Course Goal:
The goal of this course is to demonstrate the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the social sciences.  Specifically, the course will teach students how to apply spatial and quantitative analysis methods with census data; help aid business and marketing decisions with spatial data, analyze patterns of socio-economic data, and examine community planning issues.  This course is designed to build confidence and familiarity in students with the use of GIS technology with timely and appropriate local applications in some of the social science fields.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this course, student should be able to:

1.  Explain how place and space are important and can be analyzed with GIS in various social science fields.

2.  Find and download appropriate census data for use with political boundaries.

3.  Perform business and marketing space based analyses.

4.  Analyze the patterns of features and use models to make predictions about future conditions.

To accomplish these objectives, the course will integrate lectures and a structured weekly lab session.  Lectures will cover the necessary background of the issues and the labs will provide students with the opportunity to develop GIS skills to solve spatial problems.