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GIS (Geographic Information Systems): Community of Practice

This guide covers resources and tools helpful for people interested in GIS.

world map made up of tiny peopleThe GIS & Mapping Community of Practice is an informal meetup that offers participants an opportunity to get to know other people using mapping tools and techniques across campus, regardless of discipline. Whether you're just getting started exploring GIS & Mapping or a seasoned pro (or anywhere in between!), all are welcome to participate in the GIS & Mapping Community of Practice. Bring your questions and get excited to meet fellow mappers!

Upcoming Meetups

  • Exploring remote sensing with Google Earth Engine.
    • When: Monday, November 13, 2023, 3:10 - 4:30 pm
    • Where: Doe Library, Room 223
    • Curious about what remote sensing is and how to dive in? Alex Brown and Tyler Marino will provide a hands-on overview to exploring remote sensing imagery with Google Earth Engine. Bring a laptop with you if you'd like to follow along.
    • Registration encouraged, but not required.

Past Meetups

2023-24

  • Monday, September 25, 2023, 3 - 4 pm. Berkeley hills fire mapping, 1923 to today. <<in person @ 5th floor balcony of McCone Hall>> Susan Powell, Alex Brown and Tyler Marino, in collaboration with guest speaker Nico Tripcevich, provided key information on the Community of Practice as well as mapping methods and strategies for fire evacuation. Nico demoed a digital mapping application based on the historic 1923 Berkeley fire that destroyed 640 structures just north of campus.

2022-23

  • Tuesday, May 2, 2023, 11am - Noon. Tour of studio.geo & end-of-year social. <<in person @ 106 McCone Hall> We celebrated the end of the semester and learned about the work that studio.geo is doing with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust and others. studio.geo is "an experimental geographic research, teaching and design studio, located at the University of California, Berkeley. Projects hosted by the studio work across maps and media to produce critical and collaborative geographic work focused on the question of how we represent our worlds. It is a non-exclusive space and welcomes all thinkers and creators from across the Arts, Humanities and STEM, at all stages (Faculty, graduate, undergraduate), and at all levels (pro or novice)." 
  • Friday, April 28, 2023, 1 - 3pm. Planet workshop co-hosted with the GIF! <<in person @ 124 Mulford Hall>> Chippie Kislik, former ESPM PhD Student who is now working for the spatial imagery company Planet, led a workshop on how to search for, obtain, and analyze Planet imagery in ArcGIS Pro. Participants walked through the steps to find imagery in both Planet Explorer and through the Planet Add-in for ArcGIS Pro, add imagery into ArcGIS Pro, assess water and vegetation health using Planet data, create and export a map, and design a Planet Story time series slideshow.
  • Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 11am - Noon. College of Environmental Design spotlight: Cool maps & lightning talks! This month's meetup was hosted by the Environmental Design Library & the College of Environmental Design. We got hands on with some special materials from the Environmental Design Library collections, including a Sanborn atlas, map-themed artist books, and regional planning maps. Kat Palermo, a graduate student in Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, presented a lightning talk about their research using remote sensing and spatial data analysis to explore the LA River's urban ecology.
  • Wednesday, April 5, 2023, Noon - 1:15pm. Guided tour of "Visualizing Place: Maps from The Bancroft Library" and more! (rescheduled) We rescheduled our tour of the exhibit Visualizing Place: Maps from The Bancroft Library with co-curator of the exhibit, José Adrián Barragán-Álvarez! Not only that, but we got up close and personal with a special selection of the Bancroft's maps & atlases in the Bancroft classroom!! 
  • Tuesday, March 7, 2023, 11am - 12pm. Visit to "Visualizing Place: Maps from The Bancroft Library" Bancroft Gallery.
  • Tuesday, February 7, 2023. Welcome back & pizza social hosted by the D-Lab! We met in the D-Lab Collaboratory to learn about the D-Lab's services, trainings, and spaces and get to know other folks who are interested in GIS & mapping.
  • Rescheduled to Spring in solidarity with the UAW strike. December 2, 2022. End-of-semester meetup at the D-Lab!
  • November 17, 2022. "Mappy Hour" at Jupiter's outdoor courtyard (at Shattuck and Allston), including a show-and-tell of select maps from the Earth Sciences & Map Library and a wrap-up about UC GIS Week! (Originally scheduled to be a tour of the Earth Sciences & Map Library, but moved off-campus in solidarity with the UAW strike.)
  • October 17, 2022. Virtual meeting on Zoom, with "show and tell" presentations (meeting notes). Jack Moorehead presented the map he had entered in the NACIS student poster session. Nico Tripcevich presented a web map he had built using open-source tools.
  • September 14, 2022. Inaugural meeting! Introductions and discussion of what participants want out of a Community of Practice. Held at Bechtel Terrace.

Get Connected

GIS & Mapping Community of Practice meetups are announced in several forums:

Interested in presenting at a future meetup or have an idea for a speaker or location? Please let us know by filling out this interest form!