Project Based GIS - Communicating Results

ENV 761 - Landscape GIS   |   Spring 2024   |   Instructors: Peter Cada & John Fay  |  

Overview

A step that is often overlooked in spatial analysis is communicating results; our analysis is irrelevant if the results are never broadcast to an audience. Communicating results can take several forms. First we decide on which media to use. This depends on the message and the audience. Furthermore, how results are conveyed via different media can have varying impacts. Certain guidelines can help make your message as clear and effective as possible.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

• Articulate the importance of effectively communicating the results of your analysis
• Describe the variety of questions that a GIS analysis can answer
• List different ways to present the results of GIS analyses
• Describe factors affect how you decide to present your results
• List the two essential questions you must consider when preparing to communicate your results
• Explain how your central message may differ across analysis that answer a question vs. those that provide a reference
• List the key attributes of your audience that may affect how you might want to present your results
• List the different types of output formats a GIS analysis can produce as well as their relative strengths and weaknesses