This lesson is being piloted (Beta version)

Introduction to Geospatial Concepts

The goal of this lesson is to provide an introduction to core geospatial data concepts. It is intended for learners who have no prior experience working with geospatial data, and as a pre-requisite for the R for Raster and Vector Data lesson . This lesson can be taught in approximately 75 minutes and covers the following topics:

The Introduction to R for Geospatial Data lesson provides an introduction to the R programming language while the R for Raster and Vector Data lesson provides a more in-depth introduction to visualization (focusing on geospatial data), and working with data structures unique to geospatial data. The R for Raster and Vector Data lesson assumes that learners are already familiar with both geospatial data concepts and the core concepts of the R language.

This is a variant of the Geospatial Data Carpentry Workshop created at UW-Madison as part of video workshop series. The Data Carpentry version of the Introduction to Geospatial Conecepts Lesson may differ slightly.

Getting Started

This lesson has no pre-requisites. There is no required setup or data to download for this lesson.

Schedule

Setup Download files required for the lesson
00:00 1. Introduction to Raster Data What format should I use to represent my data?
What are the main data types used for representing geospatial data?
What are the main attributes of raster data?
00:25 2. Introduction to Vector Data What are the main attributes of vector data?
00:40 3. Coordinate Reference Systems What is a coordinate reference system and how do I interpret one?
01:05 4. The Geospatial Landscape What programs and applications are available for working with geospatial data?
01:15 Finish

The actual schedule may vary slightly depending on the topics and exercises chosen by the instructor.