Andy Long and Geoff Jacquez
This is an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial data handling.
If you're following along in our modules, then you've already collected some spatial data from a census data site at Ciesin. Now what do we do with it? We feed it into a GIS, and begin using it in an analysis of Illinois Cancer rates, which you will also be given in the course of these modules (in another module's lab).
We focus here on many of the important issues involved in creating, manipulating, and analyzing spatial data. The focal point of this discussion will be GIS (Geographical Information Systems), which provide a vehicle for carrying out these functions:
The next module, prepared by Geoff Jacquez, deals with the role of spatial statistics in the analysis and creation of spatial data. Topics covered include quantification of spatial structure, and the construction of inferences from spatial data. Examples in population genetics and cancer epidemiology are presented.
Let's focus our attention in this module on the very first stage of the ``Big Picture'': at the data collection/manipulation stage, and on the transition to maps created from the data; but it also looks forward to the stages at which some analysis will be required (particularly techniques of visualization).