In Fall, 2005, Dr. Diane Bates of the School of Culture & Society and Patrick R. Meola, Jr. of the Municipal Land Use Center (MLUC) offered a new course at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), “Socio-Spatial Analysis - Sociology 403.” The course integrates Socio-Cultural Theory, Quantitative Research Methods, Statistical and Spatial Analysis, and will build on these skill sets by asking students to design and test real-world hypotheses. This is done in two stages: first, students become familiar with the US Census and other forms of demographic data. The final section of the course is organized as a workshop. Students will complete a research project of their own design, demonstrating their mastery of GIS software, as well as their ability to propose and test spatially-linked hypotheses. Utilizing GIS data and demographic data, five teams of three students will be considering the proposed use of a site near TCNJ. The five proposals are 1- Big box/franchise retail, 2- Commercial, 3- Open or recreational space, 4- Social services or 5- Housing. The workshop will culminate with the student groups presenting an oral report to the entire class.

While demography has long been a subspecialty within sociology, the development of geographic information systems (GIS) presents a new media on which to display demographic information, as well as to perform spatial analysis. GIS helps students to understand real-world problems using data analysis, and this technology is among the most innovative tools in education and research. Since GIS training helps students to develop computer literacy, analytical approaches to problem-solving, and reinforces communication and presentation skills, MLUC has been promoting the use of GIS on TCNJ’s campus.

Click here to view the syllabus

GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing that links location (spatial) and database (tabular) information and enables a person to visualize patterns, relationships, and trends.

Intro to GIS

Internet Mapping (IM) is an emerging tool that allows users to organize, display and distribute data by making it available to everyone via the internet. GIS professionals discovered the advantages of using digital spatial data & maps for decision support much before the advent of the World Wide Web. However, GIS/desktop mapping packages were primarily used by trained technicians with programming skills and a working knowledge of UNIX.  

Web-based mapping solutions are directed at a different audience than GIS/desktop mapping packages. Web-based mapping solutions utilize existing Web-browsers to deliver GIS through the Internet. Web-enabled GIS technology provides the user with a dynamic mapping tool, interactive query capabilities and analysis of spatial data. While the utility of this technology is far superior to a static map display, the level of expertise and training required are minimal. 

Internet Mapping Exercise

The web-based tutorials will provide the necessary instructions and graphics to  creating, viewing, querying, editing, composing, and publishing maps with the ArcMap GIS software. ArcMap is what you will be using for the majority of your GIS work.

Intro to ArcGIS 1        Intro to ArcGIS 2