From Western Illinois University:

Once upon a time, in order to trace the path of a meal from your table to the source, you may only have had to take a short jaunt to a nearby field. But in these days of modern transit, when the foods that people consume hail from various regions of the United States and even the globe, that path, many times, is much more complex; the more complex the path, the more complex the data are about that path. GIS, or "geographic information systems," technology provides a way to display such data visually.

In celebration of Geography Awareness Week (Nov. 16-20), Linda Zellmer, government information and data services librarian at Western Illinois University Libraries, has utilized GIS to prepare a website (available at faculty.wiu.edu/LR-Zellmer/thanksgiving.html) that links to PDF versions of the maps that show where the foods consumed at the traditional Thanksgiving meal -- such as turkey, cranberries, squash and green beans -- originate. In addition, the website has a link to a comprehensive poster (also a PDF) that shows where all of the Thanksgiving foods are grown in the United States.

(Image: rosevita)

"GIS is a collection of computer software and data used to organize and view geographically referenced information -- it helps people collect and organize information about places, so that it can be easily displayed," Zellmer explained. "I used the data from the 1997, 2002 and 2007 Agricultural Censuses for this project."

Zellmer said she began working on the project several years ago, while she was working at Indiana University, and started it because she wanted a way to show how GIS can be utilized to display information.