The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) employs over 4,500 people and is responsible for one of the most complex urban transportation networks in the country. Building, maintaining, and improving a network of over 6,000 miles of streets, 12,000 miles of sidewalks, and 789 bridges and tunnels requires a staff trained in the latest tools and techniques for managing and analyzing this data. Central to this work are the various geographic information systems (GIS) with which DOT employees can create, visualize, and analyze spatial data quickly and accurately, communicating critical information to decision makers and members of the public.
While GIS applications are often critical to the task of analysts, they aren’t simple to use and require training before users are able to fully utilize the myriad of features they offer. DOT has made a commitment to explore the use of open source software solutions, a cost-effective way to acquire software that is often free to use and customize, but doesn’t come with the same vendor support proprietary software solutions provide. Users often need training in not only the basics of the particular program they’re using, but an awareness of the various resources available through tutorials, blogs, and other online documentation to support their work. Building proficiency with these systems will enable DOT employees to more fully utilize these valuable tools, accomplishing their important work in a quick, reliable manner.
In order to build proficiency in the use of the open source GIS applications, Datapolitan will design and deliver the following courses during Fiscal Year 2015-2016:
A full-day course for up to 25 employees in basic spatial concepts and key features of ArcGIS for loading, styling, and analyzing spatial data with an emphasis on using real-world data to answer interesting and important analytical and operational questions. No experience with spatial data or GIS applications is assumed.
A full-day course for up to 20 employees familiar with how to load and visualize spatial data in QGIS or another GIS applications. The course will cover how to load, process, and analyze real-world data using an open source spatial relational databases with QGIS to answer interesting and important analytical questions.
Each course will be designed as a collaborative, hands-on, dynamic experience for participants. The Introduction to GIS Fundamentals and Intermediate GIS classes will be one (1) day classes, running from 9 am to 4 pm, with a one (1) hour lunch break. While the course content will closely follow the outlines above, the actual content for each course will be the responsibility of the course designer and instructor. Any deviations from the above course content will be consistent with creating the relevant and engaging educational environment DOT is seeking for its employees. The DOT Learning Center will be provided draft copies of the materials in advance for their review and input.
Datapolitan will be responsible for the following: