytics. She explains that GIS careers are perfect for curious people who enjoy recognizing patterns, solving problems, working with technology, and learning new things. Whether you’re interested in environmental science, coding, gaming, graphic design, drones, space exploration, or working outdoors, GIS offers a huge range of career paths and opportunities to make an impact while exploring the world in a completely different way.