Applied GIS and Geoinformatics for Urban Spatial Analysis

This course focus on advanced spatial analysis using GIS/Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing. The overall aim is to bring the participants an understanding of the relevant theories and methodologies necessary to select appropriate strategies within the broad context of urban and regional geography. The theoretical background will be discussed during the classes and the practical implementation will be tried out in a number of practical exercises.
GIS and Geoinformatics represent the backbone for many tasks related to urban and regional spatial analysis and planning. GIS includes tools for spatial statistics, analysis and modeling. It thereby facilitates the practical implementations of methods and algorithms that benefit from the large amount of available geodata including digital maps and registers. Recent development trends show an increased public and private awareness of the geospatial component of management and planning tasks. Advanced knowledge of potentials and pitfalls of doing GIS-based spatial analysis and optimization enables geographers with GIS/Geoinformatics competences to play a key role in this process. Finally, the recent advances in the accuracy of satellite images as well as the availability of these data makes urban remote sensing a very relevant discipline for providing additional geospatial information in urban areas where updated maps are less common, f.ex. fast growing African cities.