Spring 2015 Scholars’ Lab GIS Workshop Series

All sessions are one hour and assume attendees have no previous experience using GIS.  Sessions will be hands-on with step-by-step tutorials with expert assistance.  All sessions, except where noted, will be taught on Wednesdays from 1PM to 2PM in the Alderman Electronic Classroom, ALD 421 (adjacent to the Scholars’ Lab) and are free to attend and are open to the UVa and larger Charlottesville community.

January 21st - Making Your First Map with ArcGIS

Here’s your chance to get started with geographic information systems software in a friendly, jargon-free environment.  This workshop introduces the skills you need to make your own maps.  Along the way you’ll get a taste of Earth’s most popular GIS software (ArcGIS) and a gentle introduction to cartography. You’ll leave with your own cartographic masterpieces and tips for learning more in your pursuit of mappiness at UVa.

January 28th - Getting Your Data on a Map

Do you have a list of Lat/Lon coordinates or addresses you would like to see on a map?  We will show you how to do just that.  Through ArcGIS’s Add XY data tool and Geocoding (address matching), it is easy to take your tabular lists and generate points on a map.

February 4th - Georeferencing a Map

Would you like to see historic map overlaid on modern aerial photography?  Do you need to extract features of a map for use in GIS?  Georeferencing is the first step.  We will show you how to take a scan of a paper map and align in it in ArcGIS.

February 18th - Easy Demographics

Need to make a quick demographic map or religious adherence?  This workshop will show you how easily navigate Social Explorer.  This powerful online application makes it easy to create maps with contemporary and historic census data and religious information.

February 25th Census Data

Would you like to map the poverty in Philadelphia around the turn of the 20th Century?  How about a racial breakdown by state in the 1860s?  This workshop will focus on how to download historic census boundary and tabular data to make historic demographic maps.

March 4th - learning-experience Old-School Mapping Techniques

How did folks make maps before GPS and satellite imagery?  In this workshop we’ll focus on plane table mapping.  Using just a flat surface, a sheet of paper, a straight edge, and a pencil we’ll learn techniques to create accurate maps for large geographic areas.   With plane table mapping, if you can see it, you can map it.  This technique can be particularly helpful to researchers such a biologists working in small areas under heavy tree canopy where GPS fails.

March 18th - DIY Aerial Photography

Want to do your own aerial photography?  We will discuss techniques, equipment and issues of capturing your own data.

March 25th - DIY Aerial Photography

In this special session, we will spend a couple hours outside collecting aerial data from various platforms.