PST-604 Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analytic tools are used in many disciplines and fields of practice including public health, history, sociology, political science, business, biology, international development, and information technology. Case studies used in this course may include Federal responses to natural disasters, public health impacts, census analysis for business, election analysis, or others. This course introduces students to relevant foundational concepts and processes involved in digital representation, data manipulation and management, basic data gathering/discovery, basic spatial analysis, and map composition. Students will develop an understanding of GIS capabilities to collect, examine, transform, and apply data-sets for different case studies. Students will have the opportunity to create models, projections, and recommendations though activities such as: data models and basic analysis; map projects and coordinate systems; geographical databases and cartography; data collection and interpretation; and GIS project management. Students will also learn about related tools such as ArcGIS that assist public health workers, biologists, emergency management personnel, and others in public service and research. This course will teach the fundamentals and enable the students to acquire new skills in other GIS software such as QGIS. This course will utilize ArcGIS Pro software. This software will be run only on Windows-based computers. Mac users will require to create a virtual Windows on Mac in order to install ArcGIS. Prerequisites: Knowledge of basic computer file management, Microsoft Excel/PowerPoint, and basic Windows operations.