Introduction to Urban Geo-Informatics

“ Where does geographical data come from?”

“ How do we monitor our environment?”

“ How do we navigate with our phones?”

“ What is happening beneath our feet?”

These are just some of the questions that crop up every so often as we wander around the streets of our urban metropolises. Many of the technologies we used, many of the decisions we made are based on spatial data, most of which are acquired from Geospatial Technologies. This data and the interpretation of the data is known as “Geo-Informatics”.

In this course, you will explore various technologies involved in Geo-Informatics, how the technologies help us to retrieve spatial data, and more importantly how the geographical data becomes the information used in decision making.

You will explore the fields of Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GPS, and Underground Mapping. Additionally, the concept of Smart City and the Urban Environment will be introduced to you. From this, you will gain an understanding of how these technologies help us to shape and understand the world that we are living in.

• Issues surrounding the Urban Environment
• History and skills involved in the different Geospatial Technologies (Remote Sensing, GIS, GNSS, Underground Mapping)
• Discover how Geospatial data is collected, analyzed, and used to shape our world

Week 1: The Urban Environment

Introduction to the Urban Environment and its issues.

Week 2: GIS

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS); its role and how data are analysed inside a GIS, the applications of GIS, and how it is integrated into our lives.

Week 3: Remote Sensing

Introduction to Remote Sensing; its history and techniques, how data are acquired through Remote Sensing technologies, and how they are processed.

Week 4: Underground Survey & Mapping

Introduction to methods for Underground Mapping and how to see the unseen.

Week 5: Navigational Systems

Introduction to how we position ourselves on Earth, how we navigate through our surroundings, and the different Systems.

Week 6: Smart Cities

Introduction to what is a Smart City, where Big Data come from, and how we can use Big Data to shape our world.