CIDE-4117 Maps and Data as a tool for Development Management
The location of natural, social, economical and political phenomena is a basic aspect that influences the development process of a region. The phenomena or processes where location is important are a special type of data known as geographic or spatial information. The location of different phenomena allows to answer the following questions: What regions develop more than others? How are environmental and socio-economic variables related within the territory? How does this relationship evolve through time? The location of these phenomena may be both cause and consequence of activities related to development, equity and inequity of its impacts and benefits. Developing computer system tools for the analysis and manipulation of geographic information, particularly of geographic information systems (SIG), global positioning systems (GPS) and information from remote sensors, has revolutionized the way phenomena, resources and current processes are managed and analyzed on the earth´s surface. These tools and their application to geographic data management and analysis of specific problems have created new disciplines known as u>geomatics. Geomatics allows to answer five basic questions about a specific place or region: Qué phenomena or resources are present SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION Where are located in different places Howare PROCESSES being usedWhen are they usedWhy are they used. Considering that the territory is the geograpahic area where these activities take place, geomatic tools have a huge potential within the processes of territorial planning, development and management of territorial resources. Among others, these tools contribute to the decision process for resource management, enable to perform evaluations and monitoring of the territorial management and the impact from development policies. Additionally, they allow to simulate and model potential impacts resulting from the application of different types of management over the territory. Despite the enormous potential of geomatic tools, it is important to take into account its limitations, not only regarding the tools per se, but also the data available to use them. The course´s general objective is to provide an overall view of geomatic tools for students to learn about their basic functions, advantages and disadvantages of using them, information limitations and their application potential in various knowledge disciplines. Unlike other geomatic courses, this one does not pretend to teach a specific package, it rather seeks for each student to acquire basic spatial analysis concepts that can be used independently from the program that may be available.
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