Geographic Information Science

Predicted habitat of phantom orchid (B. Klinkenberg)

Quantitative geographical analyses within the Department cover a range of fundamental issues, from core GIScience issues such as the study of error and accuracy in GIS and remote sensing to advanced spatial analysis and species distribution and ecosystem modelling, health geography/medical biogeography, data visualization, cognition, and PPGIS. Faculty members are involved in the UBC Remote Sensing and GIS Council and are associated with the Institute of Resources, Environment and Sustainability. Research projects in The Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis (LASA) currently include sensing studies of African elephant movement, an analysis of yellow-cedar die-back, data mining of Mexican election results, and the social geography of the Geoweb. Other faculty and student projects focus on measuring trajectories of inner-city neighbourhood change in Vancouver and other Canadian cities, modeling the spatial imprint of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 on U.S. cities, and analyzing the relations between changes in local socio-spatial inequality and the rise of a globally-recognized “Vancouver model” of urban planning and design.

Faculty working on Geographic Information Science

Sally Hermansen, Senior Instructor
Cartography, GIS, remote sensing

B.A. Honours, M.A. 1984, Queen's University

"My main area of interest is Geographic Data Visualization, and I teach courses in Cartography, Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing. I work on collaborative research projects that use GIS to visualize environmental history and I undertake research on the evolution of the teaching of cartography in academia, and the learning of spatial concepts by children. I teach an introductory course on geography (Vancouver and its Region) and specialized project courses on sustainability when the opportunity arises."

Website: www.geog.ubc.ca/~sallyh

Email Contact: sally.hermansen@geog.ubc.ca

Office Phone: 604-822-5970

Room Number: GEOG 144

Brian Klinkenberg, Professor
Spatial analysis, visualization, uncertainty, remote sensing

B.Sc., University of Toronto; M.Sc., Ph.D. (1988), University of Western Ontario

"My work focuses on advanced spatial analysis in the physical, health and social sciences, and in the intersection of these areas (e.g., medical biogeography and Geographic Information Science). This includes a focus on both theoretical investigations and innovative applications of GIScience in subject areas where space and place are considered important explanatory elements (e.g. wildlife use of landscape in the Serengeti). My students and I explore such areas as neighbourhood theory and error and accuracy in GIS, modeling, and visualization. This includes the use of spatial analysis in landscape classification, biogeography, medical biogeography, environmental geography, human-ecosystem interactions and conservation biology. Biodiversity informatics is a current interest, as is exploring the social aspects of GIScience and Geospatial technologies, the reflexivities between technology and society. The thread that links this research is the understanding and insight that advanced spatial analysis brings to research and theoretical problems--often unveiling subtleties that would otherwise be overlooked."

Dr. Klinkenberg is currently the editor and project coordinator of E-Flora BC / E-Fauna BC.

Website: www.geog.ubc.ca/~brian

Website: www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/eflora/

Website: www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/efauna/

Email Contact: brian.klinkenberg@geog.ubc.ca

Office Phone: 604-822-3534

Room Number: GEOG 209

Lab Number: GEOG 210J

Elvin Wyly, Associate Professor
Cartography, spatial analysis, modeling

B.Sc., The Pennsylvania State University; M.A., Ph.D. (1995), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

"I study the relations between market processes and state policy in producing and reinforcing urban social inequalities. My approach blends elements of critical social theory, conventional legal and policy analysis, and multivariate quantitative methods designed to engage state and corporate institutions on their own terrain, with their own data. Current projects focus on class, racial, and gender discrimination in mortgage lending and foreclosures in the U.S. urban system; housing affordability in Canadian and U.S. cities; the transformation of public housing; new spatialities of class inequality in London; and the reconfiguration of segregation, displacement, and gentrification."

Website: www.geog.ubc.ca/~ewyly

Email Contact: elvin.wyly@geog.ubc.ca

Office Phone: 604-822-4653

Room Number: GEOG 252

Department of Geography - Faculty of Arts - The University of British Columbia
1984 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Phone: 604-822-2663 Fax: 604-822-6150
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