Fall 2026 Course Schedule
This schedule is organized by week. Reading and assignment details may continue to be posted on the course site as we progress through the semester. All material is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion based on our progress in the course. If there are changes which impact due dates or the timeline of work, they will be clearly stated here and in class.
Important Dates for Fall 2026 from NYUAD Registrar
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Monday, 31 August | First Day of Classes |
| Friday, 11 September | Add/Drop Deadline (14-week courses) |
| Saturday, 17 October; 18-22 October | Reading Day & Finals for 7 week courses (no classes) |
| Friday-Sunday 23-25 October | Fall Break (no classes) |
| Monday, 26 October | Classes Resume (14-week courses) |
| Friday, 20 November | Withdrawal Deadline (14-week courses) |
| Wednesday-Friday, 2-3 December | National Day Holiday (no classes) |
| Monday, 14 December | Legislative Day - Thursday classes |
| Monday, 14 December | Last Day of Classes |
| Wednesday, 16 December | All work due |
In the schedule below, the first column date indicates the meeting date of the class. We always meet 1120am-1230pm in the classroom. The second column preparation indicates what you should have completed in preparation for the course. The third column activity gives some indication of what we will be covering in class in addition to general discussion.
Part 1:
Week 1 (1, 3 September)
Topic: Introduction to the Course. In this first week, we will take a look at the larger picture of this course, and moving beyond the contemporary idea of way-finding, we will explore the “geospatial,” the way it can be studied and some of the critical questions we can ask of geospatial data using uncommon sources, those from the humanities.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sept | none | -Introduction to course, expectations, syllabus -Introducing ourselves -course site |
| 3 Sept | -Digital Mapping (Wilson, in drive) -“How Crowdsourcing and Smartphones are Redefining Spatial Data” -“You’re Leaking your location” -Mercator vs True Size -The True Size of… -“Do Maps Lie?” |
-Discussion of readings & general course issues -Introduction to static sites |
Extra Credit: 17 September NYU New York Data Services classes “Introduction to arcGIS Online”. Up to 2 points on one assignment. Register here. Guidelines here. NB: You must request an arcGIS online account in advance of this workshop! Instructions on how to do so are included in the registration page.
Week 2 (8, 10 September)
Topic: Exploring Spatial Data and Spatial Data Practices. In this week, we will explore what forms spatial data take, where you can go and find data about places and the kind of work “GIS” (geographic information systems) experts do. We will explore models (open and proprietary) for such data and will begin to visualize some datasets, particularly those coming from free, open spatial data that we can download. We will also work on setting up an individual site so that we can host content (including live interactive maps) for the course.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 8 Sept | -Watch “The Geospatial Revolution, episode 5” (You can watch the other 4–they are dated) -“Map Power and Map Methodologies for Social Justice” (Krupar) -Toward Critical Data Studies (Kitchin & Lauriault) |
-Highlights of Episode 1-4 of the PSU series -Discussion of Reading -Gentle Introduction to Static Sites |
| 10 Sept | -What is a static site? -Static Sites -Download Github Desktop -make a Github account and share your username here -What is Markdown? |
-Summarizing Wikle and Williamson, “Static Web Methodology as a Sustainable Approach to Digital Humanities Projects” -Setting Up a Site for Coursework -A “cheatsheet” for Markdown |
First Assignment Due: Monday, 28 September, 11:59pm Building a Map of Chosen Features for the Country of Your Choice. Full Instructions here.
Extra Credit: 25 September NYU New York Data Services classes “Introduction to R”. Up to 2 points on one assignment. Register here. Guidelines here.
Week 3 (15, 17 September)
Topic: From Official Cartography to “Neogeography” and Critical Data Approaches. In this week, we will take a look at state-centered cartographic practices of the past, how open source map data came into being, how well it represents the globe, and how such data creation practices have been transformed. Moreover, we will look at how, within web mapping frameworks we can create our own spatial data to tell visual stories about any topic of interest. We introduce the notion of critical data studies this week.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Sept | -Early GIS in Canada -“Evolution of GIS” -The Billion Dollar Code - trailer -GeoNames -How OpenStreetMap Got Started |
-Exploring GeoNames and OpenStreetMap -Quick Map Visualization using kepler.gl and UMap -Querying OSM in overpass turbo -A Peek at QGIS |
| 17 Sept | -How reliable is the data in OSM? -Make an account at posit.cloud -Skim-watch RStudio for Beginners with PositCloud and chatGPT -“Working in a Programming Language” in Humanities Data Essentials in R |
-Making sure our GitHub pages are working -Notebook: “The Anatomy of a Web Map” -Notebook: “Mapping Specific Features in OSM data of your choice” (posit.cloud) |
Week 4 (22, 24 September)
Topic: The “Spatial Humanities”. This week we will look at a variety of different projects from the humanities and humanities-adjacent fields that use spatial data to visualize phenomena, to tell stories and make arguments. Projects will come from a variety of disciplines.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Sept | none | Instructor away at a conference, no class |
| 24 Sept | -What is Humanities Mapping? (Pascoe) -list of projects for our presentations -Another course’s list of projects |
-explore how geospatial technologies can support humanities argument and storytelling -discuss what spatial research does well -in class student mini-presentations (in pairs) |
Extra Credit: 7 October NYU New York Data Services classes “Breaking Up with Google Docs,” an introduction to privacy-centered Joplin and Obsidian. Register here. Guidelines here.
Week 5 (29 September, 1 October)
Topic: Telling Spatial Narratives and “Volunteered Geographic Data” (VGI). In this week we continue our exploration of the world of humanities and humanities-adjacent research in the spatial humanities with more student presentations and discussions of the “nuts and bolts” of these projects. We turn to a “road trip” novel created in 2018 by an NYUNY graduate and an AI-powered car.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Sept | -continuation of spatial humanities projects | -in class student mini-presentations (in pairs) |
| 1 Oct | -What is VGI? -1, the Road |
Second Assignment Due: 12 October, 11:59pm Comparing Human and Machine Mapping of an AI written Novel. Full Instructions here.
In-class Written Exam: 15 October.
Week 6 (6, 8 October)
Topic: Spatializing Texts: Human and Machine.
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| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Oct | -What is Annotation? -Ways of Annotating -Interannotator Disagreement | -Introduction to Recogito -Notebook: “Human versus Machine “ |
| 8 Oct | -Before Web Mapping, there was static software | -Learning some basics about QGIS -Creating a Static Map in QGIS |
Week 7 (13, 15 October)
Topic: Midterm Wrap-Up and In-class handwritten assessment
This week will do a wrap up of the first half of the semester and brainstorm possible topics for the in-class handwritten assessment. I will bring paper and an exam sheet. You will hand write the exam in your choice of pen or pencil.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct | -general review of course materials -From Official, Static Practice to “Neogeographical” Creativity | brainstorming |
| 15 Oct | -general review of course materials | in class written exam |
FALL BREAK – keep calm and have a break!
Part 2
Week 8 (27, 29 October)
Topic: The Past of Maps, the Future of Maps
In this week we will take a step back to look at the development of mapping from paper-based analog practices to the latest digital trends. We will discuss briefly some of the ways that geospatial tech is moving us being just navigating while driving or walking.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 27 Oct | -Introducing the second half of the semester -How Much has Mapping Changed -What is next for geospatial? | - introducing the final oral exam |
| 29 Oct | -What is Data Modeling in the Humanities? |
Week 9 (3, 5 November)
Topic: Getting Help to Create Structured Data from Complex Sources: LLMs
This week we will return to the idea of modeling data, that is, giving a shape to it based on a source. We will think about ways that complex analog sources, once digitized, can be modeled as spatial data sets. This process will allow us to allow them to visualized and analyzed.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov | Complex Sources - remember the phone book? | |
| 5 Nov | Complex Sources - mapping the pre-oil Gulf Lorimer’s Gazetteer -Data Modeling and LLM prompting |
Oral Exams during the week of 24 November. Guidelines for oral exam. Sign ups available here.
Third Assignment Due: 20 November, 11:59pm Critical Data Manipulation with an LLM. Full Instructions here.
Week 10 (10, 12 November)
Topic: The Past of Paper Maps: Comparing Spatial Perspectives of Historical Cartography
Long before maps were made digital they were paper-based objects. We will explore how, once digitized, analog maps gain currency in the digital world, how we can study them for the perspectives of their makers as well as derive data from them for use in computational systems. Highlighted this week will be Soviet cartography.
| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Nov | -What is QGIS? -What is Georeferencing? | |
| 12 Nov | -Georeferencing Soviet Cartography -Georeferencing World Cities |
Week 11 (17, 19 November)
Instructor Away at a conference. Independent work on Assignment 3 and preparation for the Courses made up the following week for oral exams.
Oral exams. Oral exams will be held outside of regular class hours the week of 23 November and the beginning of the next.
Week 12 (24, 26 November)
Topic: Interacting with the GeoSpatial: Changing Frontiers
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| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Nov | -What is humanitarian GIS? | -hands on with HOTOSM |
| 26 Nov | -How is AI changing geospatial technologies -What is GeoAI | -Critical hands-on with some AI GIS tools (Map Reader at David Rumsey Center, Ask Maps, GeoGPT, etc) |
Fourth Assignment Due: 11 December. GeoAI for Vectorization. Prompt here. Rubric in the rubric tab.
Week 13 (1 December)
Topic: New Frontiers for Geospatial
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| Date | Preparation | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Dec | More Geospatial AI exploration | |
| 3 Dec | none | National Day Holiday! |
Week 14 (8, 10 December)
Topic: GeoAI In Humanistic and Social Domains. This week we will look at some of the newest ways that spatial data is being leveraged for problem solving in domains such as urban planning, smart cities and geospatial intelligence, in addition to some of the critiques of such methods.
| 8 Dec | “What is Segmentation?” “What is AI Vectorizer” “More about AI Segmentation of Maps” | -hands on with vectorizing aerial images |
| 10 Dec | -Risks of AI in geospatial | -Discussion |
Week 15 (14 December)
Topic: Legislative Day. Semester wrap up.
| 14 Dec | none | Semester Wrap up |