Geo-Information

E0: Introduction

Warm Up

Some Facts

Learning the tools and algorithms is only step one. The real goal is using them to solve real-world problems.

In GIS, understanding how things work is important — but knowing why and where to use them is just as essential. Imagine you’re…

Planning a city-wide cycling event and want to find the safest, greenest, and flattest route for thousands of riders.
Watching satellite images to see how a newly-built park in your neighborhood slowly turns from brown to vibrant green over a few months.
Building a map for your favorite hiking trails, letting friends leave geotagged comments and uploading their photos right onto the path.
Tracking population movement across city districts to help urban planners decide where to build new schools, hospitals, or public transport lines.
Analyzing anonymized mobile phone data to understand how people move through the city during a big festival, then optimizing bus schedules to handle the crowds.

Based on our experience, there are various ways to implement above tasks:

Use commerical and powerful(expensive at the same time) software like ArcGIS Pro.
Write lightweight Python scripts using geo-libraries such as ArcPy, Shapely, GeoPandas.
Develop custom applications using pro SDK, like ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Pro SDK.
Build standalone desktop applications based on open-source library such as GDAL and QT.
Create interactive web applications using map services (e.g.OpenLayers) and APIs(e.g. Google Map API).
Use budget-friendly, open-source software such as QGIS.

You’re free to pick your favourite but it’s always a bit challenging for rookies to select their hero at the start of the game. Here, we’ve chosen ArcGIS Pro as our main tool. You might be wondering: How did we make that decision? Go ahead, take a guess…

```{admonition} ❓ Why ArcGIS Pro

🎯We spun the wheel and landed on it.
🏛️TUM has already paid the license for us(~~Most important~~).
It looks pretty fancy(To be honest, vibe coding is much cooler🧑‍💻).
It’s fairly easy to get started(Only for Windows users - 😅Sorry Linux & Mac user).
It’s powerful and comprehensive(Though to be fair, most GIS software claim that).
It’s backed by Esri — a GIS giant(Esri’s founder, Jack Dangermond, basically invented modern GIS.)
It’s the tool used in many government agencies and engineering firms(ArcGIS Pro might not be CEO’s first love. Those license fees can sting). ```

Exercise Structure

Normally, there will be two documents published of each exercise,

This one — the overview, outlining what you need to do.
Another one — a much more detailed, step-by-step guide to help you implement the tasks.

You should start by reading this overview, and refer to the detailed guide if you get stuck or need clarification.

It’s not necessary to read all details in the second document if you already understand what to do or how to do.

Implementation

If you’re unable to run ArcGIS Pro on your personal computer — for example, if you’re using macOS, an older version of Windows, or your system doesn’t meet the memory requirements — we strongly recommend completing the exercise in the PC lab.
After finishing your work, please compress your project files or folders and submit them via Moodle.
- 📌 The file should be named like: Exercise0_Your Name
You only need to submit the compulsory part of the exercise — optional tasks are for practice only.
You’re also welcome to try completing the task using QGIS?.

Task

Descriptions

Detailed instructions in {download}Lesson 0 <../doc/Lesson 0.docx>

& You can Click here to look

Data

Data-students.gdb

Overview

Install ArcGIS Pro on your personal computer (Windows only, or via a virtual machine on macOS/Linux).
Learn how to log in to the TUM PC lab and launch ArcGIS Pro from there
Download the raw data from Moodle and save your work to your TUM WebDisk(his way, you can access your files from any device, anywhere.).
Follow proper naming conventions when creating folders and files for your project.

Advanced Task

For principle:
- What is .gbd?
For Python:
- Create a virtual environment where you can install the required geospatial libraries (e.g. geopandas, shapely, scikit-learn, etc.).
  - 💡 We recommend using modern Python packaging tools such as Conda, Poetry, or uv to manage your environment and dependencies more efficiently.
- Import and use them in your scripts.
For C++:
- Download and install GDAL, and make sure to link it correctly to your project.
  - 💡 We strongly recommend using Docker to manage dependencies and avoid complex configuration issues on your host system.
For Front-End:
- Use npm to create a web application with Openlayers official templates.
```
  npm create ol-app my-map
```