North Dakota 4-H youth are using geospatial technologies in community development projects at various locations across the state.

Four county 4-H organizations received geographic information system software grants this year and are using this technology to support their communities.

The 4-H State Technology Team is using GIS and the global positioning system to teach youth how geospatial technologies are used in agriculture and other industries.

The county 4-H organizations in Grant, Sioux, McLean and Mountrail counties won GIS software grants from the Environmental Systems Research Institute of Redlands, Calif. These counties were among the 75 U.S. county recipients of funding from the ESRI GIS Grant Program for 4-H.

The goal of this program is to foster and support the integration of GIS into community applications.

Each county can use ESRI's ArcGIS software on 25 computers, including 4-H members' home computers. The recipients are expected to participate in and submit a project to the ESRI Community Atlas program by May 2006.

Successful recipients will receive permanent software licenses after completing their project.

Participating youth in these counties are using GPS to identify and mark tourism points of interest, including historical points, unique local businesses, day-trip sites, walking and biking trails and birding sites.

Others are locating and marking all of the rural cemeteries in the county and cooperating with community officials to list the names and information of individuals interred at these sites. They use the GIS programs to display the data collected in their projects and to make the information available for interested community members.

4-H Technology Team members also are using geospatial technologies in their activities. The 4-H Youth Technology Leadership Team includes seven teen leaders and four NDSU Extension agents.