CSC257 Geographic Information Systems

Tom Rose

Near the Magic Garden in Philadephia, PA

Student of Sociology and Anthropology

Hi! My name is Tom. I'm a senior from Croton-on-Hudson, NY. I will be graduating at the end of the month with a major in Sociology and Anthropology. My post graduation plans are still up in the air, but I am searching for a job in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, or Des Moines areas.

Some of my favorite courses at Cornell have been "Media and the Public Mind," "Advanced Topic: Community," "Self and Identity," and "Language, Culture, and Community." In addition to these interests, I am very interested in getting involved with the academic study of all sorts of games, including video games, board games, role-playing games and sports.

I am interested in learning about GIS to know how it is used in social science research, mapping out trends in human behavior, and recreational activities such as geocaching. This block I hope to develop some sort of project that will fuse my interest in games with GIS technology.

Some skills that may be relevant to this course are a familiarity with GPS navigation, beginner-level knowledge of HTML and some JavaScript, and a basic familiarity with databases. I also have a lot of experience reading road maps from long car trips.

Course Assignments

Mapping Project: Gaming Stores and Organizations in the State of Iowa

Notes about GIS Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Click here to view my outline of an article describing GIS analysis of the homeless shelter system in Columbus, Ohio.

Relevant External Links

Center for Spatially Integrated Social Sciences (CSISS) - An organization promoting the use of spatial analysis in social sciences. Contains search engines for spatial resources and a list of spatial analysis tools.

Atsu Okabe's Home Page - The homepage of the SAINF and SANET spatial analysis tools. Available free of charge via e-mail requiest.

FreeSAT (Free Spatial Analysis Tools) - A collection of statistical analysis methods and links to free software that will execute these methods.

PhotoWalker - A tool for recreating 3D spaces from a collection of 2D images. English explanation below the Japanese.

GigaPan - A website where users are encouraged to upload 360 degree panoramic images from different locations. Not map-related, but kinda cool. Visit their The Chicago Tourism Agency had a touchscreen booth displaying images around Chicago set up in O'Hare Airport. (Visit their website here for maps of Chicago and travel information)

Revealing Chicago: An Aerial Portrait by Terry Evans - This collection of aerial photographs of the Chicago area was also on display at the airport. Provides some insight into the spatial arrangement of the Chicago area.

Sample Bibliography

Gruenewald, P. J., Freisthler, B., Remer, L., LaScala, E. A., & Treno, A. (2006). Ecological models of alcohol outlets and violent assaults: Crime potentials and geospatial analysis. Addiction, 101(5), 666-677.

Kaiser, R., Spiegel, P. B., Henderson, A. K., & Gerber, M. L. (2003). The application of geographic information systems and global positioning systems in humanitarian emergencies: Lessons learned, programme implications and future research. Disasters, 27(2), 127-140.

Kalipeni, E., & Zulu, L. (2008). Using GIS to model and forecast HIV/AIDS rates in africa, 1986-2010. Professional Geographer, 60(1), 33-53.

Masser, I. Managing our urban future: The role of remote sensing and geographic information systems. Habitat International, 25(4), 503.

Ventura, S. J. The use of geographic information systems in local government. Public Administration Review, 55(5), 461.

Wong, Y. I., & Hillier, A. E. (2001). Evaluating a community-based homelessness prevention program: A geographic information system approach. Administration in Social Work, 25(4), 21.