Unit information: Geographic Information Retrieval and Integration in 2022/23

Unit name	Geographic Information Retrieval and Integration
Unit code	GEOGM0068
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Zhu
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Geographical Sciences
Faculty	Faculty of Science

Unit Information

This unit introduces core principles of geographic information retrieval and integration by covering basic concepts of spatial indexing and ranking, spatial query, spatial data conflation, as well as data-driven techniques for geo-text mining. Applications on urban structures and smart city will be applied to assist the learning process.

The unit aims to:

• Teach students the fundamental concepts behind accessing and managing geographic information
• Raise the awareness of how geographic (spatial) data is different from non-geographic (spatial) data with respect to retrieving and integrating information
• Encourage students to design more efficient geographic (spatial) data management strategies in their projects
• Facilitate students using state-of-the-art techniques to extract and integrate geographic information, especially from unstructured data (e.g., tweets, newspapers, etc.)

Your learning on this unit

Upon successful completion of this unit, students will:

1. Understand how spatial indexing and ranking are computed in popular geographic information retrieval techniques
2. Be familiar with different strategies and tools of organizing geographic data, and be able to identify their advantages and disadvantages
3. Be able to write programs to automatically conduct toponym resolution from unstructured data, and to execute basic analysis
4. Have an appreciation on “spatial is special”, particularly in the context of data science

How you will learn

10 x 2 hour computer-lab based lectures (mixture of computer practicals and lectures)

How you will be assessed

Formative: Throughout the course students will receive formative feedback on code development during the unit seminars.

Summative: Two 2000-word reports (each worth 50% of the unit), with the first one reporting the design and implementation of a geographic database together with basic spatial queries, and the second one elaborating the process of retrieving and analyzing unstructured geo-text from the Web. These reports will be written in a reproducible manner and will include the necessary code for the data analysis and the outputs.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. GEOGM0068).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.