Week of:
Jan 3-Introduction to course
Lecture 1 was an introduction to the course which presented the three main themes which would be examined over the term. These themes were the three processes of Landscape Ecology, Crime Analysis and Health Geography Processes. Moreover, a brief summary of some principles of GIS were included which described data, methods, tools and needs. Lastly, the importance of asking questions was addressed especially in regard to spatial processes. The most important of these being:spatial association, spatial interaction and spatial change.Futhermore, the five ‘p”s of the course were introduced which together are the foundation for geographic commonalities between all the aforementioned topics. These five ‘p”s were:patterns, processes, people, places and perspectives.
Jan 10- Why is ‘geography’ important?
Lecture 2 covered the topic of why geography is important. Notable issues which run throughout topics of geography such as MAUP, scale,boundaries and heterogeneity were then examined in futher detail. Furthermore, the notion that issues of geography cannot be examined in isolation was discussed, that is to say an issue which is arising in area A may not just be due to a factor in area A. The Modifiable Area Unit Problem otherwise known as MAUP, is an integral issue to all topics of geography. The MAUP in simplest terms can be broken down into two parts which are reliant on each other. Part 1 of the MAUP refers to issues of scale and boundaries in terms of the area of study, while part 2 in the uncertainty in which scale or as noted in lecture ‘zonal units’ to choose for study. The most common example of the MAUP is in census data when trying to decide which units of aggregation to examine. The MAUP is crucial to geography due to the ecological fallacy, which conceals data or exaggerates patterns based on the units chosen for the study.
Jan 17-Understanding landscape metrics: patterns and processes
Lecture 3 introduced topics in landscape ecology and was focused around considerations of methodology, processes central to landscape ecology, structure and the quantification of patterns. As a biology minor this topic was a personal favorite of mine and incredibly interesting to be able to gain further inside into the applications of GIS for the subject. The main points of the lecture were to discuss how processes in landscape ecology can be understood through examining the patterns present throughout the landscape. Furthermore, form is in turn able to modify such processes.The idea of stationary processes was as well explained, both first and second order which respectively refer to no variation in intensity over space, and no interactions between objects. Processes central to landscape ecology were as well shortly discussed, these were topics such as climate, topography and biotic and abiotic interactions. Lastly, patterns, fractals,fragmentation and quantification were all applied to both landscape ecology and meshed into topics of GIS.
Jan 24-Statistics: A review
Lecture 4 was a review on basic applications of statistics. Already having taken GEOG 374 (statistics in geography) and GEOB 370 (Advanced issues in GI Science) these topics were familiar. Nonetheless they are crucial to geographic analysis and a review was important. The main focus of the lecture was on regression models. Models which were discussed were Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) ,Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), simple linear regression, and multiple variable regression equations. Moreover some of the lecture was put aside to review significant levels such as P and F values.
Jan 31-GEM presentations on Landscape Ecology
Presentations on landscape ecology from the masters of geomatics for environmental management students.
Feb 7-What is health geography?
Lecture 5 explored the field of health geography, which up until this point was rather unknown to me. In turn, more than simply discussing health geography its relation to other fields such as medical geography was noted. Health geography is branched into three main themes which are disease ecology, health care delivery ,and environment and health. Disease ecology is the study of the spread of diseases and factors which exasperate the spread such as weather, cultural and biological factors. Health care geography analyses both the distribution of health care, ways to make it more efficient and areas which are lacking due to inequality, as such hot spot mapping is highly useful within this genre. Environment and health focuses on environmental factors and the relations to health geography-such as natural disasters and the effects which follow. Furthermore, environmental justice was lightly discussed in relation to health geography. As well perspectives approaches and assumptions from five strands of health geography were explained. In conclusion it was noted that medical geography is no longer a suitable name for the field as so many new themes are expanding outside of simply medical notions, and in turn health geography is far more encompassing and as such suitable.
Feb 14-GIS in health geography
Lecture 6 built off of lecture 5’s introduction of concepts and the three themes of health geography. In turn it then expanded on how GIS analysis can be applied to topics of health geography. The four major applications which were explored in lecture were- 1) Spatial epidemiology, 2)Environmental hazards ,3) Modeling health services, 4) Identifying health inequalities. In turn these four applications were defined and examined through case studies. ARIA for health services was such an example. Epidemiology was also examined in further detail with a discussion on the approaches to the subject. As well the topics of the criteria of ‘health’ ‘disease’ and ‘location’ were all examined. These were detailed in both manfestinational criteria and casual criteria. Lastly quantification of diseases was discussed such as how to calculate mortality rates and incidence and prevalence. The lecture then concluded with a short note on how to properly deal with data sets, as health data can vary drastically in disease counts and rates.
Feb 21-Midterm Break
No class.
Feb 28-GEM presentation on their projects.
Presentations from the masters of geomatics for environmental management students on their personal projects.
Mar 7-GEM presentations on Health Geography
Presentations on health geography from the masters of geomatics for environmental management students.
Mar 14-Is crime related to geography?
Lecture 7 delved into the final of the three main topics of the course- respectively being crime geography. Within the lecture the question was raised- Is crime a geographic phenomenon. This question then led to the introduction of environmental criminology which is branched into three theories-Routine activity theory,Rational choice theory, and Criminal pattern theory. Of course, as this is a GIS course the interest is in how GIS can be applied to these three theories. As it turns out GIS applications are through modeling, insight and pattern which are essential to the three aforementioned theories. Moreover as enviromental criminology seeks to examine the spread of crimes and the spread of criminals, GIS can be a powerful tool in terms of mapping and analysis. Furthermore GIS allows of the ability to include features of the urban landscape when examining crimes such as roads, transit stations, downtowns etc. Furthermore geographic and demographic profiling are both accessible through GIS- though it is debatable as to whether these are actual predictors of crime. Crime geography was discussed as well in relation to applications for GIS through analysis. Applications discussed were intelligence analysis, criminal investigative analysis,tactical crime analysis, strategic crime analysis, and administrative crime analysis. In conclusion tools such as centrifuge and maptitude were noted for low cost crime analysis.
Mar 21-Use of GIS by Fire Departments
GIS for fire departments is a versatile tool which can be used to prevent, predict and visualize. During lecture the case study was examined of the Calgary Fire Department which used GIS for a wide range of mapping. Such examples were oil and gas locations, roadways,historical fires, and response times. Furthermore, mapping and graphing could then visualize important effects of fire such as property loss and death. The calgary fire department through use of GIS was then able to locate that they were in need of a new fire station to respond to gaps in the north west section of the city. Furthermore, through a mix of available lands and 6 minute response times they were able to locate an optimal location. As well as GIS continues to become more advanced futher applications are available in terms of predictive modeling which can be used for future growth and risks from said growth.
Mar 28-GEM presentations on Crime analysis
Presentations on crime analysis from the masters of geomatics for environmental management students.