Faculty Publish GIS Texts
Heinz School Professors Wil Gorr and Kristen Kurland have recently published two Geographical Information Systems textbooks.
GIS Tutorial is based on tutorials that Gorr and Kurland wrote for the Heinz School's GIS course. According to Gorr and Kurland, "We found very little available for classroom use and with a focus on GIS applications, and so started designing and writing our own tutorials. Over the years, we honed our approach and material through classroom experience, so that the book is really solid now."
Learning and Using Geographic Information Systems is a one-stop textbook and tutorial for instructors of IT courses. It has core terms, concepts, and principles for reading and discussion, plus tutorials for hands-on computer use. It advances ideas on analytical GIS, in which the analyst structures, builds, and uses a GIS to inform a policy or management problem.
Wil Gorr is Professor of Public Policy and Management Information Systems. His research interests include geographic information systems and management science models applied to public sector problems. His current projects include developing leading indicator forecast models for law enforcement, decision support systems for facility location decisions, and information systems for support of policy and planning in organizations.
Kristen Kurland is Associate Teaching Professor at the Heinz School and the School of Architecture. She is the president of a local consulting firm that has implemented CAD, CAFM, and GIS programs in numerous organizations since 1989. Her clients include architects, engineers, hospitals, universities, corporations, as well as local, state and federal government.