gis 101 – an introduction to geographic information systems

GIS 101 – An introduction to Geographic Information Systems

University of Illinois Library

Goals for today

• A Introduction to some of the things possible with GIS.

• Look at some maps.• Think about how GIS can be applied to your

own project.

Other workshops in this series

• Library GIS 102 – ArcMap and census data: Practice creating maps, finding data, shape files and making presentation layouts

• Library GIS 103 – ArcMap: Importing images and giving them locations, creating shape files, shading areas of proximity.

Introductions

• Name• Department• A sentence about why you are here

GIS = Geographic Information System

• A system to present information and analysis that has a geographic component.

• A system that uses maps and images to track any sort of information.

A wide range of things can form a Geographic Information System

• GPS in cars• Maps• What are some others?

What is needed to make a GIS?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179864672/

A sextant, clock, compass, tables and maps make this a GIS.

Sextant gives latitude

Clock gives longitude

Where people use GIS

• GPS in car for navigation• Google maps• Any map (electronic or paper)• Class projects• Geocaching

Where people use GIS

• Genealogy – trace the routes of your ancestors

• Crime by location in a city• Weather and climate• Demographics and human interest• Districts and neighborhoods

Why might you use GIS?

• To answer questions.

In 1900, which U.S. counties had the ability to produce a traditional Thanksgiving dinner?

Thanksgiving Meal Self-Sufficiency Index - 1900 Census

www.nhgis.org

What are some ideas you have for using GIS?

•

Family Migration

http://www.jsenterprises.com/john/famhist/hockertimmigration.html

Migration

• Many projects in History touch on migrations of people, ideas or items.

• Geographically related concepts can be visualized easier using a map.

• Maps can be drawn by hand, but having a computer re-draw it when you make a change can be very handy.

Stacy Maple’s story

• Studying the remains of New Mexico tribes and villages.

• He began to question if there was a relationship between the locations and environments of the sites.

• “He began plotting. Dot after dot, he placed each site onto an old United States Geological Survey topological map. But, again, he was left with dangling question marks. The points on paper did not suffice.”

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/oct/21/b/

Stacy Maple’s story

• GIS software can calculate relationships between sets of points.

• He discovered that hunter-gatherer tribes were located in places with panoramic views where they could see the surrounding land

• Agricultural tribes did not restrict their location in that way

• “Everything is somewhere, and that somewhere matters” – Stacy Maples, Yale GIS specialist

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/oct/21/b/

William Rankin

• GIS can be used to visualize complex or abstract correlations between any type of information with a geographic component.

• “Deciding to learn GIS to make a single map would be kind of like saying you want to learn Excel to make one graph”- William Rankin, history professor

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2011/oct/21/b/

John Snow and Cholera

• He was a physician in 1850’s London.• In 1849 he publishing an essay stating that

diseases such as Black Death and cholera were not caused by bad air.

• In 1854 he created a map that showed the relationship between cholera and the public sources of water in Soho England.

• As a result, the local council deactivated the pump that was the source of cholera.

Soho - 1854 map by John Snow

Red Highlight for the cholera cases

Make the circle size = # infected

Add Blue for the water sources

GIS for interactive urban design

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbVNbwN5bIk&feature=player_embedded

Larsen ‘C’ Ice Shelf

• Shows how the glacier has been shrinking

Bill Rankin’s Radical Cartography

• History professor at Yale• Interested in the relationship between

science and space.• http://www.yaledailynews.com/photos/galleri

es/2011/oct/21/radical-cartography/

• The following slides are from his gallery

All map projections have distortion

Making Europe look good warps the U.S.

We can make all latitudes straight

Gall Stereographic projection – stretches Canada

Less distortion of area size creates curving latitude lines

NAD 1983- State Plane Colorado

Strange Maps Blog

• Interesting maps and commentary. • http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps

The Best US map (award winning)

• David Imus – 6000 hours of work• Careful selection of information included, font

size and word placement• http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebo

x/2012/01/the_best_american_wall_map_david_imus_the_essential_geography_of_the_united_states_of_america_.html

The Best US map (award winning)

• David Imus – 6000 hours of work• Careful selection of information included, font

size and word placement• http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebo

x/2012/01/the_best_american_wall_map_david_imus_the_essential_geography_of_the_united_states_of_america_.html

CityEngine

• Build simulated cities. • Place the roads, pick some building styles and

the CityEngine fills in the rest.• http://www.esri.com/software/cityengine/de

mos.html

GIS time-lapse

• Pedestrians on a snowy sidewalk• http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnCh2xQnVLU

Interactive Web GIS

• Historic aerial images of Florida• http://ags.scgov.net/aerials/

Interactive Web GIS

• Google Map Maker• http://

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qyXTvj-Mm9k

Interactive Web GIS

• Open Street Map• Public domain, created by volunteers• Anyone can add information to the map• http://www.openstreetmap.org/

Interactive Web GIS

• Earthquakes – current data• Linked to USGS earthquake center• http://

help.arcgis.com/en/webapps/flexviewer/live/index.html

Survey

• What did you like most about this workshop?• What would you like to see in the future?• What GIS skills would you like to learn?

Thank you

• Scholarly Commons for one-on-one consultation. http://www.library.illinois.edu/sc/

• ATLAS data services and GIS training http://www.atlas.illinois.edu/news/#article54373