Activity 1 of 5

Welcome

Homepage including slides, data, and workshop objectives.

2 min read

Get here quickly: https://bit.ly/gis-find-data

Harvard Map Collection

map to maps

Map Collection website.

Scope

🚨 This is not a workshop on how to use GIS mapping software. Please consider referring to our other in-person learning opportunities or follow-along materials from previous events.

🚨 Today will focus on how to find relevant source data for a GIS project.

Goals

  1. Understand the value of a few common GIS data approaches.
  2. Get a feel for the flow and pace of working with GIS data.
  3. Leave knowing which resources you can rely on for your project.

What is the benefit of using GIS layers?

Hand-drawn Canva-style GIS layers

Credit: Hannah Ahn ‘24

Credit: Amisha Kambath ‘22

Credit: Luisa Shida ‘25

How we will approach learning how to search for GIS layers

website menu with Tutorials and nav bar for Finding GIS data for your project button highlighted

slide showing four modules with the title “four common approaches”

In class activity Demo and explore more
instructions for an in-class activity instructions for at-home activity with sample data

Sample data

You can download and explore sample datasets related to this activity from the workshop data homepage, hosted on the Open Science Framework (OSF.io)

  1. Visit the workshop data homepage.
  1. Click the three vertical dots icon and select Download. OSF data download page
  1. The folder that downloads to your computer contains sample data from all the workshop activities. It is a zipped or compressed file. In order to use it, you will have to double-click it on Mac or right-click → Extract or Uncompress on a PC.

To follow-along in class, or explore the sample data at home, download QGIS, a free tool. Note, if you have a Mac, you will have to right-click the green Q desktop icon and select Open the first time you use it, since is not available from the App Store.

slide with four modules with title “Overviews + vote”

Outline

  • Work through an activity all together
  • Pick another activity and work through just the In class activity section
  • Record your findings and any questions you have in your GIS journals
  • Go through the activities all together with more in-depth demos

Wrapping up

Help improve this workshop by giving us suggestions in the survey.

Credits

Many thanks to our cross-institutional colleagues for providing feedback and expertise on search strategies: Tara Anthony (Penn State), Jessica Benner (Carnegie Mellon), John Clark (Lafayette College), Meagan Duever (Georgia State), Todd Quinn (University of New Mexico), Chris Thiry (Colorado School of Mines), Amy Work (UC San Diego). Thanks to Kevin Holden and Christine D’Auria from the Harvard Bok Center Learning Lab for workshop support.