About

The Center for Geographic Analysis (CGA) was established in 2006 to support research and teaching across all disciplines in the University as they relate to geospatial technology and methods.

Working with entities across Harvard, the CGA strengthens university-wide geographic information systems (GIS) infrastructure and services; provides a common platform for the integration of spatial data from diverse sources and knowledge from multiple disciplines; enables scholarly research that would use, improve or study geospatial analysis techniques; and improves the ability to teach GIS and geospatial data science at all levels across the University.

Combining consultation services, technical training, platform development and sponsored research, the Center enables a diverse range of research projects involving geospatial analysis. The GIS solutions offered range from general cartography and mapping, geographic data collection, big data processing and analysis, to spatial visualizations, web maps, and web services. The CGA also actively promotes geographic reasoning and the use of GIS in the Harvard curriculum.  

Watch an Introduction Video (10 minutes, made in the summer of 2023).

Come to CGA for:  

  • access to hardware, software and data
  • training programs and technical workshops
  • individual research project consulting
  • curriculum support for Harvard courses
  • monthly seminars and colloquia, and an annual conference on GIS topics
  • tools for GIS applications and platforms for online collaborative research
See also: Basic