Urban planners engage in many complex processes that defy easy representation. This course provides first-semester urban planning students with the graphic and technical skills needed to reason, design and communicate these processes with geospatial data. This knowledge will be embedded within a larger critical framework that addresses the cultural history of categorization, data collection and cartography as tools of persuasion for organizing space.Visual expression is one of the most compelling methods to describe the physical environment, and students will learn techniques...

Maps do not represent reality, they create it. As a fundamental part of the design process, the act of mapping results in highly authored views of a site. By choosing what features, forces, and flows to highlight—and implicitly, which to exclude—the designer first creates the reality into which their intervention will be situated and discussed. Furthermore, the usage and materiality of space is increasingly measured, categorized, and circulated by all manners of institutions; these competing data representations often become the primary way of understanding and responding to a site....

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...

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Maps and empires have entangled histories. In this course we will examine the evolution of geographic information technology and the way imperial states and subjects used atlases, boundary surveys, town plans, and topographical maps to manage information flows and generate political and cultural capital. We will learn to speak the language of maps: particularly maps of the Russian Empire. Through units devoted to Siberia, the Black Sea, and European Russia, we will reconstruct the history of an empire through maps held right here at Harvard.

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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...

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.

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