Data & Donuts

This workshop will provide an explanation of key geospatial terms and concepts and an introduction to geographic information system (GIS) software for visualizing, analyzing, storing, processing, and managing geospatial data. By the end of this session you should have the core knowledge required to start working effectively with geospatial datasets.

This workshop will provide instruction on browsing for geospatial data, cover how to search for specific datasets to download, and will discuss how to process downloaded data using GIS software to enhance its usability.

This workshop will cover the essentials of working with geospatial data along with a review of data management best practices so that you can learn how to avoid the pitfalls that often ensnare researchers who are new to working with geospatial information.

This workshop will provide an introduction into the use of R and the RStudio integrated development environment for geoprocessing and geospatial analysis. Importing, manipulating, and visualizing geospatial data in R will be discussed in addition to demonstrations of common cases where geospatial analysis in R might be beneficial. Laptops with RStudio will be available so that you can follow along. No previous R experience is required.

ArcGIS Online is a cloud GIS platform which supports data hosting and provides an easy to use web interface for designing interactive web maps without having to write any code. This workshop will cover the process of uploading geospatial data to ArcGIS Online, publishing it as a web service that can call be called by web applications, and creating a customized Story Map web application that presents the data in a narrated fashion through an interactive map interface.

This workshop will cover the essentials of cartographic design and teach you how to design a custom map using QGIS software and openly available data that you can download online. Laptops preloaded with QGIS software will be available for attendees to use in the interactive portion of this work, but you are welcome to bring your own laptop if you would like so that you can work on your personal computer.