Peter Sforza, director and research scientist at the Center for Geospatial Information Technology and instructor in the Department of Geography, received the 2011 XCaliber Award. Shorthand for exceptional, high-caliber contributions to technology-enriched learning activities, the XCaliber Award is presented annually by the Virginia Tech Center for Innovation in Learning to recognize faculty members or teams of faculty and staff who integrate technology in teaching and learning and celebrate innovative, student-centered approaches to learning activities.

Sforza was recognized for his Web Mapping course, through which students learn the theoretical and societal context of Web mapping while gaining experience using interactive mapping applications in a collaborative working environment. The course helps students understand Web maps in the context of spatial data infrastructures from global to local scales. It also examines the fundamental building blocks that students need to understand current and next generation software and technology, and teaches them how to choose an appropriate Web-mapping solution to a particular problem. Group projects have focused on the theme of virtual cities and have a recognizable value to the local community. Recent projects used the data infrastructure (terrain, building models) of the 3D Blacksburg model to develop applications for solar analysis, pedestrian routing, WiFi mapping, and soundscape mapping.

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