Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Department of Urban Studies and Planning

FIRST DAY LAB NOTES - FEB. 6, 2018

(1) LOGIN + view CLASS WEBSITE at http://mit.edu/11.521

Review syllabus and organization of website. Fill out SIGNUP sheet.

Skim today's lab exercise: http://mit.edu/11.521/www/labs/lab1

Informal session today - presentation at 4:10
I will discuss class motivation and key elements of lab exercise #1

Key part of Tuesday lab time is 45-60 minute lab introduction. We will start the presentation at 4:10

Skim a DUSP dissertation that analyzed voluminous, spatially detailed datasets using many of the spatial data management and advanced GIS methods learned in this class: Mi Diao's PhD dissertation, "Sustainable Metropolitan Growth Strategies: Exploring the Role of the Built Environment" (Sept. 2010).

(2) Begin first LAB Exercise: today 4-6:30+ PM (due next Tuesday)

Get comfortable with

• Screen sharing in W31-301 via WebEx:
  • Open browser and go to: https://mit.webex.com/join/jf
  • You may need to allow (temporary) installation of a WebEx browser plugin
  • Your browser will then display a copy of the Instructor screen to facilitate your viewing
    
• class locker and computing setup (as discussed in Lab #1)
• intro to relational tables in MS-Access and PostgreSQL using the 'toy parcels' database
• basic data manipulation tools: phpPgAdmin (for PostgreSQL), MS-Access, and MS-Excel
• intro to manipulating and visualizing parcel and assessing data using East Boston and ArcGIS
• ArcGIS (via Spring 2015 lab exercises from 11.188)
• spatially-referenced data sharing across applications
  • ArcGIS<-->PostgreSQL, ArcGIS<-->MS-Access, MS-Access <-->PostgreSQL, etc.
  • Later, ArcGIS & QGIS <--> PostgreSQL+PostGIS

-- Joe Ferreira

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