Enviromental Technology

The consideration here is about the emergence of desktop environment science, entailing electronic access to information and analysis of environmental data on desktop computers.

In many countries it has become vital for environment science students to be computer literate and to be able to use desktop computers for the everyday tasks of accessing, storing, analyzing and graphing statistical information.

Graphics based spreadsheet program such as Excel and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) have revolutionized environmental instruction and practice, superseding former mainframe and DOS programs for environmental data calculations. They provide versatile and easily mastered approaches to graphing and analyzing environmental data, enabling students to carry out analytical work with greater ease and accuracy. They also open up great opportunities for experimentation and exploration of information, all the more since they have become a major platform for using electronic data files.

Beside spreadsheet programs, environment science student must bring into practice the use of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS/ GIS). These are all computerized system that facilitates the phases of data entry, data analysis and data presentation especially in cases when we are dealing with georeferenced data. This means that a GIS user will expect support from the system to enter (geo-refrenced) data, to analyse it in various ways, and to produce presentations ( maps and other) from the data.

There are various kind of softwares like ArcView 3.2 ( developed by ESRI- Environmental System Research Institute, USA), and Ilwis 3.3 ( Developed by ITC-Netherland) for input,process and output of environmental data.

In recent years due to advancement of computer science, people began to realize the need of virtual fieldwork to faciliate the information.Virtual fieldwork can be defined as a digital alternative representation of reality. It is not an attempt to create a virtual reality by immersing user in an interactive computer generated environment. Instead it provides digital information for the visitor allowing them to experience the location without being on the actual site. At their best virtual field visits allow the visitor to interact with the exploration, analysis and interpretation of the virtual information and through participation explore a dimension not otherwise available.

Working through the spreadsheet exercise, GIS/RS and virutal fieldwork reinforces other study using calculators and paper works and enhances satisfaction with the learning process and extends skill and versatility for future employment. Think about it.