Geographic Information Science

Welcome to my Geography 270: Geographic Information Science portfolio page. Here you will find maps that I created using ArcGIS’s ArcMap software, as well as a description and brief written analysis of each of the maps. In lab 3 a GIS analysis was performed on Metro Vancouver in order to assess the potential flood risk in the event of a storm surge. Lab 4 used 2016 Canadian census data to assess the cost of housing in both Montreal and Metro Vancouver, as well as measure the affordability of living in each of those two cities. For lab 5, a GIS analysis was performed in order to do an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on a proposed controversial year-round mountain resort in Squamish, BC. The final project that I completed for this course consisted of a geographical analysis on the relationship between the amount of greenspace and the wealth of different census tracts in Metro Vancouver. On this page, you will also find a brief post summarizing my overall experience with the final project.

Personal Statement

Through taking GEOB 270, I have learned the importance of data analysis and how it relates to so many aspects of my everyday life, including the environment, the economy, and the people within society. I am now much more aware of how important ethics are in the analysis and data representation stages of GIS, and how error must be mitigated in order to achieve the most accurate results. The most surprising thing I learned in this course is how consequential it is to critically assess the results of GIS analysis, as biases commonly exist and data can be altered and not fully disclosed, which can be highly misleading.