GEO 442: GIS for Sustainable Urban Development (GIS4SUD)

Winter 2016 | DePaul University | Department of Geography

Time: Tue 6:00-9:15 pm Location: SAC 224 (GIS Lab)

Instructor: Sungsoon (Julie) Hwang (email: shwang9@depaul.edu; phone: 773-325-8668; office: 990 W Fullerton, Suite 4500; office hours: Mon/Tue/Wed 2-3 or by appointment; homepage: gis.depaul.edu/shwang)

Teaching Assistant: Cezar Papa (email: CEZARP@LIVE.COM; lab hours: Tuesday 3-5 pm)

1. Course description: this course will examine how GIS has been used to monitor, and evaluate efforts advancing sustainability in urban areas. Students will learn geospatial techniques in support of sustainable practices, including promoting energy efficiency, managing water resources, promoting sustainable options of transportation, improving access to local healthy foods, and responding to climate change. This is accomplished through hands-on lab activities and a case study conducted in collaboration with a non-profit organization engaged in promotion of sustainable practices in Chicago. Prerequisites: GEO 441 or successful completion of the GIS certificate is a prerequisite for this course.

2. Course topics: through this course we will work to address three questions:

· How to measure and organize sustainability indicators? (sustainability assessment)

· How to make the best use of geospatial data in working toward sustainable society? (spatial data infrastructure)

· How to analyze geospatial data to explore sustainability-related issues? (spatial analysis)

To guide efforts to navigate a transition toward sustainable society, it is necessary to “develop operational systems for monitoring environmental and social conditions”—sustainability assessment. How do we know whether cities or regions are on a sustainable path? If sustainability can be measured, how can sustainability indicators be organized and integrated to monitor sustainability conditions? The course begins with a survey of capital theory and ecosystem services as a theoretical framework of sustainability assessment. Capital theory attempts to include natural capital in an economic accounting system. Two different views in capital theory—weak and strong sustainability conditions—can provide a baseline for sustainability assessment. One of challenges with assessing sustainability conditions is valuation of natural capital. Analysis of ecosystem services puts a value on nature and examines nature’s service to human well-being. In this course we will discuss ways to monitor sustainability conditions, and role of GIS in sustainability assessment.

Sustainability assessment won’t be realized without good geospatial data. What constitutes good data? How could data quality be checked, measured, and ensured? Do you agree that geospatial data is an asset (or a common good) that enables the betterment of society? Even when quality data is available, what would deter putting geospatial data into good or just any use? To improve usability of geospatial data, we don’t simply need good data, but also need “institutional arrangements that promote acquisition and dissemination of spatial data”—spatial data infrastructure (SDI). You will get to reflect on the concept of SDI through (a) labs in which you create geospatial data on your own, assess how good data is, and publish maps online, and (b) service-learning where you work with organizations to help them meet their GIS needs.

Due to complex nature of sustainability issues, it would be challenging to gain insights from a large volume of heterogeneous data related to those issues. Does GIS help address these challenges? If so, how? What are appropriate ways of analyzing geospatial data that vary in terms of domain (environmental to social), geographic scales (local to global), sources, and quality? What methods of spatial analysis are available for use in working with various types of geospatial data? Interactive visual interface and analytical tools available in GIS can facilitate analytical reasoning that helps us make sense of environmental and social conditions. You will get hands-on experiences with exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) that eclectically combines merits of statistics and interactive visualization through this course, and will reflect on applying ESDA to exploring sustainability issues like energy, food, transportation, and water.

3. Course readings

· John Jensen & Ryan Jensen (2012) [JJ] Introductory Geographic Information Systems, Pearson (ISBN: 978-0136147763). Same as the GEO 441 text.

· Other readings posted on D2L.

4. Learning outcomes: at the successful completion of this course, you should be able to

· Describe how sustainability indicators are organized according to capital theory and analysis of ecosystem services

· Articulate ways in which GIS can enhance sustainability assessment by drawing on the link between sustainability framework and GIS fundamentals

· Identify issues with developing spatial data infrastructure by drawing upon experiences working with a community-based organization (CBO) of your choice

· Enforce data integrity by creating a geodatabase, and disseminate databases/maps online

· Describe components of spatial data quality and how to measure them

· Acquire and assess quality of data related to sustainability issues (water, food, energy, and transportation) of interest

· Conduct spatial analysis of various geographic data (lattice, field, event, and network data) appropriately

· Design and create information products that meet CBO’s geographic information needs

· Articulate ways in which information products designed for CBO are conductive to advancing sustainability

5. Outlines of topics and tentative schedules*

Wk	Date	Topic	Readings	In-class activities (labs & group work)	CBO Project (due Fri.)
1	1/5	Course overview	Syllabus	Review CBO projects, take quiz Lab0: recap GIS fundamentals
2	1/12	Meet with CBO representatives Capital Theory	Grainger 2005 Meadows 1998	Form groups, set up meetings Lab1: change analysis
3	1/19	Ecosystem Services Spatial data infrastructure	Egoh 2012, JJ ch.3 Feeney 2001, JJ 5	Lab2: GPS data collection Lab3: heads-up digitizing
4	1/26	Data Quality Work on CBO1	JJ ch.4	Lab4: assess data quality Lab5: publish maps online	CBO1 (GINA)
5	2/2	Exploratory spatial data analysis Point pattern analysis	Anselin 2005 JJ ch.8	Lab6: exploratory data analysis Lab7: hot spot detection
6	2/9	Presentation (food) Proximity analysis	JJ ch.8	Work on CBO2 Lab8: proximity analysis	CBO2 (DQR)
7	2/16	Presentation (transportation) Network analysis	JJ ch.7	Work on CBO3 Lab9: model traffic flow
8	2/23	Presentation (energy) Spatial interpolation	JJ ch.9	Work on CBO3 Lab10: map continuous data	CBO3 (IPD)
9	3/1	Presentation (water)		Work on CBO4
10	3/8	Final exam		Work on CBO4
11	3/15	CBO4 (PFR) due Tuesday

*Schedules are subject to change contingent upon how classes progress

6. Grading components

· Labs (each 2 points) 20 points

· CBO Project (group work) 35 points

ü CBO1: Geo. Info. Needs Assessment (GINA) (5 points)

ü CBO2: Data Quality Report (DQR) (5 points)

ü CBO3: Information Product Design (IPD) (5 points)

ü CBO4: Project Final Report (PFR) (20 points)

· Presentation (individual work) 15 points

· Final exam 20 points

· Participation 10 points

6.1 Labs: learn intermediate to advanced -level concepts and skills related to geospatial data collection and analysis

01. Perform change analysis and create animation

02. Collect waypoint data with a GPS receiver

03. Create a geodatabase through heads-up digitizing

04. Calculate root mean square error (RMSE), and construct error matrix to assess data quality

05. Author metadata, and publish maps in ArcGIS online

06. Link graphs/statistics to maps to explore lattice (areal, 2D) data (e.g., census data)

07. Conduct cluster analysis on discrete event (1D) data using nearest neighbor analysis and kernel density estimation

08. Conduct proximity analysis on event data using near, Thiessen polygon, and point distance tools

09. Conduct network analysis (closest facility, OD cost matrix, location-allocation) using Network Analyst

10. Explore continuous field (3D) data and conduct spatial interpolation using Geostatistical Analyst

6.2 CBO Project: define and conduct GIS project to help a CBO of your choice meet their GIS needs. One of challenges with furthering SDI or spatially enabled society is lack of recognition as to how GIS can be used in advancing sustainability initiatives in CBOs. This will give you an opportunity to design and create information products that come out of GIS to meet their information needs given varying organizational contexts. Final report should help CBOs better understand how capabilities of GIS can be incorporated into decision-making in those organizations.

We will partner with four CBOs in Chicagoland for this quarter. Choose one organization that interests you from the following four community-based organizations. More information on these service-learning sites and GIS projects is posted on D2L.

· LUCHA (Latin United housing Association) wants to assess risks for affordable housing and identify investment opportunities to build low-income housing.

· Enlace Chicago wants to get a sense of where safe routes to school infrastructure and programs are most needed.

· Multi-Faith Veteran Support Initiative seeks to illustrate gaps and opportunities for veteran services

· Slow Roll Chicago wants to explore the equitable distribution of bicycle resources and the potential impact of cycling in color and low-to-moderate income neighborhoods.

Three persons will form a group to work for each organization. On the second week of the class, CBO representatives will come to the class to discuss projects and help you choose which organization/project you will with. GIS projects can be defined in cooperation with CBO representatives, but should be defined to meet the minimum requirement that uses at least two sets of techniques learned from GEO 442.

CBO Project consists of the following four milestones:

· CBO1: Geographic Information Needs Assessment (GINA): Ask a CBO representative about their geographic information needs related to their sustainability initiative(s), and outline what geographic information products might meet those needs.

· CBO2: Data Quality Report (DQR): Review data acquired/collected for the project, check components of data quality (accuracy, completeness, consistency, and currency), and discuss suitability of the data for the project.

· CBO3: Information Product Design (IPD): Design information products, and lay out plan for data requirements and processing requirements.

· CBO4: Project Final Report (PFR): Write a final report that include introduction, GINA, DQR, IPD, results, and conclusions/recommendations. The report should address an instructor’s feedback provided on three previous milestones whenever possible. This report will be shared with CBO representatives as well at the end of the quarter.

Don’t be a free rider: peer evaluation form needs to be filled out at the end of the quarter. The peer evaluation will be used to adjust individuals’ grades within a group.

6.3 Presentation: choose one cross-cutting theme (or issue) among energy, food, transportation, and water related to sustainability that you’re interested in, and make a 20-minute presentation on geospatial data related to the issue you choose. It is often difficult to implement GIS projects for exploring sustainability-related issues because we are unaware of available data that might be potentially useful for those projects. You can choose other topics (like health and climate change) as long as they are related to sustainability in consultation with an instructor. The goal of the presentation is to educate peers on those geospatial data. You need to address the following in the presentation:

· GIS Case Studies: Summarize one or more case studies that illustrate the use of GIS in sustainability of an issue that you choose to work on. You can choose to review one scientific article or five non-scientific articles at minimum. The list of sample scientific articles are posted on D2L although you can review articles other than those sample articles in consultation with an instructor.

· Data Review: Critically review a public-domain data pertaining to the theme of your choice that might be useful for GIS project (e.g., NREL solar radiation data for an energy group, EPA water quality data for a water group, land cover data for food) by reading its metadata (if available) and exploring the data in GIS.

6.4 Final exam: one comprehensive closed-book final exam will be given on week 10 in the class.

6.5 Participation: assigned according to the criteria below

· A (9-10) = Student is present in all or nearly class meetings, and prepared, at all times, to respond to questions. Student is an active participant in and out of class, and stays on task in class-time activities.

· B (8-9) = Student participates as above, 75% of the time.

· C (6.5-8) = Student does not volunteer comments; responses demonstrate vague familiarity with course readings. Student is a passive participant in and out of class, and/or does not stay on task during class-time activities.

· D (5-6.5) = Student never volunteers, cannot respond to direct questions, keeps silent during class discussions and is unable to summarize readings if asked.

· F (0-5) = Student misses many class sessions and/or sits silently in classes when present, or is disruptive and non-participatory in the classroom.

Grading Scale: A 93-100%; A- 90-92.99%; B+ 87-89.99%; B 83-86.99%: C+ 77-79.99%; C 73-76.99%; D+ 60-69.99%; D 50-59.99%; F 0-49.99%

Late Work Policy: Late work can be accepted with the reduction of 20% of the grade per day being late. For instance, if you turn in labs 5 days after due dates, no points will be granted.

Makeup Exam/Incomplete Grade Policy: A makeup exam or an incomplete grade can be arranged or granted only when credible dire and documented medical or family situations arise and these circumstances are communicated in a timely fashion.

7. Detailed plan of classes by week

Week 1 (1/5)

Before the class, go over syllabus and skim through Jensen (the required text) chapter 2, 3, 5, 6 & 10 for any questions.

Course overview, Q&A on course policies and etc.

Quiz on GIS fundamentals (not graded) to gauge prior knowledge of GIS.

Do Lab0 to refresh ArcGIS skills

Week 2 (1/12)

Before the class, BE SURE TO (a) read CBO project description (site grid) on D2L carefully; (b) pick project(s) that you’d like to work on; and (c) bring questions to ask CBO representatives. Also read Grainger (2005) pp. 13-20 and Meadows (1998) section 6 posted on D2L.

CBO representatives will be in the class 6-7:30 pm for Q&A. A sign-up sheet will be distributed to form groups after Q&A. Once groups are formed, discuss plans for the project with CBO representatives, and set up future meetings with them. CBO1 (due 1/29) guidelines will be distributed to facilitate group discussion and preparation for CBO1 report.

Capital theory and sustainability indicators

· Distinguish between week and strong sustainability conditions and discuss implications

· Differentiate four forms of capital (natural, built, human, and social capital) in the Daly Triangle

· Identify indicators for each of four tiers of the Daly Triangle with specific examples

Lab1 (change analysis): analyze change and create animation

Grainger, A. (2005). Introduction. In M. Purvis & A. Grainger (Eds.) Exploring Sustainable Development: Geographical Perspectives (pp. 13-20). London: Earthscan.

Meadows, D. (1998) Indicators and Information Systems for Sustainable Development (pp. 40-71). The Sustainability Institute.

Week 3 (1/19)

Read Egoh et al. (2012) section 3 & 4, Feeney et al. (2001), and Jensen (the required text) chapter 3 before the class

Ecosystem services and sustainability indicators in GIS

· Discuss limitations of capital theory

· Distinguish four ecosystem services (supporting, provisioning, regulating, cultural)

· Identify indicators for each of four ecosystem services with specific examples

· Discuss roles of GIS in monitoring sustainability

Lab2 (GPS data collection): collect spatial data with GPS receivers

Spatial data infrastructure

· Identify barriers to appropriate use of geospatial data

· Describe what constitutes spatial data infrastructure

· Discuss role of spatial data infrastructure in sustainable development

Lab3 (heads-up digitizing): enforce data integrity using domain in geodatabase

Egoh B., Drakou, E.G., Dunbar, M.B., Maes, J., & Willemen, L. (2012) Indicators for Mapping Ecosystem Services: a Review (pp. 9-28). Joint Research Centre.

Feeney, M., Rajabifard, A., & Williamson, I. P. (2001, May). Spatial Data Infrastructure Frameworks to Support Decision-Making for Sustainable Development. In 5th Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference.

Week 4 (1/26) Read Jensen (the required text) chapter 4 (data quality) before the class

Data quality

· Discuss what constitutes good data

· Describe root mean square error (RMSE) and discuss when to use it

· Describe error matrix and discuss when to use it

· Describe error propagation, ecological fallacy, and modifiable areal unit problem

Lab4 (assess data quality): calculate RMSE and kappa index from data created in Lab03

Work on CBO1 (due 1/29) with your group members in the class.

Lab5 (publish maps online): publish databases and maps in ArcGIS Online

Week 5 (2/2) Read Jensen chapter 8 p. 240-246, Anselin (2005) and Jensen chapter 8 p. 247-255 before the class

Exploratory spatial data analysis

· Describe what exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) is, and discuss its merits

· Conduct exploratory data analysis (EDA) and interpret results appropriately

· Conduct ESDA for lattice data, and interpret results appropriately

Lab6: conduct EDA techniques (link stat/graphs to maps), and ESDA techniques for lattice (area, 2D) data

Point pattern analysis

· Conduct quadrat analysis

· Conduct nearest neighbor analysis, and interpret results appropriately

· Create hot spot maps (or heat maps) using kernel density estimation appropriately

Lab7: use quadrat analysis, nearest neighbor analysis, and kernel density estimation to detect any hot spots

Anselin, L (2005). Interactive Techniques and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis. In Longley et al. (Eds) Geographical Information Systems: Principles, Techniques, Management, and Applications. The Second Edition--Abridged Version. Wiley.

Week 6 (2/9) Read Jensen chapter 8 p. 233-240 before the class

Those who signed up for food will make 20 minute presentation for each (summarize one scientific article on use of GIS related to sustainable food, and review GIS data related to food).

Proximity analysis

· Calculate distance to the nearest features

· Create Thiessen polygon (proximal zones of features)

· Calculate distance between a pair of origin and destination

Lab8: use proximity analysis tools for analyzing event (point, 1D) data

Week 7 (2/16) Read Jensen chapter 7 before the class

Those who signed up for transportation will make 20 minute presentation (summarize one scientific article on use of GIS related to sustainable transportation and review GIS data related to transportation).

Network analysis

· Describe how address geocoding works

· Describe network data model

· Conduct network analysis (closest facility, OD cost matrix, location-allocation) for network (2D) data

Lab9: use Network Analysts for modeling flow (or spatial interaction) on the network (line, 1D) data

Week 8 (2/23) Read Jensen chapter 9 p. 261-272 before the class

Those who signed up for energy will make 20 minute presentation for each (summarize articles on use of GIS related to sustainable energy, and critically review GIS data related to energy).

Spatial interpolation

· Use ESDA techniques for exploring field (point, 3D) data (variogram, trend surface analysis) appropriately

· Perform spatial interpolation (Kriging, IDW, spline) using Geostatistical Analyst

Lab10: use Geostatistical Analysts for estimating unknown values from sample field data (e.g., pollution, temperature)

Week 9 (3/1)

Those who signed up for water will make 20 minute presentation (summarize one scientific article on use of GIS related to sustainable water and review GIS data related to water).

Work on CB04

Week 10 (3/8)

Final exam

Work on CBO4

Week 11 (3/15): No class meeting. Submit CBO4 on D2L.

8. Miscellaneous

Attendance/Absentee Policy: Consistent with university’s policy, all students are expected to attend class meetings. Unless absence is explained on medical or compassionate grounds (documentation is required), absence from any classes is grounds for a grade adjustment.

Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Academic honesty and integrity are expected at all times. Academic dishonesty, such as cheating or copying during exams, will be punished severely. Plagiarism – using someone else’s work without acknowledgment and, therefore, presenting their ideas or quotations as your own work – is strictly forbidden. DePaul University officials will be informed of any instance of academic dishonesty and notification will be placed in your file. Please read the DePaul Academic Integrity Resources page (http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/Resources/index.html) for definitions and explanations of plagiarism and the University’s Academic Integrity expectations for students. Cutting and pasting text taken directly from a web-site without appropriate referencing and quotation marks is plagiarism and is forbidden. Submitting work that has any part cut and pasted directly from the internet is grounds for an automatic grade of zero.

Accommodations: Any student who requires assistance is asked to contact the University’s Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) (Phone 773/325-1677, TTY 773/325-7296, Fax 773/325-7396,http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/studentswithdisabilities).They will be able to assist both student and faculty. If you have a condition that requires accommodation from the Productive Learning Strategies program (PLuS Program) please contact them at the Student Center room 370 (Phone 773/3251677 or online: http://studentaffairs.depaul.edu/plus/

University Center for Writing-Based Learning: Collaborates with writers from all disciplines, backgrounds, levels of expertise, and roles within the University community. Their goal is to help develop better writers along with better writing and reflection through continual revision. If you need assistance with writing assignments, they can be contacted at: 773.325.4272 (LPC) or wcenter@depaul.edu

Department of Geography Learning Goals

Courses in the Department of Geography teach students—GEO 442 addresses goals #1, 5, 6, and 7:

à 1. Understand spatial patterns and processes of modification of the Earth’s physical and cultural landscapes (a) as social constructions, (b) as systems that link the Earth with human society in interdependent, dialectical relationships, and (c) through mapping and visualization.

2. Understand the concept of scale as a spatial phenomenon that ties the local, the regional, the national, the transnational, and the global in a system of interaction.

3. Understand the phenomenology of the discipline of Geography—most importantly, “space”, "place", "landscape," "region," and "location".

4. Distinguish that spaces, places, and so on, may have both objective and subjective/symbolic dimensions.

à 5. Develop research and writing competences that would allow you to: (a) formulate a cogent research question about the spatial character of a physical, socio-cultural, or environment-societal phenomenon, (b) write about it in ways that reflect analytical and critical thinking, and (c) ethical concern over social and environmental justice, consistent with the University’s social mission.

à 6. Engage competently in qualitative and quantitative spatial analysis, and with exercises that are concerned with explaining spatial regularities (for example, the spatial calculus behind the location of retail commerce in Chicago, or transnational flows of capital).

à 7. Learn the basic utility and use competently one or more of the information technologies that are now redefining the logistical limits of spatial analysis: geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing.

8. Achieve greater general knowledge of the world, its regions, its physical systems, its cultures, and political-territorial divisions.