Applications of Geospatial Data in Data Science

There is Power in Place!

In reality all data is all geospatial. While location information is often overlooked, each measurement happens at a particular location and may be designated by an address, a town, a state, a country or many other ways. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) greatly expand our ability as data scientists to unlock location data to enhance our exploration of many types of questions.

Join us for an introduction to GIS and the offerings of the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (http://vcgi.vermont.gov/) (VCGI) with Kendall Fortney and Steve Sharp, GIS Operations Manager at VCGI.

To get a feeling of some of the work out there take a look at the geospatial storytelling of the Restoration of Cuba (https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/havana-restoration/index.html), or depiction of the growth over time of Portland, OR by showing the age of its buildings (http://labratrevenge.com/pdx/#12/45.4800/-122.6706). Or understanding where Locals and Tourists (https://www.mapbox.com/bites/00245/locals/#5/38.000/-95.000) are located through geospatial mapping of Twitter.

Kendall and Steve will cover the basics the history of GIS, data structures, programs and tools and potential application to data driven questions.

Additionally there will be a related opportunity to apply these skills competitively later this fall (..throat clearing sound, hint, hint!)