Course Reflection

GIS 520 provided a comprehensive exploration of essential GIS concepts and helped me to build a mental framework useful for solving complex geospatial problems. In this course we were provided with real-world scenarios and problems and practiced skills that are directly applicable to a career in the GIS space. 10 different topics were covered during the semester, organized by 3 central themes of geodata issues, problem solving with vector data and problem solving with raster data.

Some of the problems we learned how to solve were how to take tabular address information and visualize it on a map, how to join two different tables of information for analysis and visualization, how spatial statistics can be used to determine clustering, and where the best place to put something is while considering multiple criteria.

I found the topics about Suitability Modeling and Weighted Overlays especially interesting as I am pursuing a career in conservation, wildlife, and environmental management. Suitability analysis has many applications in these fields such as determining the most suitable areas for wildlife habitat or where to place a protected conservation area. Additionally, we learned more about working with raster data and how to perform analysis on complex datasets.

Overall, this GIS course has equipped me with a robust skill set that extends beyond theoretical concepts, empowering me to approach real-world challenges with a spatial perspective.