GIS software...Brainstorming

I am currently in a training for GIS (Geographical Information Software), at the BOE. There is an abundant amount of information and data avalible through this software, I will recieve the software once finished with the class that you can use in interested. One idea I have come up up for one of our lessons for this Coal Class, is showing the difference in elevations from the begining of coal production in West Virginia to present resulting from the mining. Also with our Samsung tablets collecting lattitude and longitudes of our stops mapping the coal fields we visit on our trip.