Advanced GIS for Urban Planners
No matter how large or small your community, planners, environmental scientists, public health officers, and other local analysts must deal with spatial information: addresses, land parcels and land cover, zoning, transportation networks, housing stock, neighborhoods, streams, and natural hazards. Federal, regional, state, county, and local planning agencies and private enterprises have realized the power of Geographic Information System (GIS) to identify problems, respond to them efficiently, and share the results with a variety of audience. GIS techniques provide tools to help you present and analyze spatial information.
PLAN591 Advanced GIS for Urban Planners covers a range of intermediate to advanced concepts of GIS and spatial analysis. The course intends to provide broad coverage of GIS topics so that students will feel comfortable with the most common functions of GIS and spatial analysis, and will also be competent in using GIS software. The class is not intended to make students into GIS coding, spatial modeling or spatial statistics experts – those interested in a GIS-based career path should continue to take a programming course in Computer Science (C++ or Python), a database course in Computer Science, and one of Geography’s advanced GIS offerings.
Course Strucuture
Course Topics and Reference Readings:
Class 1 - Course Overview and Introduction to GIS
Lecture:
• Course overview
• How to obtain and install ArcGIS
• Application of GIS in urban planning
• Tour – Installation of ArcGIS Desktop and Pro
• Defining GIS
• Basic Knowledge of GIS Data Structure
Reference Readings on GIS and Applications:
• Esri. GIS Best Practices: GIS for Urban and Regional Planning.
• https://www.esri.com/library/brochures/pdfs/gis-sols-for-urban-planning.pdf
Lab 1: Get familiar with ArcGIS
Class 2 – Mapping Basics
Lecture:
• Map design - Making effective thematic maps; Presenting data
Reference Reading on Map Design:
• Esri. Introduction to Map Design.
• https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/product/uncategorized/map-design-101/
• Making Maps 101: Elements, Layout, and Design
• https://www.unearthlabs.com/blogs/making-maps-101
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Mapping single-family parcels in Washington County, Oregon. Chapter 2.
• Lab 2 (after class exercise): Online mapping. Instructions will be provided.
Class 3 - Introduction to ArcGIS
Lecture:
• The basics of applied GIS – Using ArcMap, ArcCatalog and ArcToolBox
• More discussion on Map design - Map scale, Projections, Coordinate systems, and Symbols
• Making sense of Census data
Reference Reading on GIS and Census:
• For more on downloading GIS data from Census, please see https://gisgeography.com/best-free-gis-data-sources-raster-vector/
• https://www.socialexplorer.com/help/using-reports/reports-getting-started/getting-started-with-reports
• https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/ngp/tnm-delivery/gis-data-download
• https://github.com/CenterForSpatialResearch/gis_tutorials/blob/master/19_Importing_and_Exporting_GIS_Data_from_Google_Earth_and_Google_Maps.md
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Preparing GIS Data – Projection. Chapter 2_supplementary.
• Lab 2: Preparing GIS Data –
2-1 Creating Spatial Vector Data from Other Sources
2-2 Georeferencing Aerial Photos
2-3 Geocoding
• Assignment 1 – Making sense of Census
Class 4 – Spatial Data Representation
Lecture:
• Spatial data representations: vector, raster, and surface
• Spatial data models: shapes, coverages, geodatabases, and grids
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Geoprocessing, Dissolve and Buffer (Census and TAZ overlaying).
• Lab 2: Application of Geoprocessing: Mapping job and housing balance.
Reference Reading on Job-housing Balance:
• Esri. Jobs-housing balance, transit-oriented development, and commute time: Integrating GIS and GPS.
Class 5 – Raster and TIN models
Lecture:
• Types of raster data; Raster data model; Raster analysis; Raster formats and Internet resources
• Application and examples of raster data model
• Surface modeling; Structure of TIN; Modeling surface feature; Surface analysis; TIN Internet resources
• Applications and examples of surface model
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Working with DEM data – Construction topography information.
• Lab 2: Working with DEM data – Hydrological analysis.
• Assignment 2 – Computing the NDVI
Reference Reading on NDVI:
• Mahesh Rao, Guoliang Fan, Johnson Thomas, Ginto Cherian, Varun Chudiwale, Muheeb Awawdeh, A web-based GIS Decision Support System for managing and planning USDA’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Environmental Modelling & Software, Volume 22, Issue 9, September 2007, Pages 1270-1280, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364815206001988)
Class 6 – ArcGIS Extensions (1) – 3D Analysis
Final Project Discussed
Lecture:
• More on Data preparation and integration; Data media conversion – digitizing; Data format conversion
• Global positioning system
Lab Session:
• Lab 1. Managing 3D data.
Reference Reading on 3D GIS and Planning:
• Bhattarai, Keshav, and Dennis Conway. “Urban Vulnerabilities in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: Visualizations of Human/Hazard Interactions.” J. Geographic Information System 2.2 (2010): 63-84.
Class 7 – ArcGIS Extensions (2) – Networks in GIS
Lecture:
• Concept of networks, Network models; Network analysis
• Important applications, utilities and transportation, using network model in GIS
Lab Session:
• Assignment 3 Network analysis
Reference Readings on Network Analyst and Applications:
• Greg Rybarczyk, Changshan Wu, Bicycle facility planning using GIS and multi-criteria decision analysis, Applied Geography, Volume 30, Issue 2, April 2010, Pages 282-293, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622809000502)
• Belinda Gallardo, M. Paz Errea, and David C. Aldridge. Application of bioclimatic models coupled with network analysis for risk assessment of the killer shrimp, Dikerogammarus villosus, in Great Britain. Biological Invasions, June 2012, Volume 14, Issue 6, pp 1265-1278. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10530-011-0154-0#)
Class 8 – ArcGIS Extensions (3) – Spatial Analyst
Lecture:
• Spatial analysis
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Spatial Analyst – Viewshed analysis.
Reference Reading on Spatial Analyst and Applications:
• Susanna T.Y. Tong, Wenli Chen, Modeling the relationship between land use and surface water quality, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 66, Issue 4, December 2002, Pages 377-393, ISSN 0301-4797, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479702905931)
Class 9 – Spatial Statistics
Lecture:
• Spatial statistics
• Spatial autocorrelation; Spatial error
• Exploratory spatial data analysis
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: ArcGIS Extension Geostatistical Analyst – Air quality surface.
• Assignment 4: Geostatistical Analyst – Temperature surface
Reference Reading on Spatial Statistics:
• Luc Anselin, From SpaceStat to CyberGIS: Twenty Years of Spatial Data Analysis Software. International Regional Science Review, April 2012, Issue 35, pp. 131-157. (http://irx.sagepub.com/content/35/2/131.short)
• Yan Song, Louis Merlin and Daniel Rodriguez, The Measurement of Land Use Mix: A Review and Simulation. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. In press.
Class 10 – Advanced Data Modeling, Feature and Feature Cataloguing
Lecture:
• Progress of spatial data models
o CAD (Computer Aided Design) data model; Georelational data model; Object-oriented data model
• Features in an object-oriented data model
• Building data models
o Logical data model; Physical data model
• The characteristics of features; Geometry and features
• The structure of features and objects in ArcInfo 9: Subtype; Validation and domain; Relationships
• Testing spatial relationship; Topological operators
• Needs for feature cataloguing
• Understanding feature cataloguing methodology
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Creating a geodatabase based on a logical model
Reference Reading on Geodatabase:
• Stefano Morelli, Samuele Segoni, Goffredo Manzo, Leonardo Ermini, Filippo Catani, Urban planning, flood risk and public policy: The case of the Arno River, Firenze, Italy, Applied Geography, Volume 34, May 2012, Pages 205-218, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622811002232)
Class 11 – ArcGIS Pro and Applications of Big Data in Urban Analysis
Lecture:
• Introduction of ArcGIS Pro
• Big data and applications
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Point pattern analysis of social network data in ArcGIS Pro
• Lab 2: Create Interactive Map in Tableau with GIS data
Class 12 – Remote Sensing
Lecture:
• Application of remote sensing in planning, for example, land use and land cover analysis, and urban sprawl studies
• Basic concepts in satellite remote sensing
Lab Session:
• Lab 1: Working with Remote Sensing Imagery.
• Lab 2: Estimating urban economic activities with Nighttime Images. Chapter 10.
Reference Reading on Remote Sensing and Applications:
• Qihao Weng, Remote sensing of impervious surfaces in the urban areas: Requirements, methods, and trends, Remote Sensing of Environment, Volume 117, 15 February 2012, Pages 34-49, (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425711002811)
Class 13 – Programming in GIS
Lecture:
• ArcGIS customization
• Introducing VBA and Python; Programming VBA Python in ArcGIS;
• UI Control and Macros
• Introducing ArcObjects; ArcObjects:
o Map Components; Map Object; ArcMap Object; Map Layer; Layer Type; Layer
• Application Extension
• Review: Problem solving with ArcObjects
Lab Session:
• Assignment 7 Model Builder and Scripting
Class 14 – Final Project Presentation and Wrap-up
We will have students to present their final project. Each student will have 20-30 minutes (15-25 minutes for presentation and 5 minutes for questions and discussions).