The
goal of this intermediate course is to familiarize students with the
applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess or
evaluate urban health challenges, and potential solutions, with a focus
on the Philadelphia context. Students are expected to have some prior
experience with using GIS. Through hands-on exercises based on local
case studies, students will gain practice in assessing the relationship
between aspects of our environments (e.g. housing, trees and parks,
food/nutrition) and health in Philadelphia. Class sessions will consist
of briefs lectures and extensive hands-on computer lab exercises that
students can tailor based on geographic location or health outcome
interests.
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
-
Use GIS tools such as spatial overlays, interpolation and zonal statistics with both vector and raster data.
-
Utilize GIS tools in combination with basic statistics and graphing to answer urban health research questions.
Prerequisite knowledge: Knowledge of basic concepts and
techniques of GIS or an introductory course in GIS is required. Prior
basic knowledge of ESRI's ArcGIS Pro software is recommended for this
course.
Technical requirements: A temporary license for Esri's
ArcGIS Pro will be provided for participants to install on their
computers.
