NR 218 - Introduction to GIS Final Project

Learning Goals

  • Use GIS to solve a practical problem of your own design
  • Collect or access geospatial data
  • Analyze the collected data using the appropriate geoprocessing operations
  • Present your findings in a written report complete with maps and statistics

Final Project Submission #1 - Brainstorm

Come up with your own geospatial analysis idea. Submit a well thought out paragraph which describes:

  1. The question/problem you have identified
  2. The geographic data you will use to answer the question
  3. The geoprocessing steps you will perform on the data
  4. The expected outputs of your analysis

You may also frame your question as a hypothesis test (as in the Scientific Method)

Project Ideas to Get You Started

  • Record your hikes/runs/bike rides over the quarter (using an app like Strava), and plot your routes on a map
  • Analyze satellite-based rainfall data in SLO county. What parts of the county experience the most and least amounts of rain? Can you say why that might be?
  • Determine the area of a recently burned fire by analyzing changes in satellite imagery

SUBMIT: 1 paragraph description of the geospatial problem you want to solve, including descriptions of the datasets and processing techniques that you will use in order to solve the problem.

Final Project Check Ins

The professor and TA will provide directed feedback based on the results of the brainstorm submission, and meet individually with students to set direction, select datasets, and explore processing techniques. It is STRONGLY recommended that students work on final project in between brainstorm and check-ins, particularly in downloading data and setting scope. This will help ensure project remains on track.

Final Project Submission #2 - Outline

Based on verbal feedback from conversations and written feedback given on project brainstorm, write a one-page outline describing your study. The format should be:

Introduction

  • What problem are you trying to solve?
  • Why is it important?
  • Why does it matter to you and/or the world?
  • I find it helpful to frame as a question

Examples: - Are different demographic groups disproportionately exposed to poor air quality? - How are temperature and precipitation patterns changing in SLO county? - What’s the fastest route that I can bike between certain landmarks on campus? How does bike infrastructure/time of day factor in?

IMPORTANT: Do not choose too challenging a problem or too large a geographic area or time window to analyze - you have 5 weeks to work on this project. It should be well-scoped and achievable.

Data

  • What data will you use to answer the question you’ve posed?
  • Is this primary or secondary data? Describe the data and the relevant formats.

IMPORTANT: Do not wait until the last minute to download the data! Strongly suggest finding and downloading sample data for this project WITH this submission, as it will guide the scope of the analysis.

Methods

  • If working with secondary data, what geoprocessing or other analyses will you apply to the data?
  • If working with primary data, how will you collect it? What software will be used? Will you be able to upload it into GIS?

Expected Conclusions/Hypotheses

  • What do you expect to see from your analysis?

Final Project Report

Submit an 8-12 page report with the following sections:

Introduction

Describe the problem/question

Data and Methods

What data will you use to investigate this question? What processing steps and analysis did you perform to answer the problem/question?

Results

Describe the results of the analysis

Discussion

Discuss and contextualize the results. Were the results what were expected? What assumptions were made in the analysis? How do these results recontextualize the original question? Given what you have learned, what further analysis would you perform?

Conclusions

What are your high level takeaways? What would you have done differently? If you were continuing the project, what else would you do?

References

Citations and original sources of any sources used (data, websites, publications, etc) in Harvard format.

Final Project Presentation [Optional]

For extra credit, communicate your findings to the class in a 10-minute presentation, mirroring the structure of the report. Be sure to include maps created during the analysis and other figures, graphs, and charts describing your study and findings.