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Course
Description (Spring 2012)
This class uses lab exercises and a workshop setting to help
students develop a solid understanding of the planning and public
management uses of geographic information systems (GIS). The goals
are to help students:
- Acquire technical skills in the
use of GIS software.
- Acquire qualitative methods skills
in data and document gathering, analyzing information, and
presenting results.
- Investigate the potential and practicality
of GIS technologies in a typical planning setting and evaluate
possible applications.
The
workshop teaches GIS techniques and basic database management at a
level that extends somewhat beyond the thematic mapping and data
manipulation skills included in the MCP core (the half-semester GIS and spatial analysis class, 11.205). Both 11.205 and 11.520/11.188 cover basic thematic mapping and the buffering and overlay operations (using vector and raster data) that are involved in basic 'site suitability' assessments. The full-semester 11.520/11.188 classes add a bit more database management (using MS-Access), an introduction to model building tools (Model Builder), and a small, individual project. We try to teach GIS methods and techniques with some attention to open-ended planning questions that invite
spatial analysis but will
- require judgement and exploration
to select relevant data and mapping techniques,
- involve mixing and matching new,
local data with extracts from official records (such as
census data, parcel data and regional employment and population
forecasts),
- utilize spatial analysis techniques
such as buffering, address matching, overlays
- use other modeling and visualization
techniques beyond thematic mapping, and
- raise questions about the skills,
strategy, and organizational support needed to sustain such
analytic capability within a variety of local and regional
planning settings.
Students seeking graduate credit
should enroll in the Fall term subject 11.520; undergraduates should enroll
in the Spring term subject 11.188. The subjects have similar content and goals but are tailored to meet the experience and pre-requisites of the corresponding graduate or undergraduate target audience..
Class
Meetings
- Lecture: Wednesday, 2:30-4:00 PM in Room 14E-310
- Lab Preparation & Lab: Monday, 2:30-5:00
in Room 37-312
[Hearing the Lab prep presentation at 2:30 and starting the exercise are the key lab parts. Students can leave for other classes beginning at 3:30 or 4 and finish the exercises later on their own.
- Additional optional lab times will be arranged. These times are scheduled for a subset of these time slots Friday, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm and Sunday, 3:00 - 5:00 pm.
11.520 website design - Jee-seong Chung
Last modified on 5 Feb. 2012 (JF)
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