Why should geographers care about data science?
By Canserina Kurnia, Esri Senior Solution Engineer for Education, and Joseph Kerski, , GISP, Esri Education Manager Data science is the study of data. Data science involves developing methods of recording, storing, and analyzing data to effectively extract useful information. The discipline of geography has always been focused on data science, because geographers have always been keen to…
Visualizing Racial Equity
Race and place come together in various ways that generate different outcomes for different people. Too often, this results in racial inequity and social injustice. And none of this happens solely at one moment in time. These outcomes are a consequence of decades, generations, and centuries of policies, practices, assumptions, and actions. Esri’s racial equity…
The Advancement of Location Analytics in Business Schools
by Joseph Kerski Education Manager, Esri, and Instructor, University of Denver A quiet geographic revolution is occurring on many university and college campuses around the world. Faculty and students in schools and colleges of business are increasingly turning to GIS tools and data in instruction and research. Given that business has always been about "location,…
Resilience in GIS Education
COVID-19 Cases across the United States. Bang. The spring semester was cut short, everyone was sent home, and the fall semester is still morphing. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a reset in the way we think about teaching and learning. Distance learning is not new, of course, but forced distance learning on a global scale—that's…
The Geography of Access to Health Services
According to a 1993 Institute of Medicine report, access to health services means "the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcomes." Geographic access is listed as one of three distinct components of access (along with insurance coverage and finding a trusted provider). Without adequate access to healthcare and health services, people…
AI and GIS: Finally Delivering on the promise
The field of artificial intelligence (AI) isn't new, and neither are its grand promises. AI as an academic pursuit has its roots in the 1950s. Early AI researchers were filled with optimism, but—despite some initial work that appeared groundbreaking, such as the first artificial neural networks—the field saw slow progress over the next several decades.…
Stop Teaching GIS
Teach how to learn GIS instead. That was a guiding principle as I recently redesigned the gateway course to the Penn State Online certificate and master's degree programs in GIS. I began developing Nature of Geographic Information in 1998, at the outset of the Penn State Online ;I designed the course to serve adult students…
Teaching Modern GIS
As educators, we are always faced with challenges on how we structure our curriculum activities to ensure that we are in line with modern industry practices. This is easier said than done—for one, there is likely no consensus on what a "modern geographic information system (GIS)" means; and two, it takes a tremendous amount of…
Educational GIS Activities in Africa
Over the past decade, most universities and some secondary schools across Africa have been exposed to geographic information system (GIS) technology. Teaching about and with GIS on that continent has been both challenging and rewarding. On April 9, 2017, the panel session "Teaching GIS in Africa" was held at the Association of American Geographers (AAG)…
GI_Forum Salzburg
GI_Forum 2017 provides a platform for dialogue among geospatial minds, creating an informed GeoInformation Society.
Nina Feldman: A Career in GIS and Geography
Nina Feldman, a former intern with AAG and the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, shares why she chose a career in GIS and Geography in a very poignant guest blog post for Worlds Revealed: Geography & Maps at The Library Of Congress. She discusses the family members, professors and supervisors who…
GISCI Announces 2016 Fall Exam Test Period
The 2016 next testing window for the GISCI Geospatial Core Technical Knowledge Exam® as a part of the GISP Certification has been scheduled for December 3-10, 2016, and will be administered by PSI Online through their worldwide testing facilities in a computer based testing (CBT) format. The next testing window for the GISCI Geospatial Core Technical…