Geospatial Technologies: IntroductionGeospatial technologies refer to systems and tools that allow us to take location-referenced data and do one or more of the following:
Acquire
Analyze
Manage
Store
Visualize
Location referenced data is also called geospatial data.
This course provides an introduction to the following geospatial tools:
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): computer-based mapping, analysis and retrieval of location-based data
Remote sensing: Acquisition of data and imagery from the use of satellites or aircraft
Global Positioning System (GPS): Acquisition of real-time location information from a satellites in Earth’s orbit.
The range of fields where geospatial technologies can be implemented is truly global in scope- any data that can be tied to a location can be studied using these tools. My first experience with using geospatial technologies was in the context of coastal watershed analysis when doing my dissertation and now I use it extensively in environmental sciences, archaeology and social sciences. There are countless applications in law enforcement, military, epidemiology, urban planning, and marketing. In this course most of our examples will focus on applications that have to do with environmental monitoring- but if you have interests in other areas you will have a chance to explore other areas as well in some of the assignments.
As you proceed through this course, I encourage you to think deeply and often about how each of the tools and procedures that we employ could be used in your research or workplace. The example we look at might be a zombie apocalypse, but the spatial analyses would be the same if you were doing emergency flood or fire management. My suggestion is to keep a notebook (a spiral one, or a digital one) where you keep your thoughts as you go- they will come in later when you are working on your final project or preparing for exams!
