Pratt SAVI

Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative - Pratt Institute

In my early 30s I decided to change career paths from teaching high school physics to Environmental Engineering, which was more in line with my previous academic pursuits. After completing a degree at McGill University, I moved to New York City, but soon realized I had missed something in my studies: GIS.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a field that encompasses various topics, ranging from creating simple digital maps to performing detailed spatial analyses. Placing data on a map lets you visualize and understand it more easily, and with more powerful GIS software, you are able to analyze and compare multiple datasets in various ways.

I recently switched jobs to a position that allowed me a bit more flexibility with my time, so I decided to complete a GIS certification.

The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood is primarily an art and design school, yet it offers one of the premier GIS certification programs in NYC through its Spatial Analysis and Visualization Initiative (SAVI). The focus of this program is not only to provide instruction for technical mastery of the various GIS software products, but to ensure students understand how to create maps that look good and tell the story the mapmaker set out to tell.

With this new blog, I hope to use much of what I learned at SAVI, and what I will learn in my future endeavors to help people appreciate maps and the stories they tell.