Fall 2020
GEOG 560 Seminar in Geographic Information Science: Spatiotemporal Studies in GIScience
- Semester: Fall 2020
- Instructor: Manzhu Yu
- Office: 317 Walker Building
- E-mail: mqy5198@psu.edu
- Office hours: by appointment
- Class time: First meeting: Aug 26, 2020, Wednesday, 11:15 a.m. – 2:15 p.m. (in-person with Zoom setup). Other meeting times: To be determined after first meeting
Description
Everything happens in space and time. From natural disasters to human catastrophes; from public health to energy sustainability; from urban growth to food security. Are you interested in how these phenomena are linked in space and time? Would you like to have a deeper understanding how we can use GIScience methodologies and tools to address these challenging issues?
This seminar course brings together the state-of-the-art breakthroughs and emerging topics in Spatiotemporal Studies in GIScience (Geographic Information Science). Topics include the interdisciplinary research of geography, information science, social science, and spatial data science, while bringing spatial and temporal aspects together. Three major categories of topics include spatiotemporal data (Internet of Things, open and volunteered data, and time-varying imagery), spatiotemporal analysis (pattern and change detection, movement analysis, geo-simulation), and spatiotemporal prediction (machine and deep learning based methods for predicting traffic flows, air quality, precipitation, etc.). The goal of this course is for students to actively participate in the discussion of emerging research ideas, foster and develop their own research ideas related to spatiotemporal GIS, and complete a research paper equivalent to a peer-review journal article.
Course Objectives
- Students will practice analyzing and evaluating information presented in technical and/or scientific journals.
- Students will design, develop and present quality scientific presentations based upon the analysis of journal articles of a certain topic.
- Students will lead discussions also based upon the analysis of journal articles of a certain topic.
- Students will practice critical evaluation of another student’s presentation.
- Students will develop a research idea or enhance their ongoing research idea during this course and ultimately produce a research article equivalent to a peer-reviewed journal article with the help of the instructor. Students are encouraged (but not required) to publish with the instructor and/or their classmates with similar research interest after this course.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students taking this course should be enrolled in a graduate program of study in Geography, GIScience, Cartography, Computer Science, Human‐Computer Interaction, or other related fields, and have a broad understanding of the importance and uniqueness associated with GIS. No specific technology skills are required, and a wide range of technical backgrounds are welcome.
Course Materials
There is no required text. Readings will be in the form of journal articles and are online available through the Penn State library website (https://libraries.psu.edu/).