Introduction to GIS

3 units

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles and applications of geographic information systems (GIS), their underlying geospatial science and spatial thinking. This problem-based course explores applications of GIS to spatial questions in the areas of social science, business, the humanities and earth sciences. Example topics include understanding spatial data types; map coordinate systems and projections; basic spatial data analysis; acquiring, editing, creating and managing geospatial data; and processing and visualizing data using GIS. This hands-on course works through problems using ESRI ArcGIS software (primarily ArcGIS Pro), but other open source tools will also be introduced. Students who complete this course should be able to apply skills to think through a spatial problem and employ GIS tools to address it.