Students in this course acquire basic knowledge in the field of application of GIS and information technology in demography.

Students will master the basic concepts, relationships, and techniques of GIS, and get an overview of its complexity and multiple application capabilities in demographic research. They will also master the techniques for proper preparation and input of data into GIS, gaining a precondition so that they can, in the future, be able to use other GIS systems.

Theoretical lectures

Defining GIS, the history of development and the future of GIS. Modeling the real world (procedure and theoretical basis). Semantic and geometric aspects of data modeling. Typology and themes. Modeling the world of images: raster model, vector model, comparison and combination of models. Modeling the in the world data. Conventional database models. Spatial and intelligent databases. Procedures for collecting spatial data. Sources and methods of collecting geographic data. Gathering geographic data by scanning method. Analysis and display of spatial data. Arithmetic and logical operations. Application of statistics and modeling. Forms of data display (screen forms, cartographic presentations, visualization, cartographic animations, GIS on the Internet).

Practical lectures

THT files, Word documents. Creating a document. Enter numeric data in Excel. Data processing. Calculation. Working with formulas. Basic functions. Basic techniques of drawing a diagram. Creating a database in Access. Creating interactive maps. Map referencing. Thematic mapping, selection of methods for classifying and changing of legend elements. Define thematic subgroups and limit the display based on the situation. Print the name of the objects on the map. Create a hot link. Create tables, adding columns and rows to existing tables, editing data in tables and calculate. Set up queries, view statistics, and summarize the tables. Basics of relational databases, joining and linking tables. Creating a diagram, understanding chart elements, selecting diagram types and changing diagram elements. Entering new objects and adding their attributes. Modifying the size and shape of objects on the map, dividing lines and polygons, merging lines and polygons and automatically update attribute. Analysing of spatial relationships and spatial connections and connectivity. Defining print media, preparing for printing (determining the size of the map to be printed, defining legends, marking north, adding text and graphics ...) and printing.