During the first week of class, we reviewed the course syllabus and schedule. I found out that the lectures for this class are shared with a Master’s course from the Faculty of Forestry (GEM 511), which made me look forward to hearing their input and perspective on the topics covered during lecture.

In these initial lectures, Brian also reviewed some basic concepts related to research in GIScience, which were not new to me after having taken other GIS classes, but it was a good refresher going into the new term. He also introduced the topics we will cover: landscape ecology, health, and crime. Personally, I was most interested in the landscape ecology topic, but am looking forward to learning more about the other topics as well.