1. Transferrable Skills and Research in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Remote Sensing Exeter Geography invests heavily in skills-based GIS education Year 1: Investigation of Geography with ArcGIS and Google Earth Year 2: Year-long Spatial Skills Module, GIS used in other modules Practical problem solving using ESRI ArcGIS and ERDAS Imagine Year 3: Options for further skills development in GIS & Modelling Example: Geo 3223 “Landscape Systems Management”

2. What is “Geography” ?? The 4 “W’s” of Geography What is where? –(eg., Spatial distributions of phenomenon) Why is it there? –(eg., History? Cause and effect?) When is it there? –(eg., Single Events, Environmental & Social change) Why should we care? –(eg., What impacts does it have?)

3. Geography is… Understanding about the Earth’s surface & things on it (and the spatial relationships between them) Methods for organizing spatial data Theory for investigating spatial data Framework for communication about spatial data to everyone else The Science behind GIS Spatial Information matters to all of us!

4. What is GIS?

5. Data  Big Data How to manage? Geographic Location – >80% of data is from one or more specific locations – How Many? – What Kind? – When? Scale of Data – Local to Global, What is the extent? Presentation for large Datasets – Words, Charts, Graphs, Tables, or Maps Exploring data using GIS turns vast amounts of data into useful information and into knowledge

6. View, interpret & understand data in ways not possible with other tools! Events Zoning Streets Utilities Ownership Natural Resources Real World

7. Taught by 7000+ universities worldwide –But a relatively small number in the UK teach in detail– Exeter invests heavily in teaching practical GIS skills GIS used in multiple disciplines: Agriculture Archaeology Architecture/Lanscape Arch. Business Computer Science Environmental Science Engineering Journalism Military Science Natural Resource Management GIS in Education Geography Geology Meteorology Oceanography Law Enforcement Public Health History Sociology Urban/Regional Planning

8. GIS enhances education because it is: Multi-disciplinary A real-world technology using real data Involves authentic tasks / assessments –At Exeter students produce professional-style reports for all assessed GIS work, not Exams Used at scales from local to global Promotes holistic / systematic approach Engages multiple ways of learning Encourages community connections

9. What if questions for Physical Geography What if the Greenland Ice Sheet melts? Red areas of southern Florida are susceptible to a five-meter rise of sea level, based on elevation. Yellow denotes urban areas.

10. GIS in Planning and Development Land Use/Zoning Emergency Preparedness Population Forecast Market Analysis Property Tax Assessment Transportation

11. GIS in Agriculture –Farm management –Pest/Disease tracking –Crop monitoring –Yield prediction –Soil analysis

12. GIS in Resource Management Forestry Ecology Mining Petroleum Water Resources

13. GIS: A Framework for Understanding and Managing Our Earth Holistic Comprehensive Systematic Analytic Visual Creating Measuring Organizing Analyzing Modeling Applying Planning Managing Acting Geographic Knowledge

17. 17 Figure.3: Image to highlight the study area. First Class Exeter Dissertation L. Heather, 2009 Employed straight away by the Environment Agency to investigate & model UK flooding

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19. Wildfires in a Coastal Basin in California Increasingly frequent in occurrence High density across south-west coast especially within Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and San Diego Counties Majority of Santa Clara Watershed experienced a wildfire event since 1878

21. James Digby (2010 graduate), Lloyds of London Catastrophe Modeller I am currently employed with a Lloyds of London insurance company as a Catastrophe Modeller. The GIS skills that I learnt and refined definitely helped me land the job and do it competently. I have to do a lot of critical analysis of data, something which the GIS module helped me to become proficient at, as well as being able to write a thorough and well thought out report. The GIS module would be ranked at the top spot for me as it gave me the experience and knowledge of how to present a report and write critically of the methods used. I am 100% positive that this module helped me attain the position that I am in now and I would recommend it to any student who wishes to increase their employability.

22. Employability Matters Quality Transferrable GIS skills  Quality jobs Geospatial technologies a rapidly growing sector Examples from recent Exeter graduates: Environment Agency’s Flood Risk Mapping Team … using ArcGIS … learning and completing technical tasks to assess flood risk and save lives. “The job is a mix of all the different bits and pieces I wanted to do!” ExxonMobil position for business location planning that uses ArcGIS. Guernsey-based sales analyst for >1000 outlets of SpecSavers who beat out ~100 other applicants because of GIS skills learned at Exeter. Many positions with County Councils as a GIS Assistant/Mapper. Teachers who now teach aspects of GIS for their classes. Postgraduate Studies at Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, etc.