Do not use choropleths for your COVID-19 counts, ever!
In a hilarious contribution to Medium, Dr. Noah Haber et al. issued a call to “Flatten the Curve of Armchair Epidemiology“. They analyze the transmission of “well-intended partial truths” about COVID-19 and caution of hidden “viral reservoirs throughout the internet”. To flatten this curve, they recommend fact-checking before posting and go as far as endorsing social-media distancing measures. As with general COVID-19 tips based on armchair epidemiology, misinformation can also be spread through the numerous COVID-19 maps that are widely circulating through the Web. In this article I want to focus on one particular instance of armchair cartography: wrongly mapping COVID-19 count data using choropleth symbology.
Gallery of #cartofails: Public Health Agency of Canada, Toronto Star, CBC, and Google wrongly using choropleth mapping to represent #COVID-19 raw-count data
Choropleths are great-looking maps, my favourite thematic map type! They use graduated colour schemes to fill areas (the spatial units of analysis) to represent the magnitude (usually in ranges) of data collected for, or aggregated to, these units. But they can be deceptive in many ways, one of which arises from using raw-count data without adjusting for the different sizes of the spatial units. The above gallery of cartographic failures shows a small selection of misleading choropleth maps of COVID-19 cases published by major government and news media Web sites as of March 26, 2020.
Representing raw-count variables using choropleth mapping is a mistake that is notoriously difficult to explain. In “Mapping coronavirus, responsibly“, Dr. Kenneth Field notes the need to normalize raw COVID-19 totals to account for different underlying population sizes of China’s provinces. But in a related debate on Twitter, Dr. Stephanie Tuerk, a Senior Data Visualization Engineer at Mathematica, pointedly asks: “Can you further articulate the problem with using a choropleth to display counts? What precisely will people misunderstand?” She also questions the recommendation to transform count data into normalized rates, if the goal is to map the original counts. Indeed, I tell my cartography students that normalizing their data (by area, total population, or another reference total) will create a new variable and they need to think about whether that’s what they actually want to visualize.
Schematic figures to explain our intuitive understanding of quantity vs. intensity from different visual variables (size, value) as per Paul Cote’s web site at http://www.pbcgis.com/normalize/
The best explanation that I have seen as to the actual reason for the misrepresentation of raw-count data through choropleth maps was written by GIS Consultant and former Harvard Lecturer Paul Cote under the heading “Effective Cartography – Mapping with Aggregated Statistics“. Using the schematic figures shown above, Paul underlines our cognitive ability to understand quantity from graphics that vary in one dimension (size), such as in proportional symbols, in contrast to how we read intensity from colour (lightness, value), such as on choropleth maps. It appears that we are wired to understand a choropleth map as a representation of an intensity (e.g. population density per sqkm, infection rate per one million people), not as a count, and therefore this map type does not fit with raw-count data.
The cartography textbook by Dr. Terry Slocum et al. (2009) proposes an additional explanation. They note that we read information from a choropleth map as the probability of encountering a phenomenon. For example, if we look at Google’s world map of COVID-19 cases, China’s 80,000 cases put it in the highest class (dark blue). We’d therefore expect to be exposed to many infected people if we were to travel around that country. Conversely, we’d expect to find fewer cases in Canada, since this country’s 4,000 cases are mapped two classes lower (medium blue). Assuming we run into comparable numbers of people given space-time constraints (but ignoring current travel restrictions!), this is a wrong conclusion since Canada’s COVID-19 infection rate of 103 cases per one million population is roughly twice as high as China’s 53 (March 26 data from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries).
It is important to note that this issue does not automatically occur on every choropleth map or between any two spatial units on a given map. In fact, I had a hard time finding a suitable pair of provinces or countries, in which the relationship between raw counts was inverted compared to that between normalized data. Yet, the possibility of this issue is what makes the choropleth map a no-go for visualizing total counts.
The above example also highlights another serious issue of the choropleth technique: It maps each value homogenously across its entire spatial unit, while in reality many phenomena are unevenly distributed within the units. Infectious disease is a good example of a phenomenon that produces highly localized clusters (China’s city of Wuhan, Italy’s Lombardy region, Germany’s Heinsberg district), which are poorly represented on any choropleth map that uses data aggregated to larger spatial units. The coronavirus pandemic demonstrates that improper cartography is not just an academic concern but can have serious real life implications – on public attitudes and even on policy decisions!
Why Germans are more concerned than most about a COVID-19 lockdown
I have never been a supporter of Germany’s conservative parties but their leader, Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, is making German politics great again, at least seen from across the Atlantic. In a rare, televised address to the nation on 18 March 2020, Dr. Merkel urges her “dear fellow citizens” to voluntarily practice the hygiene and distancing measures recommended by public health authorities. At the time, there were some 12,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths in Germany.
Dr. Merkel’s speech can be seen as a last attempt to avoid enforcing stricter isolation rules. There is a unison of voices from politicians, epidemiologists, and the public calling for the “total shutdown” of society to stop the coronavirus spread, both in Germany and over here in Canada. Merkel however conveys a deeper understanding of the risks of social isolation. She characterizes COVID-19 as the greatest challenge faced by Germany since WWII – not in general terms, as was wrongly reported, but in terms of a challenge that requires every single person’s solidarity and commitment to flattening the curve. Merkel acknowledges the degree to which limitations on non-essential activities are already invading not just our personal lives but our understanding of a democratic society. She refers to her upbringing in totalitarian East Germany and the struggle to fight for the freedom of movement that is now effectively being withdrawn. She established that “such restrictions can only be justified if they are absolutely imperative” and “these should never be put in place lightly in a democracy and should only be temporary.”
Fast forward five days to March 22nd and approaching 25,000 COVID-19 infections and 100 deaths, Germany’s federal and provincial governments agreed on a contact ban, but still did not impose a general curfew. Citizens are free to leave their homes for any purpose as long as they keep among their co-habitants or stick around with no more than one other person. In a commentary entitled “The Other Danger“, Die Zeit journalist Christian Bangel acknowledges that Merkel did not take the easy route. He views her speech as a reminder of what is at stake, reminder to those who call for more drastic measures. Bangel, also born in East Germany, notes how many people who usually lament Germany’s culture-of-prohibitions (“Verbotskultur”), e.g. when it comes to taking climate change action, now call for lockdowns and celebrate the Bavarian premier for jumping the gun with a province-wide curfew. Bangel cautions against the collective-conformist effect of the coronavirus panic, when we forget the difficult balance of freedom and safety in our democracies. He asks what restrictions on civil liberties will be acceptable in the next crisis situation? Accepting such restrictions out of ease and convenience reminds me of how we willingly trade privacy for the convenience of digital services. Bangel concludes that in addition to fighting the virus we also need to fight against complacency and an attitude that views civil rights as a burden for public health and wellbeing.
Germany has learned from two totalitarian regimes in its not too distant past, and Dr. Angela Merkel, the Leader of the Free World according to some, set the tone for a thoughtful, measured pandemic response. Maybe that’s what you get with a conservative, female leader who boasts a doctoral degree in physical chemistry. Merkel shows great empathy when she thanks supermarket cashiers and warehouse employees for keeping things going (“den Laden am Laufen halten”, akin to the expression “the show must go on”) and is cited with the frustration over keeping families from enjoying the sunny spring weather if confined to their homes. In addition to the political dimension of the crisis, I expect that we will also see broader public health issues from a wide-spread sedentary life style under coronavirus lockdowns. Our mental health will be challenged to say the least. And the expected increase in domestic violence is a real danger, too. I therefore hope that other leaders will take a page from Dr. Merkel’s book and avoid full lockdowns or clearly limit them in duration, plus justify them in the context of democratic standards and civil liberties.
To be clear, I am not suggesting to take the coronavirus pandemic lightly or disregard public health guidelines, rules, and laws. I do argue to take a step back and not call for hasty political decisions in a panic. Some experts even recommend “social-media distancing” to “Flatten the Curve of Armchair Epidemiology“! Let’s consider the possible longterm impacts of our response and ensure that we as individual citizens can continue to monitor our authorities’ actions rather than be locked out of decision-making. But ultimately, a slowing of economic and social life under COVID-19 may not be such a bad thing, for nature and humans alike.
Why studying Applied Geography is more important than ever
Today was going to be Ryerson University’s Open House for prospective students, those already admitted for Fall 2020 as well as those considering a late application to our programs. The event was cancelled as a consequence of the distancing measures taken to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. As undergraduate program director for the BA Honours in Geographic Analysis and past graduate program director for the MSA in Spatial Analysis, I would like to share some thoughts about why it is now particularly important to recruit bright students into Geography programs.
As you monitor the #COVID-19 news coverage, you can’t help but notice an abundance of maps and graphs. Many politicians and administrators refer to the importance of “the data” to make evidence-based decisions. The data in question are public health data – confirmed and suspected cases, recovered and deceased, tests completed, etc. – and as always, location information is a key component of these data. Geographic concepts such as distance, connectivity, clustering, and scale are at the very core of the issue, since the nature of an infectious disease such as COVID-19 is inherently spatial. But Geography is a meta discipline, its concepts apply across almost all areas of human activity. In addition to public health, it determines retail location decisions, financial transaction monitoring, environmental pollution and conservation efforts, crime pattern analysis, and transportation planning, to name only a very few examples.
Geography programs across North America are struggling to recruit students because it is notoriously difficult to explain our subject matter compared to seemingly clear disciplines such as psychology, outline career opportunities compared to say business or law degrees, and show its visible impact compared to e.g. urban planning. Therefore please pardon me for using the coronavirus crisis to explain the importance of recruiting some of our best high school students into Geography programs. Canada needs these graduates to take on some of the most important analyst, planner, and decision-maker roles in our society!
Geography at Ryerson is deeply committed to offering programs of study and courses that are directly relevant to today’s community needs. In the BA in Geographic Analysis and, at an advanced level, the MSA in Spatial Analysis, we teach technical skills and critical thinking for data analysis, visualization, and interpretation. This winter 2020, students in my course GEO641 “GIS and Decision Support” first used professional geographic information systems (GIS) software to identify areas for possible urban expansion in the Toronto region within the constraints of the Ontario Growth Plan. We then moved on to create indices of neighbourhood wellbeing in Toronto and visualize them in Esri’s Operations Dashboard product, the tool used by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering for their now-famous coronavirus map. The final lab assignment in my course is a web map to explore the United Nations Human Development Index, another real-world example of using GIS to address some of humanity’s greatest challenges.
Esri Canada’s online interactive geospatial dashboard within their COVID-19 resource hub
Along the way, students learn about integrating disparate datasets, handling missing values, properly normalizing indicators, applying sound cartographic styles, and correctly interpreting the results. These are issues encountered in many of the “viral” visualizations of COVID-19, as discussed by Kenneth Field in “Mapping coronavirus, responsibly“. For example, my favourite Toronto newspaper, along with other news outlets and social media influencers, are still mapping global COVID counts using graduated colours (choropleth technique), which conveys false information about the spread of the virus and must not be used for decision-making. The world needs more geographers who are ideally positioned to tell stories behind the data and turn valid insights into proportionate action.
Some of the information collected for Esri Canada’s COVID-19 resource hub is sourced from another industry partner of Geography at Ryerson: Environics Analytics, a “leading data, analytics and marketing services company specializing in geo-demographic segmentation, site evaluation modeling and custom analytics” (https://environicsanalytics.com/). Environics Analytics provides $10,000 per year in scholarships to our students, attesting to the immense importance of geospatial technology training for their business and growing workforce.
Ryerson geographers working as junior and senior GIS analysts as well as undergraduate and graduate interns at BlueDot (as of 2016)
Another example of the connection between Geography and Public Health is BlueDot, a research and consulting firm founded at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital, just down the street from Ryerson. BlueDot was widely credited in the media for being one of the first organizations to warn of the novel coronavirus epidemic in China and the threat of its global spread. BlueDot conducts infectious disease modeling and monitoring using big geospatial data, geographic information systems, and artificial intelligence. About 20% of BlueDot’s staff as of early 2020 are Ryerson Geography graduates, primarily working in data engineering and software development, and BlueDot is currently seeking to expand these teams.
A university education in Geography goes well beyond the conceptual and technical competencies needed to analyze and interpret geospatial data in the workplace. Geographers are also equipped with critical thinking skills required to solve complex problems and understand the limitations of analytics. In the context of COVID-19, I notice concerning reports about the extent to which individuals are tracked using cellphone data (e.g. Germany, Israel), the use of drones for policing curfews (e.g. Spain), and general calls for drastic social isolation measures that could become politically dangerous and detrimental to our mental and physical health. Geographers know what is technically possible but also what is at stake, and are therefore among the few professionals that I would trust to balance decisive crisis response with concerns about its long-term implications. We need many more geographers to make the world a better place!
This past fall semester of 2019 marked my 15th time teaching our graduate cartography course. When I joined Ryerson University in August 2006, I had already taught MSA 9050 Digital Cartography at the University of Toronto for three years, in Fall 2003, 2004, and 2005. The course was part of the joint Master of Spatial Analysis (MSA) program between UofT’s and Ryerson’s Geography departments, and was also cross-listed with UofT’s graduate course GGR 1913H of the same title. The course had been taught by Byron Moldofsky, who retired as Manager of UofT’s GIS and Cartography Office in 2017, after 37 years of service as a staff member, and continues to be active as an executive member of the Canadian Cartographic Association and a free-lance cartographer.
Then, and now as SA8905 Cartography and Geovisualization, the course “introduces [traditional] cartographic principles and their application to the design of thematic maps with [modern] GIS software” – the words “traditional” and “modern” were removed from the Ryerson calendar course description at some point, without altering the core message. While the lecture portion has remained consistent over the years, heavily relying on three subsequent editions of Terry Slocum’s comprehensive textbook “[Thematic] Cartography and [Geographic] Visualization”, the approach to the hands-on lab component has changed significantly. Expanding on Byron’s design, the earlier iterations of the course saw students select a mid-sized Census Metropolitan Area (CMA), complete a series of weekly lab exercises using socio-economic data from the Canadian Census, submit one or two intermediate lab assignments and one or two reading summaries (later replaced by a map critique), and prepare a final lab project. One lab assignment let the student select, present, and analyze an issue of data normalization, classification, or colour choice. In 2004 in conjunction with a teaching technology grant, students chose their “good” map from the first assignment to turn into a web mapping application as the second assignment. The final project was a thematic atlas plate containing three or more maps portraying the student’s choice of Census data for the selected CMA. The final assignment also required a sketch map or editorial plan for instructor feedback during the term.
Through a series of annual changes to the evaluation scheme, the current set of assignments emerged, consisting of a map poster with two or three maps and a geovisualization project. The map poster is a logical extension of the atlas plate assignment, though students are now free to use any data for any geographic extent, making the assignment more suitable for students across all fields of study in the MSA program (business/retail, social/community, and environmental/physical). The range of topics and data sets being mapped has been impressive; these are the most recent poster topics from Fall 2019:
The map poster assignment includes an early proposal, students’ in-class presentation and discussion of a draft map poster, and final submission. Students are free to use the GIS software of their choice, and many also use graphics tools to finalize their posters. To ensure the student’s preparation for the map poster proposal, the lecture component of the course is now compressed into the first half of the term. This was also possible because most MSA students now enter the program with solid GIS and mapping skills, so that the lecture and textbook material usually serves as review rather than new information. Nevertheless, practice in examining data distribution, selecting adequate cartographic options, and creating “correct” and meaningful thematic maps is still sorely needed by most students who take the course!
Before we move on to examine the second major assignment, the geovis project, I would like to highlight some outstanding student work with respect to the map poster. To my knowledge, three SA8905 students have received external awards for their map posters:
Brad Carter, Broken Windows and Violent Crime in Philadelphia: 2nd place winner of the 2012 National Geographic Award in Mapping. Brad’s map poster also won Honorable Mention in the Student Maps Category of the Cartography and Geographic Information Society’s 39th Annual Map Design Competition.
Yishi Zhao, Earthquake Intensity and Population at Risk – California, USA (2006-2014): 2nd place winner of the 2015 National Geographic Award in Mapping.
Nebojsa Stulic, East Asians in USA – Demographic Trends of Diverse Population: winner of the Canadian Cartographic Association’s 2019 President’s Prize for excellence in student map design at the university level. Nebojsa’s map poster also won Honorable Mention for the Arthur Robinson Award for Best Printed Map in the Cartography and Geographic Information Society’s 46th Annual CaGIS Map Design Competition.
Award-winning student work in SA8905: Brad Carter (2012), Yishi Zhao (2015), and Nebojsa Stulic (2019)
Several MSA graduates and “SA8905 alumni” have become part of what I call the Toronto School of Mapping, a loosely defined group of part-time mappers who use open data to create thematic maps for issues of public interest and distribute them via social media, whether as individual map images or as illustrations within write-ups such as blog posts. The blog by Jonathan Critchley at http://jonathancritchley.ca/ includes the three dot density maps from his Fall 2011 map poster, along with examples of his later work. Of note, Jonathan teaches our department’s Web Mapping course since he graduated!
Jonathan Critchley’s blog with online version of his SA8905 map poster (2011)
Another former student, William Davis, became Data Analyst and Online Cartographer with the Toronto Star, Visual Journalist for Dow Jones Media, and finally Infographic Designer for Sun Life Financial. His personal blog, http://www.formerspatial.com/, contains numerous examples of his work, primarily interactive maps published in support of Toronto Star articles or on his own initiative. William also collaborates with another MSA graduate, Tom Weatherburn, on the award-winning mapping collective mapTO at http://www.mapto.ca/.
William Davis’ blog and the Davis-Weatherburn collaboration, mapTO
William Davis and yet another former SA8905 student, Michael Markieta, were the first exhibitors in the Student Gallery of the Ryerson Image Centre, who were neither photographers nor Image Arts students. Their three-week show “Geographies of Urban Form” in October/November 2015 abstracted the structure of global cities through skeletal maps of their road networks using OpenStreetMap data.
http://www.formerspatial.com/urban-geographies
Davis + Markieta exhibit, Ryerson Image Centre
Two other SA8905 alumni, Sean Marshall and Igor Dragovic, maintain active blogs in which they utilize their cartographic skills to support in-depth analyses of urban issues (https://seanmarshall.ca/) and trends in real estate (https://idragovic.wordpress.com/), respectively.
Maps within blog posts by SA8905 alumni Sean Marshall (Fall 2004) and Igor Dragovic (Fall 2010)
Some of the interactive maps by William Davis and others, as well as the pursuit of cartography as an art form by Davis+Markieta, are echoed in a second major course assignment introduced to SA8905 in Fall 2013 as a “Mini Research Paper” and then in Fall 2015 reconfigured as the “Geovisualization Project”. While the idea behind the research paper was to improve the students’ writing skills through a 2,000-3,000 word description of a web mapping or GIS automation project, the focus of the assignment quickly shifted from the write-up to a more in-depth technical experience. The geovis project expectations are to “develop a professional-quality geographic visualization product that uses novel mapping technology to present a topic of your interest”. This product, which can e.g. take the form of an online and/or animated map, digital or physical 3D model, or a story map, is accompanied by a tutorial published on https://spatial.blog.ryerson.ca/, in which the students provide enough information for others to be able to replicate the projects. The three grading criteria reflect whether the project is “cool, comprehensive, and compelling”.
The MSA curriculum structure has been consistent since the start of the program in Fall 2000 and due to resource constraints, our objective to add courses in topics such as programming and web mapping as well as the inclusion of advanced analytical software such as R and Tableau has been difficult to achieve. The SA8905 geovis project however provides each student with an opportunity to test their interest in, and develop or expand their skills with, one or more tools that are not formally taught in any MSA course. The following list of Fall 2019 geovis project topics states the technology in the project title or in parentheses; tools included Python, R, Tableau, CARTO, Mapbox, Esri Operations Dashboard, Esri Story Maps, ArcGIS Pro, and QGIS. This year, only one student created a physical (in contrast to digital) project; in other recent years, several students would select 3D printing, wood cutting, Raspberry Pi, or other “maker technologies” to create their final product. In addition to the geovis technology, students are also exposed to writing concise technical reports in the form of the tutorials created within Ryerson’s WordPress site.
The most noteworthy external recognition of an SA8905 geovis project assignment was for Melanie MacDonald’s “Geovisualizing ‘Informality’ – Using OpenStreetMap & Story Maps to tell the story of infrastructure in Kibera (Nairobi, Kenya)” (Fall 2017). As part of the project, Melanie led a one-week mapathon to add building footprints for an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, to OpenStreetMap. She then created a story map (shown below and still available at https://ryerson.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTour/index.html?appid=a3bf9a5e2bd14fae85f07bf096cf25ae) to explain the background and mapping process. In addition, Melanie also created a line art print as a tangible project outcome “formalizing the informal”. At the 2018 meeting of the Canadian Cartographic Association (CCA), Melanie received the best student paper award for her presentation on this outstanding course project.
The final submission of the geovis projects also includes a departmental or public presentation event. In 2015, the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies together with the Ryerson Library’s Geospatial Map and Data Centre organized a GIS Day event that included speakers and an exhibit with SA8905 geovis project displays. In 2016 and 2018, students presented their geovis projects at the user conferences of our industry partner Environics Analytics with an audience of some 500 data analysts and marketing professionals. In 2017 and 2019, projects were presented in the GIS lab to a departmental audience, including undergraduate students as prospective MSA applicants. Photos and tweets from four events are shown below.
Photos and tweets about SA8905 student presentations at GIS Day events at Ryerson and at the Environics Analytics User Conference from 2015 to 2018
For other awesome geovis project examples, I recommend searching the tutorials at https://spatial.blog.ryerson.ca/ for keywords such as: acrylic, hologram, Lego, Minecraft, table-top AR, translucent maps; food aid, parking, polar ice cap, street art, and street grid. Without prejudice, these were some of the most “cool” (unusual, innovative) and/or “compelling” (high-quality) projects that I remember ad-hoc. The “comprehensive” grading criterion, which represents the scope of the project and the student’s level of investment has been very high for all students. In other words, I have been amazed by the results of this assignment year after year. They have become a display of graduate student engagement, hands-on learning, and professional development for the MSA program well beyond the cartography and geovisualization course.
Much like many economic, social, health, crime, and environmental data sets, election results have an important geospatial component. For the 2019 federal election, Canada was divided into 338 electoral districts, each of which is represented by a member of parliament. Consequently, thematic maps – usually representing the “first-past-the-post” winning party – are a typical part of news media coverage of the 43rd election. The following examples were found in select Canadian media outlets on the morning after the election.
The Good
Canada’s vast geographic expanse makes it difficult to show the entire country in a map that preserves its internal shapes and sizes as much as possible. Kudos to the Toronto Star for publishing #elxn43 results on a map with a suitable, appealing projection.
If you zoom to your local riding results, you may notice that this projection is not ideal for local areas. In the case of Toronto, the city is presented at an awkward angle due to the projection centre being located in the east-west centre of Canada, far to the west of Toronto. Since maps are primarily useful to examine general spatial patterns, not specific data points, I find that the properly presented overview map outweighs the issue with local zooming.
All other outlets that I checked do not live up to the Star’s standard. According to the copyright statement on the map, the Globe and Mail used the Leaflet interactive mapping library with an OpenStreetMap base layer. The provincial breakdown of riding results is helpful to illustrate the increasing divisiveness of Canadian politics, yet the use of a Mercator map projection is not just unappealing but further emphasizes the size differences between small left-leaning city ridings and large right-leaning rural ridings.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) uses the US-based Mapbox “location data platform” with the same projection issue. A difference is that the Globe uses the actual riding boundaries including water bodies, while the CBC clipped the ridings at the shores – both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages.
Maybe it’s just the way it is integrated in the National Post’s, Toronto Sun’s, and Huffington Post’s web sites that makes the Canadian Press’s #elxn43 results map “ugly”. When I loaded these newspaper pages, the map defaulted to full extent including all of Ellesmere Island in the most northern reaches of Nunavut. While we normally don’t want to cut off relevant geographic areas from a map, in this case it makes the entirety of the map all the more … ugly.
Maps can be a “centre piece” not only during election time but for many important political discussions and decisions. The following tweet by Jean Tong and the Ontario Association of Geographic and Environmental Education sums it up nicely.
As I am teaching two cartography courses this semester, I was compelled to take a critical look at published #elxn43 maps. Nevertheless, I appreciate the media’s efforts to visualize geospatial data and make them navigable for their readers. In interactive mapping, some cartographic guidelines become blurred. Maybe this critique will further stimulate improved map-making and underline the value of higher education and applied skills in the field of Geography.
This week, geographers from far and wide will converge onto New Orleans, Louisiana, for the 2018 edition of the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers. Ryerson’s geography faculty and graduate students are no exception and there are even two senior undergraduate students presenting. Here are their research topics and presentation details from the conference program at https://aag.secure-abstracts.com/AAG%20Annual%20Meeting%202018/abstracts-gallery, sorted by abstract title:
Authors: Christopher Daniel*, Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity – Ryerson University, Tony Hernandez, Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson University Topics: Business Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, Applied Geography Keywords: Business Geography, Retail Geography, Urban Planning Session Type: Paper Scheduler ID: THU-026-8:00 a.m. Day: 4/12/2018 Start / End Time: 8:00 AM / 9:40 AM Room: Bacchus, Marriott, 4th Floor
Authors: Amber Grant*, Ryerson University, Environmental Applied Science and Management, Andrew Millward, Ryerson University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Sara Edge, Ryerson University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Ekow Ashun-Stone, Ryerson University, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Topics: Urban Geography, Social Geography Keywords: urban forestry, tree cover, cities, management plan, equity, justice, Session Type: Paper Scheduler ID: THU-102-3:20 p.m. Day: 4/12/2018 Start / End Time: 3:20 PM / 5:00 PM Room: Bourbon Room, Astor, Mezzanine
Authors: Stephen Swales*, Ryerson University, K. Forsythe, Ryerson University, Nicole Serrafero, Ryerson University Topics: Business Geography, Geographic Information Science and Systems, Applied Geography Keywords: geodemographics, business geography, upscale retail, Canadian cities Session Type: Paper Scheduler ID: FRI-026-8:00 a.m. Day: 4/13/2018 Start / End Time: 8:00 AM / 9:40 AM Room: Bacchus, Marriott, 4th Floor
Authors: Tony Hernandez*, Ryerson University Topics: Business Geography Keywords: Retail, business model, customer behaviour Session Type: Paper Scheduler ID: FRI-026-10:00 a.m. Day: 4/13/2018 Start / End Time: 10:00 AM / 11:40 AM Room: Bacchus, Marriott, 4th Floor
Authors: Joseph Aversa*, Ryerson University, Tony Hernandez , Ryerson University, Sean Doherty, Wilfrid Laurier University Topics: Business Geography, Marketing Geography, Economic Geography Keywords: Big Data, Retail Location Planning, Retail Decision Making Session Type: Paper Scheduler ID: THU-026-10:00 a.m. Day: 4/12/2018 Start / End Time: 10:00 AM / 11:40 AM Room: Bacchus, Marriott, 4th Floor
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) annual meeting is one of the largest and most inspiring gathering of geographers and affiliated researchers. Faculty and graduate students from the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies will be presenting their innovative applied/applicable research in Boston next week. Here’s what they are up to:
The Cottage Effect: Investigating Spatial Bias in Citizen Science Using a Comparative Analysis
is part of the Paper Session:
Emerging Field Methods for Environmental Perceptions and Behavior
scheduled on Wednesday, 4/5/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Edward Evan Millar, MA* – Ryerson University
Emily Hazell, MSA* – Ryerson University
Strengths and Weaknesses of Index-based Assessments of Sustainable Landscape Function
is part of the Paper Session:
Land Systems and Sustainability Science
scheduled on Wednesday, 4/5/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Richard Ross Shaker, M.Sc., Ph.D.* – Ryerson University
Thriving or merely surviving? The importance of solar radiation access to urban tree vitality
is part of the Paper Session:
Urban Forestry and Arboriculture
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Andrew A Millward, PhD* – Ryerson University, Geography and Environmental Studies
Michael Grosu, BA – Ryerson Urban Forest Research & Ecological Disturbance (UFRED) Group
Christopher Scarpone, MSc – Ryerson Urban Forest Research & Ecological Disturbance (UFRED) Group
From invader to occupier: application of dendrochronology and spatial modelling to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of Norway maple colonization of an urban park
is part of the Paper Session:
Urban Forestry and Arboriculture
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Vadim Sabetski, MSA* – Urban Forest Research & Ecological Disturbance (UFRED) Group, Ryerson University
Andrew A Millward, PhD – Ryerson University, Geography and Environmental Studies
Talk of the Town: An Equity Focused Analysis of “Blurry” Media Categories to Reveal Expressed and Hidden Perspectives on Neighbourhood Gentrification
is part of the Paper Session:
Justice and equity in the transformation of urban systems 1
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Sara Edge, PhD* – Ryerson University
Emma Beattie – Ryerson University
Poster #072: Scenario analysis: Modelling the impact of urban vegetation on levels of noise annoyance in city of Toronto
is part of the Poster Session:
GIS and Technology Poster Session
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Desislava Stefanova* – Ryerson University
Tor Oiamo, PhD – Ryerson University
Poster #073: Assessing Urban Health Simulation Outcomes Through Concentration Response Functions at the Census Tract Level
is part of the Poster Session:
GIS and Technology Poster Session
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Danielle C.L. Sadakhom* – Ryerson University
Tor Oiamo , P.h.D – Ryerson University
Driving Students to School and the Impact on Local Air Pollution
is part of the Paper Session:
Symposium on Human Dynamics in Smart and Connected Communities: Smart Cities and Urban Computing 6
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Matthew Adams* – Ryerson University
Weeberb Requia Junior – McMaster University
From gut-feel to spatial big data: exploring the boundaries of retail location decision-making
is part of the Paper Session:
Location Intelligence: Business Geography Research and Applications
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Joseph Aversa* – Ryerson University
Tony Hernandez, PhD – Ryerson University
The Corporatization of Small Scale Retail in Canada
is part of the Paper Session:
Location Intelligence: Business Geography Research and Applications
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Tony Hernandez* – Ryerson University
Maurice Yeates – Ryerson University
Christopher Daniel – Ryerson University
Environmental noise and justice in Toronto, Canada: in search of equitable mitigation strategies
is part of the Paper Session:
Justice and equity in the transformation of urban systems 2
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Tor Oiamo, PhD* – Ryerson University
A Local Spatial Market for Upscale Retail in Canada?
is part of the Paper Session:
Retail Geography
scheduled on Thursday, 4/6/2017 at 13:20 PM.
Author(s):
Stephen J. Swales* – Ryerson University
K. Wayne Forsythe – Ryerson University
Location and Temporal-Spatial Understanding of Canadian Inventions: 1991-2016.
is part of the Paper Session:
Urban Economies and the Ordinary Life C: Cities and Industry
scheduled on Friday, 4/7/2017 at 13:20 PM.
Author(s):
Brian Ceh* – Ryerson University
Matthew Abraham – Ryerson University
David Kosior – Ryerson University
Integration, healthcare and well-being: a case study of Sri Lankan immigrants in Toronto, Canada
is part of the Paper Session:
Urban health and well-being
scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Lu Wang* – Ryerson University
Anne Christian – Ryerson University
A Comparative Analysis of Nanjing and Toronto for Their Respective Urban Planning Systems
is part of the Paper Session:
Regional Development and Urban Planning Series II (China)
scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017 at 10:00 AM.
Author(s):
Shuguang Wang* – Ryerson University
Shan Yang – Nanjing Normal University
Sanctuary Practices in International Perspective
is part of the Paper Session:
Rescaling Migration, Citizenship, and Rights I: Sanctuary Practices
scheduled on Sunday, 4/9/2017 at 8:00 AM.
Author(s):
Harald Bauder* – Ryerson University
Encouraging urban forest stewardship through digital storytelling
is part of the Paper Session:
Trees in the City 2: Urban Forest Stewardship, Policy and Program Impacts
scheduled on Saturday, 4/8/2017 at 13:20 PM.
Author(s):
Amber Grant, MASc Candidate* – Environmental Applied Science & Management and Urban Forest Research & Ecological Disturbance (UFRED) Group, Ryerson University
Andrew A Millward, PhD – Ryerson University, Geography and Environmental Studies
Sara Edge, PhD – Ryerson University, Geography and Environmental Studies
Guest post by Nikita Markevich, BA in Geographic Analysis candidate, Ryerson University
As an international student, I was facing some bureaucratic hurdles obtaining an internship in Canada. However, my program, the BA in Geographic Analysis, requires the completion of 350 hours of work experience, usually on paid practicum placements in the private or public sector. Given the need to complete this requirement for timely graduation next spring, my attention shifted to my home country, Russia. I was able to arrange an internship with ESRI CIS, the Russian subsidiary of the world-leading Geographic Information Systems (GIS) vendor, ESRI Inc. The placement in Moscow was arranged through the help of networking and contacts I made during the 2015 International Geographical Union conference in Moscow, which I attended as well.
During my placement between May and July 2016, I have obtained valuable experience which shaped my sense of the work environment of a large GIS vendor. I was attached to the GIS specialist team and my supervisor helped me a lot on the first stages of my placement. I was introduced to my project, which involved creation of a massive geo-database coordinated by ESRI software packages, particularly ArcMap 10.2 and ArcCatalog 10.2. I was tasked with data mining routines, maintaining attribute tables and working with relational databases. The project focused on the transformation of polygonal data into a geo-database according to technical standards, which were set by a client.
Once the routine workflow was formed, ESRI offered me a choice of attending additional ESRI certified training courses, from which I completed two: ESRI ArcGIS 10.3 Essential Workflows and ESRI ArcGIS 10.3 Effective Editing. Both courses helped to solidify my skills in editing polygonal data and conduct analyses using geoprocessing tools. Working in an environment with experienced professionals in the GIS field, especially programmers involved in the creation of Web GIS scripts, helped me improve my GIS programming skills, including those, which facilitate and automate routines related to attribute information editing.
Overall, my summer internship at ESRI CIS allowed me to practice and deepen the essential skills of a GIS specialist, which will come as an asset in my employment search in Canada. I also spent some time exploring my hometown – visiting museums and suburbs – and traveling to the neighbouring Baltic countries Latvia and Estonia.
For GIS Day 2016, the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies joined forces with Environics Analytics, “Canada’s premier marketing and analytical services company”. This year’s Environics Analytics User Conference on November 16 attracted 675 data analysts from 350 organizations and featured 16 client presentations, numerous software demos, and one great party!
The core role of Geography and location in data analytics was emphasized by many presenters. Environics Analytics founder and president, @statslady Jan Kestle, is quoted with identifying “Geography as the secret sauce” that integrates data for advanced analytics. The Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Ryerson University received shout-outs and accolades for training the next generation of data analysts through its BA in Geographic Analysis and MSA in Spatial Analysis programs.
We joined the Environics Analytics User Conference with a GIS Day-themed display of geovisualization projects from the MSA cartography course and with a 15-year reunion to celebrate the 2001 class of MSA graduates, the first-ever group of students receiving a graduate degree from Ryerson University. Since then, over 300 students have obtained the MSA degree and joined the ranks of data analysts, who shape the regional economy, public services, and environment.
The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) held its first conference on “Urban Planning Information Systems and Programs” in 1963 at the University of Southern California. Now dubbed “GIS-Pro”, the conference and URISA as an organization are the preeminent destinations for exchange of best-practices among Geographic Information Systems (GIS) professionals. This year, Canada, the birth place of GIS, welcomed URISA back for its 54th annual conference held at Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle hotel from Oct 31-Nov 3, 2016.
The conference drew over 350 participants, with some 200 from Canada (including 150 from Ontario) and most of the remainder from the United States. Representatives from Australia, Barbados, Japan, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom rounded out the pre-conference attendee list. URISA is greatly engaged in the professional development of its members, and consequently, over 100 participants held the GISP designation. URISA is a founding member of the GIS Certification Institute, which awards the “GISP” status and was an exhibitor and workshop organizer at the conference. URISA’s Vanguard Cabinet of young geospatial professionals, URISA’s GISCorps of worldwide GIS volunteers, its GIS Management Institute, and its regional chapters were all involved in organizing the conference. In one of the conference highlights, Esri Canada founder and president Alex Miller was inducted to the URISA GIS Hall of Fame. More information about URISA can be found at http://www.urisa.org/main/about-us/.
My former graduate students Justin Pierre and Richard Wen had signed up for a session on open-source geospatial software (https://gispro2016.sched.org/event/6nv7/free-puppies-and-solutions-open-source-and-commercial-software). Justin presented on his Master of Spatial Analysis (MSA) major research paper “Developing an Argumentation Platform in an Open Source Stack”. His map-based discussion forum on Toronto’s bike lane network runs on Ryerson’s cloud at https://cartoforum.com/bikelanes/, albeit not always as reliably as we wish. Richard outlined his MSA thesis research on “Using Open Source Python Packages for Machine Learning on Vector Geodata”. He applied the “random forest” algorithm to the task of detecting outliers in OpenStreetMap data, with the goal of developing tools for semi-automated data input and quality control in volunteered geographic data. Richard’s code and thesis are available at https://github.com/rrwen/msa-thesis. Both of these student were part of the Geothink SSHRC Parternship Grant, http://geothink.ca/, which supported their conference participation.
@RyersonGeo also had a booth in the GIS-Pro 2016 exhibit hall. While conference participants were interested in the Department’s programs and research expertise, the main attraction of our booth was an augmented-reality (AR) sandbox. The sandbox was built, set up, and staffed by our collaborators in the GIS team at the Central Lake Ontario Conservation Authority (CLOCA – http://cloca.ca/). CLOCA staff had attended Dr. Oswald’s GeovisUW workshop (https://storify.com/ClausRinner/geovisuw-workshop-ryersongeo) in June 2016 and were inspired by the visit of Ryerson’s Digital Media Experience Lab, which demo’ed an AR sandbox. In subsequent discussions about public outreach around surface- and groundwater protection, we proceeded with 3D-prining of CLOCA’s watershed geography and terrain, while CLOCA staff endeavoured to build the sandbox. The two displays were used by CLOCA at the 2016 Durham Children’s Groundwater Festival in late September. At the GIS-Pro 2016 conference, some participants were wondering about combining the two technologies, while others were interested in using the sandbox to model real-world terrain and simulating flooding. While accurate modeling of terrain and water flow may prove difficult, we are indeed planning to test the sandbox with semi-realistic scenarios.
In conclusion, applied GIS researchers and practicing GIS professionals are a friendly, close-knit group. The conference volunteers from our BA in Geographic Analysis, BA in Environment and Urban Sustainability, and MSA in Spatial Analysis programs were given a lot of free time and thoroughly enjoyed the conference. They were truly impressed by the large number and variation in GIS applications presented, and left the conference with a greater sense for the professional community. For me, the conference confirmed that research and development of GIS should be led by geographers, within Geography departments, as we are best positioned to understand the professional end-user’s needs, yet also have the technical expertise, at least @RyersonGeo, to contribute to GIS R&D.
