My decision to study for an advance degree in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) was informed by the desire to develop a better

understanding of the entire process of acquiring, managing, interpreting, and analyzing geographical information. Though a year of professional work experience in obtaining and managing geographical information at the Cross River State Geographical Information Agency has given me the basic knowledge and understanding of this increasingly important area. But I feel that my dream of building a career in GIS would be easily realized if I get myself equipped with both the ability to critically understand GIS theories and practices, and also with the understanding of advance technical skills used by modern GIS practitioners. As a graduate of the department of Urban and Regional Planning from Cross River State University of Science and Technology, I have continually sorted out innovative techniques that could enhance the proper planning of most of the poorly planned cities in my countries. This search however lead to my internship with Cross River State Geographical Information Agency where I was actively involved in the collection of geographical information such as the location of bridges, and road barriers in Cross River State using GPS tools. Apart from being eager to develop new town planning methods for my country, I am very much interested in helping young students in my state. I have mentored about sixty eight (68) SSCE mathematics and geography students, and had also organized tutorial sessions on Urban Planning Studio for some of my course mates. This demonstrates my ability to work effectively with others. And on completion of my Master degree course in Sheffield Hallam University I look forward to teaching advance GIS techniques to the staff of Cross River State Geographical Information Agency. My decision to pick Sheffield Hallam University for my postgraduate studies was born out of my understanding that its GIS course is well-structured and have practical oriented modules such as Applying GIS, GIS and spatial Analysis, GIS and Statistical Modelling, among others. My decision was also informed by the relatively peaceful and friendly nature of Sheffield city, and I look forward to having a peaceful stay in Sheffield while studying for my postgraduate degree. At this stage, I look forward to having a wonderful university experience and also to my personal development as an individual. It is my belief that I possess the zeal and critical reasoning ability required for a postgraduate course in Sheffield Hallam University, and I am awfully ready for the challenge.

I was involved in the collection of geographical information which included; capturing of the location of bridges, and road barriers in Cross River State using GPS tools in the field for private companies, government agencies and local authorities.
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Desk-based data capture (digitising) to convert paper maps to GIS datasets, for example, to record the location of telecoms cables or water pipelines from original maps.

Storage, analysis and presentation of geographical information:

Creating and maintaining the structures necessary for GIS data storage. Developing the tools for loading/transferring GIS data between different systems. Manipulation, analysis and presentation of geographical information by creating programs to convert GIS information from one format to another. Developing internet applications to present GIS data and tools on corporate websites. Using tools to join together different GIS datasets and create new information or investigate patterns, e.g. estimating the number of people potentially affected by flooding, using population growth figures and planning information to estimate increasing/decreasing demand for school capacity, or calculating the number of potential customers for a new supermarket and predicting buying patterns based on socio-economic factors.