Geospatial Analysis

After creating a CSDE Windows Account, CSDE affiliates, staff, and demography students have access to GIS and many other computing resources on and off campus. CSDE terminal servers have ESRI’s ArcGIS installed; CSDE’s Computing Resources provides more information about their use.

Short workshops in a computer-lab setting. Popular offerings include:

• Introduction to GIS
• Reproducible GIS analysis with R
• Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis

“A Geography-specific approach to estimating the distributional impacts of highway tolls: An application to the Puget Sound region.” (2011)

“Weather-Related Hazards and Population Change: A Study of Hurricanes and Tropical Storms in the United States 1980-2012.” (2017)

“Local Health Department Food Safety and Sanitation Expenditures and Reductions in Enteric Disease, 2000–2010” (2015)

“Classifying local health departments based on the constellation of services they provide” (2014)

“Targeted Health Department Expenditures Benefit Birth Outcomes at the County Level” (2014)

“Local Health Departments and specific maternal and child health expenditures: Relationships between spending and need” (2012)

“Local health department provision of WIC Services relative to local “need”— examining 3 states and 5 years” (2012)

• WAGDA – The Washington State Geospatial Data Archive, a great source for GIS and census data as well as information about working with census data in GIS. WAGDA’s geodatabase covers most of the data provided by the Seattle City and King County governments.
• Data.gov – National geodata files provided by numerous federal agencies. The GEODATA Catalog houses data in categories such as demography, health, environment, military, and economics.
• Diva-GIS Spatial Data – Collection of several useful global GIS data layers. Note the extensive global administrative boundaries Diva-GIS (GADM) data.
• Global Land Cover Facility – Provides remotely sensed data resources. Free satellite imagery can be previewed and downloaded at the Earth Science Data Interface (ESDI) website.
• The Consortium for Spatial Information (CGIAR-CSI) – Providers of SRTM 90m Digital Elevation data for the entire world.
• Open Street Map – User-reated street data for various countries across the globe. Shapefile extracts by continent and can be accessed at Cloudmade.com.

Demographic Data

• NHGIS: National Historical GIS – Aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States from 1790 to the date of the latest census.
• Washington State Office of Financial Management – Various GIS data including Tiger and census files, population and housing estimates, minority population maps, and other Washington State GIS databases. Also provides links to other Washington State agencies hosting GIS data.
• U.S. Census American FactFinder – Access to tabular data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Health Data

• Washington State Department of Health – Public Health data ranging from locations, such as hospitals, clinics, and special housing, to health-related resources. Shapefiles and metadata are located within the Data section of the website.
• CDC Resources for Creating Public Health Maps – A comprehensive list of US state-level GIS data resources and general information about GIS in public health.

Non-Spatial Data Resources

• Data.Seattle.Gov – Public datasets generated by various departments of Seattle City government. Data categories include community, crime, education, fire, permitting, and transportation.
• King County Assessor Data – Public records of the Assessor’s Property Information files. The site also includes annual, area, and statistical assessment reports.
• Seattle Police Department – Includes crime statistics and tract-level crime data for Seattle.

GIS Data Sites with Links to Other Data Resources

• University of Washington Library Geospatial Data Resources Guide – Search the UW library’s spatial data resources.
• UW ESS Geomorphological Research Group – Free local GIS data as well as links to other GIS data resource sites.
• UW ESS PRISM Spatial Data Servers – A private SDE server with password-protected data. Passwords are available after registration.
• UW Consortium for Geospatial Information – A catalog of UW departments and faculty using GIS as well as available GIS courses.
• UW Spatial Information Technology, GIS, and Remote Sensing – Links to UW GIS repositories.
• Washington State Geographic Information Council – The statewide body responsible for coordinating and facilitating the use and development of Washington State’s geospatial information.
• GeoData.gov – Search site for all US geodata and websites containing it.
• Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) – Links to various social and scientific datasets.
• Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) – Links to various socioeconomic datasets.
• Federal Geographic Data Committee – Coordinated federal committee for sharing geodata of all types.
• International Geospatial Data Catalog – Global GIS data.
• MapCruzin – An extensive database with shapefiles of all sorts. Data types include demographic, health, population, environmental, and crime for many countries across the globe.

On-Campus Resources

• Map Collection & Cartographic Information Services Unit – Located at Suzzalo Library on the ground floor.
• CSSCR – The UW Center for Social Science Computation and Research on the ground floor of Savery Hall.

Through UW

• UW GIS Courses – A list of courses in GIS and related fields offered at UW.
• UW Extension GIS Certificate Program – A program offering a 3-quarter GIS Certificate; designed for working professionals.
• CSSCR – The UW Center for Social Science Computation and Research, which offers several short introductory GIS courses on various topics.

Online

• University of Arkansas Libraries – Provides a series of ArcGIS tutorials based loosely on the highly recommended instructional text, Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop.
• esri Mapping Center – Blog dedicated to helping users make great maps using ArcGIS. Good applied introduction to many cartographic concepts and techniques.
• GIS Glossary – A list of spatial analysis and GIS terms used by CSDE.