- The City College of New York
- Department of CE and ESE
- Spring 2026
Course Description: This course introduces students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Data Science with applications directly aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Students will learn how to collect, manage, and analyze geospatial and statistical data to address global challenges, including poverty, inequality, health, climate change, and sustainable urban development. Through a blend of lectures, hands-on labs, and real-world case studies, students will acquire the technical and analytical skills necessary to transform raw data into actionable insights that support informed policy, planning, and decision-making for sustainable development. As this course is cross-listed with GIS for CE, those students will work on a CE-related group project with typical hydrologic tasks, such as Terrain modeling, watershed delineation, computation, and extraction of river and watershed networks, including spatial analysis.
Pre-Survey for Class
| Date | Lectures / Presentations (45-60 minutes) | Class Location (6:30-9:00 PM) | Activities (Lab and Research Project) | Home works (Brightspace) |
| 26 Jan 2026 | Course Introduction and GIS Application Presentation-Introduction to SDGs | In-Person T-424 | Introduction of Software & Installation | |
| 2 Feb 2026 | Lecture 2: Introduction to GIS and ArcGIS Pro | In-Person T-424 | Lab 1: ArcGIS Pro Basics and Mapping CO2 data Optional – Google Earth Engine Mapping | Homework 1 |
| 9 Feb 2026 | Lecture 3: GIS Data Sources for SDGs & Water Resources * Research Project Discussion | In-Person T-424 | Lab 2: SDG thematic mapping Energy & Emissions data Lab 3: Visualizing CSV Latitude and Longitude data | |
| 16 Feb 2026 | College Closed (No Class) | —————— | —————— | |
| 23 Feb 2026 | Lecture 4: Geodesy, Coordinate Systems, and Map Projections | In-Person T-424 | Lab 4: Remote sensing data access & mapping | Homework 2 |
| 2 Mar 2026 | Lecture 5: Earth Observations for the SDGs: Remote Sensing Applications | In-Person T-424 | Lab 5: Spatial Analysis: Interpolating Rainfall Data | |
| 9 Mar 2026 | Project Review * Research Project Selection | In-Person T-424 | Project Studio: StoryMaps + Mapping at ArcGIS Online | |
| 16 Mar 2026 | Lecture 6: Water Quality Analytics for SDG 6 | In-Person T-424 | Lab 6: Interpolation and Analysis of Water Data | Homework 3 |
| 23 Mar 2026 | Lecture 7: Watershed Analytics for SDGs | In-Person T-424 | Lab 7: Watershed Delineations | |
| 30 Mar 2026 | Lecture 8: Spatial Analysis for SDG Insights | In-Person T-424 | Lab 8: TBD | Homework 4 |
| 6 Apr 2026 | No Class (Spring Break) | —————— | —————— | |
| 13 Apr 2026 | Lecture 09: Raster Data Sciences for SDGs | In-Person T-424 | Lab 9: Raster Data Analysis: Extracting Vegetation, Water, & Soil Indices | |
| 20 Apr 2026 | Lecture 10: Open Source Geo-spatial Mapping (QGIS) | On Zoom | Lab 10: QGIS mapping of Global, States and Lat Long data | |
| 27 Apr 2026 | Lecture 11: Impact Assessment + SDG Tradeoffs | In-Person T-424 | Lab 11: Environmental GIS: Mapping Contaminated Site | |
| 4 May 2026 | Lecture 12: Emerging Geo-spatial Tech for SDGs | In-Person T-424 | Activity and Review of Group Research Project. | |
| 11 May 2026 | Group Research Project Presentation (SDG Indicators + StoryMaps / Dashboard) | In-Person T-424 | ||
| 18 May 2026 | Final Examination | In-Person T-424 |
| Grading: | Final Exam | 30% | The final exam will be in person on 18 May 2026. |
| Homework | 15% | The homework will be due 2 weeks after it has been assigned. Avoid late HW submissions! | |
| Lab Assignments | 20% | Lab Activities to perform GIS mapping based on the data provided | |
| Project | 35% | By 9th March 2026, you need to submit a proposal for the term project. | |
| (a) Project PPT | 25Pts | These will be scheduled during the 11th May class and will be organized by the students. | |
| (b) Project Report | 65Pts | You will need to submit the project Report at the day of PPTs. | |
| (c) Project EVA | 10Pts | You will be asked to evaluate your classmates’ PPTs. |