Geographical information systems (GIS)

Introduction

Key terms: quantitative research, illustration/visualisation skills, spatial analysis, QGIS, introductory course, relevant for students in any PhD phase.

ECTS: 2.5 
Number of sessions: 4
Hours per session: 3

Geographic information systems include tools for analysing data with a geographical or spatial component and for visualizing complex social patterns. In the social sciences, GIS enables researchers to explore the relationships between place, space, population and policy, revealing insights into issues such as inequality, exposure, urban development, and public health.

For instance, GIS can be used to analyse spatial patterns of access to healthcare facilities in urban areas to identify disparities based on income or ethnicity, or to assess crime hotspots and their effects on property values and neighbourhood cohesion.

The course teaches you the vocabulary and tools to formulate and analyse such social research problems with a geographic or spatial component. It covers GIS-specific concepts, such as proximity, density, and accessibility, which are common to many socio-geographic research problems.

We will discuss different theories and methods which will be practiced during the lectures by point-and-click exercises. During two lectures you are expected to present your research problem and to discuss the geospatial approach to your research. Lastly, (homework) exercises will help you test your skills acquired during the lectures.

Note that you will need to bring a laptop to all sessions. It is recommended to use an external pointer device (i.e., a mouse). 

Entry level and relevance

Mastering your computer’s file system, structured file handling, and handling data files in different formats should belong to your computing skills to follow this course. However, no prior knowledge of GIS or QGIS is necessary.

To determine whether this course is relevant for you, please review the following criteria: 
•    The problem of your research has a spatial component. That is, your research questions include phrases with: near, next to, (spatially) related to, correlates with, etc.   
•    You make use of quantitative (spatial) data for your research.
•    You expect that GIS analytics will cover part of your data analysis problem.
•    Mapping and visualisations are considered as a valuable component of your research.
If one or several of these criteria are applicable, then this course could be beneficial for you .

This course is relevant for students in any PhD phase. It is recommended, however, to follow the course before starting to collect data for your GIS-related research.

You can get in touch with the lecturer in case you have questions about the relevance of the course.

Relations with other courses

There is no significant overlap between this course and other EGSH courses.
 

Sessions and preparations

Session 1: Basic concepts
•    Introduction to the basic concepts of GIS/QGIS (interface, maps & data, data model, data layers).
•    Getting acquainted with QGIS based on tutorials, exercises and simple use-cases.
Preparation: Prior to the first session, you are requested to install the latest long-term release (LTR) version of the open source QGIS software package from https://qgis.org/download/. Contact the instructor well in advance of the course if the installation of the software on your laptop fails.  

Session 2: Operationalisation
•    Social science and GIS
•    GIS-based analytical approach
•    Coordinate reference systems (CRS)
•    Present your research to the class

Session 3: Analysis techniques
•    Heat maps and risk analysis
•    Spatial correlation (map algebra analysis techniques)
•    Georeferencing
•    Discuss GIS approach to your research problem (if applicable).

Session 4: Cartography
•    More advanced spatial analysis
•    Creating maps (cartography)