121-414 GIS for Environmental Policy Making

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Admission to fourth year Geography Honours or to the Postgraduate Diploma or Masters Programs in Geography or Environmental Studies.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

Accessing spatial data sets through the Internet. Digitising, cleaning, buffering and analysing environmental and social data bases and maps. The design and evaluation of models which manage land, water and social resources, address environmental risks and respond to global environmental changes. Simple image processing, digital elevation mapping, data-driven machine learning and decision support systems. Problems of management and presentation when performing GIS-based, environmental policy making. By the end of this subject students should be experienced at using information systems, along with two types of GIS, to address a practical environmental problem; they should appreciate what GIS can and cannot achieve within policy making; they should be aware of managerial barriers to the use of GIS and they should have insight into innovative, future developments of GIS, and associated techniques, for improving social and environmental management.

Assessment

Practical assignments equivalent to 4,000 words and a two-hour examination.