As a cultural geographer, Peter H. Dana taught a variety of courses in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas in Austin from 1995 to 2020. A retired Research Fellow and Lecturer, Dr. Dana taught Environmental GIS, Maps and Map Interpretation, Spatial Data and Analysis, The Geography of Mexico and Central America, The Power of Maps, Landscape Narratives, and others at UT-Austin, Middlebury College, and Southwestern University. From 1997 to 2005 Dr. Dana served as the cartographer/geographer for participatory mapping projects on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua and on the North Coast and the Mosquitia of Honduras.
As a software engineer, Dr. Dana designed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Differential GPS receivers and systems and served as a consultant to GIS/GPS projects. He supported a variety of projects involving precise positioning, medical geography, classical archeology, and ethno-mapping. He has produced maps for many journal articles and books. He holds nine U.S. patents related to geographic location referencing; has written on GPS time-dissemination, participatory mapping, and GIS topics.