What is GIS?

 

What are Geographic Information Systems?

  1. tools for the collection, maintenance, storage, analysis, visualization and distribution of geospatial data
  2. a.k.a. “geospatial data science”

Policy applications

  1. GIS help us understand
    1. where security, social, economic, public health problems occur
    2. who is affected by them
    3. how to monitor, manage and mitigate them

Scientific applications

  1. GIS help us
    1. acquire data
    2. test hypotheses
    3. make forecasts and predictions


 

GIS is super cool

Examples

 

Example: Track international shipping

Example: Find out where Baloch people live in Iran

Example: Analyze residential segregation in American cities

 

Example: Compare election results (1972: Nixon v McGovern)

 

Example: Compare election results (1976: Carter v Ford)

 

Example: Compare election results (1980: Reagan v Carter)

 

Example: Compare election results (2016: Trump v Clinton)

 

Example: Compare election results (2020: Biden v Trump)

 

 

Example: Compare election results (2016 to 2020 swing)

 

Example: Draw new Congressional districts

 

Iraq

 

Syria

 

Yemen

 

 

 

Example: Measure loss of Arctic sea ice

Example: Find a public restroom

 

Example: Find your way home

About the Class

Goals and Structure

 

Goals of the class

  1. Introduce basic GIS concepts
  2. Provide hands-on experience in using open-source GIS software
  3. Find, open and edit geospatial data
  4. Visualize geospatial data
    (make cool maps)
  5. Conduct basic geospatial data analyses
  6. Create new geospatial data (georeferencing, geocoding)
  7. Apply these skills to an original research project


 

 

Who should take this class?

  1. Students working on research projects, theses
  2. Students interested in data visualization & management
  3. Students who want to add new software/programming skills to CV
  4. Policy wonks
  5. History buffs
  6. People who hang antique maps on their walls

No prerequisites!


 

This could be you

 

 

 

 

How will we learn?

  1. Methods boot camp
    1. first half of semester
    2. weekly lectures (45-75 min)
    3. weekly computational tutorials
    4. weekly problem sets
  2. Research workshop
    1. second half of semester
    2. weekly “walk-throughs” of data collection & analysis on special topics
    3. no problem sets
    4. focus 100% on research project


 

Learn new methods

Apply them to research

 

Research “walk-throughs”

  1. Step-by-step guides
    1. where to find and download data
    2. how to pre-process, integrate the data
    3. how to conduct a very rudimentary analysis of the data
  2. Topics
    1. nighttime luminosity
    2. climate-conflict nexus
    3. Russian-Ukrainian War


 

 

 

Like this, but for GIS

 

 

Grading

  1. Problem sets (40%)
    1. 8 \(\times\) 5% each
    2. due no later than 11:59 PM each Wednesday
    3. collaboration encouraged
  2. Final project (40%)
    1. 1-paragraph project abstract
      • due 11:59 PM, 10/25
    2. 5-minute class presentation
      • 12/5
    3. 5-7 page report
      • due 11:59 PM, 12/20
  3. Attendance & participation (20%)
    1. show up, ask questions, help others


 

Don’t worry

 

Final Project

  1. Overview
    1. goal: use GIS to answer a political/social/economic question
    2. descriptive question: answer through mapping & visualization
      (e.g. “Which neighborhoods are the most violent?”)
    3. explanatory question: answer through analysis of geospatial data
      (e.g. “Why are some neighborhoods more violent than others?”)
    4. collaboration/co-authorship permitted
  2. Project abstract (1 paragraph)
    1. summarize research idea, needed spatial & non-spatial data
  3. In-class presentation (5 min, 2 slides)
    1. slide 1: Research question
    2. slide 2: Map(s)
  4. Written report (5-7 pages)
    1. section 1: Research question
    2. section 2: Data & methods
    3. section 3: Preliminary results

Software

 

Software & programming

  1. QGIS (option 1)
    1. free, open-source alternative to ArcGIS
    2. visualize, manage, edit, analyze spatial data, create maps
    3. intuitive graphical user interface (GUI)
    4. multiplatform (runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Android)
    5. download it here: qgis.org


 

QGIS

 

 

 

Software & programming

  1. R (option 2)
    1. open-source statistical programming language
    2. can do (most) of what you can do in QGIS, and lots more
    3. can run R from the command line
      … or using source code editor
      (e.g. Sublime Text, XEmacs)
      … or using integrated development environment (e.g. RStudio Cloud)
    4. also multiplatform (runs on Linux, Mac, Windows, Android)
    5. download R here: r-project.org … or RStudio here: posit.co


R

RStudio

 

Remember: there are no prerequisites!

  • never used QGIS or R?
  • never took stats?
  • never seen a map?
  • no problem

 

Help us help you!

  • please fill out this survey
  • tell us about your research interests and software/programming background (even if you have none)
  • tinyurl.com/gu-gis-01


Survey QR Code

 


Who am I?

 

Yuri M. Zhukov

Associate Professor

School of Foreign Service

Department of Government

Georgetown University

(SSP Alum ’07)

 

 

Who are you?


Professor’s self-image

 

More info

  1. Check out Canvas page: georgetown.instructure.com/courses/199467

  2. Email me any course-related questions: ymz2@georgetown.edu

  3. Sign up for my office hours: calendly.com/ymz2-georgetown

 

Stay cool. Learn GIS