This course will survey the theory and application of airborne and satellite remote sensing, primarily as a tool for spatial social science. Students will learn the basics of electromagnetic radiation, reflection and absorption, satellite and sensor technology, and digital image analysis, with a focus on data acquisition and preparation. Students will learn the use of software for image processing and analysis, the fundamentals of raster GIS, and the use of a scriptable online platform for quick remote processing. Applications will have a social focus, including urbanization and...

This courses teaches the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a collection of hardware and software tools that allow users to visualize and analyze geographic data in its spatial configuration. Students will learn the theory of geospatial analysis alongside practical methods for acquiring, manipulating, displaying, and analyzing cartographic data.

Course catalog listing

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Planners today have access to unprecedented amounts of data on the built environment and the people who use it. These data come from a wide variety of sources ranging from traditional administrative data and survey data to emerging sources of passively-collected and crowdsourced data. By then end of this course, you will be able to confidently navigate unfamiliar datasets and create information that you can use to (1) improve your own understanding of places and spatial phenomena at the national, regional, and neighborhood scales and (2) communicate your ideas and conclusions to others....

Natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, claim thousands of lives and cause tens of billions of dollars in damage each year. Moreover, changes in Earth's climate are raising sea level, changing precipitation patterns, and likely causing an increase in the occurrence of damaging storms, putting more of our increasing exposed global population at risk. In this course we develop an understanding of these natural hazards from an earth science perspective, and examine several case studies to assess their catastrophic impacts. Given our scientific understanding of these...

This course introduces students to remote sensing data, methods and tools used for the study of global environmental change. The growing concern about human impact on the environment has led to the development of new observation and analysis tools to tackle and monitor types, magnitudes, and rates of environmental changes. Timely observations by Earth observation (EO) satellite systems and improved mapping and analysis tools are enabling a better understanding of the environmental interactions that underlie our Earth systems, which is critical for developing sustainable solutions. This...

This course introduces the concepts and components of a geographic information system (GIS). It also teaches the essential skills of spatial data management, analysis, and visualization through the use of the ArcGIS software package. Upon completion of this course, students understand the fundamental concepts of a GIS including spatial data models, spatial analysis, and cartographic principles. They also gain hands-on training in spatial data collection, editing, transformation, and mapping, as well as spatial analysis operations such as location-based query, address geocoding, terrain...