Now I've been dating my boyfriend since high school so his parents and my own were all very interested to learn what I would be studying.My boyfriend went into mechanical engineering a profession most people know and I doubt anyone has ever asked an engineer "so what is engineering again?" GIS? Oh I can't mention what I'm studying without getting a "what on earth is that?" I only recently learned that at the end of my three years of GIS, my boyfriend's parents think I'm studying rocks or that satellite thing. Credit in knowing it has something to do with satellites but no I cant look at that photo you took in the airplane and tell you if there are diamonds there.
GMT 320 has given me a fantastic way of actually explaining to my in-laws what GIS is. The fact that it covers not only the collection, storing , analyzing AND output of geographic data makes it essentially one of the most useful degrees in the world but explaining that to people who don't have any background with GIS is not as easy as it seems. After showing them the E-Assist application and explaining to them we not only went to Alaska to collect the data using GPS, but also analyzed this data, made maps of it and coded an application using that data that someone could find useful seems to have done the trick.
Sometimes giving people a memorized definition of GIS or showing them the earning power of a GIS professional doesn't do the trick. Perhaps what we need to do is design an application that allows people to make a mini GIS map from data they collect and analyze themselves may explain (albeit in a simplified manner) might save us from the frustration of having to continually explaining to your in-laws over the period of three years that you dont know if that rock is volcanic or if I could find a car using satellite on google right now.