I hope that you enjoy the course and, in doing so, learn more about GIScience, GISystems, and geographical analysis. In the first lectures I will review the course requirements (which are listed in the Syllabus), discuss some relevant courses offered in the Department (provide some context) and talk a bit about becoming a geographical thinker.
Over the next few weeks I’ll review some of the concepts you should be familiar with (i.e., the “prerequisites”), and then we’ll move onto new material. You should read over the relevant chapter before the class so that you can meaningfully follow the content in the lecture.
The labs cover important GIScience concepts and application areas, as well advanced GISoftware capabilities. For the final project, which can either be a group-based project or something you tackle on your own, you will need to demonstrate that you have mastered the software and are capable of performing advanced analysis.
If you have any questions about any of the materials presented in the class, or in the labs, do not hesitate to contact me.
Learning Objectives
- Be able to tell geographic information science from a geographic information system.
- Be able to describe a geographic information system as a set of social arrangements as well as a set of tools.
- Be able to judge which part of a geographic method is a lasting idea and which part is this decade's software.
- Be able to say what kind of work a geographic information system is being asked to do in a given case.
- Be able to say what a piece of geographic work is for, whether it explains something or draws out what follows from it.
- Be able to defend a claim that spatial analysis should be used somewhere it is not.
Recommended Readings
Text: Supplemental Materials 1: A Gallery of Applications in Geographic Information: Science & Systems.
Alternative (free) text: GIS Basics: Chapter 1
Useful Resources
A VERY relevant free, online text: Intro to GIS and Spatial Analysis by Manuel Gimond. If you know R then this text is for you--Gimond provides an appendix in which he outlines how to perform spatial analysis using R. However, the first half of the text provides an easy-to-follow introduction to GIS and spatial analysis that I highly recommend everyone review.
ESRI's 'What is GIS? video
Things to know about Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a Career
Penn State University: The GeoSpatial Revolution (video)
Keywords
Geodesign, Geospatial Thinking, GIScience, GISystems