This course introduces students to the fundamentals of geographical information. Geographical information is information which, on the one hand, can be geographically located (e.g. via coordinates, place names, etc.) and, on the other hand, represents geographical features (e.g. geometric polygons representing building outlines). This type of information is found in many areas of planning: when gathering evidence to learn about spaces; in plans themselves; it is collected during public participation processes; it is used to evaluate the success of planning; and so on.

We address the following questions:

• What is geoinformation and why is it relevant to us?
• How do we represent geoinformation on a computer?
• What links exist between abstract geoinformation and concrete geography?
• How can we use geoinformation to learn about ‘the real world’?
• How can we project the Earth’s surface onto flat maps?
• How can we derive meaningful geoinformation from geodata that is initially devoid of meaning?