Introduction to Geographic Information

Geography 370

Instructor: Dan Weiss

Overview

Classroom rules What is geography & why is it useful? Examples of geographic information

How are they different than other types of data? What are Geographic Information Systems

(GIS)? How the class will be taught

Teaching format Lecture, case study, and lab format

Classroom Rules

Be engaged & respectful Be prepared to raise your hand a lot Ask questions of your own No laptops No sleeping Turn off cell phones No text messaging No newspapers / crosswords

Introduce yourself to your neighbors

Name Home town Year Major

What is Geography?

The scientific study of the locational and spatial variation in patterns and processes of human and physical phenomena on the surface of earth Where things are located on the earth’s

surface How places differ from one another How people interact with the environment

What do geographers study?

Everything happens somewhere and all places possess unique arrangements of human and natural phenomena that interact in complex ways.

Geographers study these phenomena using the place in which they occur to provide context How are other human and/or natural phenomena

happening in this place influencing what we’re studying?

How are different phenomena related and do these relationships change across space and with scale?

How do phenomena in neighboring areas affect our study area and vice-versa?

What do geographers study?

Consider geography to be analogous to history There are historians of everything and for

them time (i.e. when something happens) is fundamental to what they study

Time provides the context – what else was going on THEN, what happened before and after an event (i.e. the lead-up and the fallout)

Geography is similar, but instead of time we use place to help tell the story

Geographic Information

Information explicitly linked to locations on the earth’s surface

Geographic information can be static of dynamic Static: does not change position

Locations, such as city/town, lake, park Dynamic: changes over time

Population of a city Geographic information vary in scale

Information can range from meters to the globe Scale vs. detail and ecological fallacies

Geographic information can include

Legal (cadastral; zoning laws) Political (county lines; school districts) Cultural (language; ethnicity; religion) Climatic (temperature; precipitation) Topographic (elevation; slope angle; slope aspect) Biotic (biodiversity; species ranges) Medical (disease; birth rate, life expectancy) Economic (median income; resource wealth) Infrastructure(roads; water; telecommunications) Social (education; neighborhood influences)

Example 1: Iraq

Understanding the conflict requires considering Religion Culture Economics Political Situation

These (and many more) issues Interact in complex ways Vary across space

Example 2: The Nature Conservancy

Choosing areas to preserve requires aligning conservation goals with information about: Biodiversity Concern for specific species or habitats Topographic setting Soils and geology Fragmentation Accessibility Risk

Where do geographic data come from?

Social surveys Natural surveys (i.e. USGS maps) Remotely sensed (air photos, satellite

imagery) Reporting networks (weather stations) Field data collection (GPS data or map

marking associated with some attribute of interest)

Who does the collection and why?

Government agencies at all administrative levels Development & planning, infrastructure, asset

management, tax purposes, legal compliance Corporate & business interests

Land development, resource extraction, legal compliance

Researchers To facilitate analyses, to support or refute

findings and/or hypotheses

How are is geographic information stored, managed, and analyzed?

Traditionally geographic information were stored as paper maps kept in libraries etc. For example, the UNC map library in the

basement of Wilson Hall Today we typically store, manage, create,

and analyze geographic information digitally Maps are still printed for use and display

What are Geographic Information Systems (GIS)?

A computer system for capturing, storing, querying, analyzing, and displaying geospatial data. (Chang, 2006)

Geographic information systems are tools that allow for the processing of spatial data into information, generally information tied explicitly to, and used to make decisions about, some portion of the earth (Demers, 2002).

Components of a GIS

Computer hardware Software Data management and analysis procedures

(this could be considered part of the software)

Spatial data People needed to operate the GIS

as defined by Heywood et. al, 2007

What GIS & GISci can do

GIS Information Management – data input, editing,

updating, and output Basic Spatial Analysis – utilizing functionality

provided by the GIS software to create new information

GISci (Geographic Information Science) Advanced Spatial Modeling – developing new

functionality to use with an existing GIS Complex Systems – Tasks like prediction &

real-time analysis (weather & climate models)

How people learn GIS

Bottom-Up Learn about tools, techniques, and data types

through exercises, and apply this knowledge to subsequent projects

Top-Down Start with a project or an idea and figure it out

as you go along or by watching and working with someone else

Not mutually exclusive approaches We will use some of both in this class

Class Overview

Identify Problem

Form Research Questions

& Hypotheses

Design & Conduct

Experiment

Summarize Results

Interpret Results &

Apply Findings

Select, Find, and/or

Create Appropriate

Data

Select & Apply

Appropriate Methods

Produce Text,

Tables, & Graphics

(i.e. maps)

The focus of this class will be geographic data, methods, and displaying results (inside the red box)

But you should always be thinking about how you might apply the skills & knowledge you gain from the class elsewhere

What you can expect

Lectures on Monday & Wednesday Case studies (group discussion) on Friday Recitation time will primarily be used for

working on your lab assignments (5 total) 1 Class project with a presentation & short

paper 2 Exams (1 midterm, 1 final)

Lecture Format (Mondays and Wednesdays) Discuss types of geographic information

How they are linked to locations on the earth How they are made How they are analyzed Strengths and weaknesses of each type Appropriate applications for each type How to find and/or produce these information

yourself

Case Study Format (Fridays)

Quickly form groups of 4 or 5 people Mix up the group to get to know different

people Discuss the presented case study Produce a sheet containing:

1) Responses to the discussion questions 2) The names of the group members

This sheet will be turned in at the end of class and will also serve as a method of taking attendance

Purpose of Case Studies

Apply what you’ve learned to new problems Learn how to plan for and design GIS projects

starting from scratch Build a sense of community (a.k.a. a support

network for GIS questions in this course) To keep things interesting & keep you

focused on the big picture while we learn the nuts-and-bolts

Tell me the name of your neighbor

What can you tell me about you neighbor?

Review

What is geography & why is it useful? Geography is a discipline that uses space as a

framework to examine complex natural and social problems, often by including data & expertise from many fields of study (i.e. interdisciplinary research).

What are geographic data? Data that are associated with specific spatial

locations. What are Geographic Information Systems (GIS)?

Computer programs that allow us to analyze geographic data & produce maps.

Assignment

Log on to the class webpage where you will find the class syllabus

Read the syllabus for Monday