My GIS class covers matters and techniques most interesting. We use mapping software that does all kinds of things, given good data.

For example, if we have a map showing police stations and the locations crimes were committed, we can draw mile-wide buffer circles centered on the stations, and then count the number of crimes in each, in order to show graphically that crime increases further away from stations.

However, some of the students in the class are not the sharpest swords in the armory. Thus, our exercises don't cover all that much ground, and the pace of the lectures and class isn't as fast as I would prefer. We have two lab sessions per week, but I attend only one because it's easily possible to complete the assignments in only a few hours.

Anyway, I'm learning the software, which was the goal, for use in archaeology. We have to come up with final projects now, and I have no idea what to do. I reckon I'll look for some interesting data of one sort or another. I've asked some archaeologists that I know if they have any data they want done up, but got no responses back. Hrrrumph.

One project that might work is plotting all the bike lanes in the Valley, and then plotting bike-car accidents and seeing what correlates and conclusions can be drawn. Or I might try to figure out where more bike lanes should be developed. But I am discouraged from this project by a classmate (one of the smarter ones) who said he tried to get accident data about intersections and hit authorization blocks in the attempt.

We'll see. The mapping software's really cool, in any case.