ESCI 220 - Cartography: Spatial Data Visualization with GIS

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as GEOG 220) Geographic information systems (GIS) give us the ability to display and analyze data, and thus give us broader perspectives on social and environmental processes and patterns. Map-making and communication with spatial data are therefore fundamental aspects of Geography. This course uses GIS to make thematic maps and to acquire and present spatial data in diverse ways. In addition, we explore the culture, politics, and technology of historical cartography, and we examine how maps have been used as rhetorical and political texts. Throughout the course, we focus on strategies for clear, efficient, and intentional communication through graphic presentation of data. Thus, the course integrates problems of design, esthetics, and communication with techniques for manipulating quantitative data. In the final project, students apply ideas to a topic of their individual interest. ArcGIS is used in labs for map production and data analysis. TBA.

Prerequisite(s): One 100-level Geography or Earth Science course, or permission of the instructor.

Satisfies the college requirement for quantitative reasoning.

Two 75-minute periods and one 2-hour lab.

Course Format: CLS