Fundamentals of Spatial Database Management

Developments in urban science, the rise of ‘big data’, and the widespread embrace of the open data movement are coalescing into new opportunities for planners to develop varied representations of urban environments requiring large quantities of data. At the same time, urban archives are more available than ever before. This poses challenges to planners: to be more contextual, even as simple empiricism becomes ever-more-tempting; to be more historical, even as the present demands ever more of our attention. Iit also implies that planners will benefit from a familiarity with formal spatial databases and query languages, including SQL.

Students will develop the technical skills necessary to design, build, and interact with spatial databases using PostgreSQL, PostGIS, QGIS, and the SQL query language. Students will also learn to write highly contextual metadata (‘data biographies’). Students will be prepared to perform database maintenance, modeling, and digitizing tasks, and learn to critically evaluate and document data sources.