Course Schedule

Lectures: Tuesdays, Thursdays - 12:30 – 2:00 PM (Wurster, 106)
Labs: Section 1: Thu 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM (214 Wurster)
          Section 2: Fri 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (214 Wurster)
Final Project (FP) Submission: May 12th, 2026

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Module 1: Computational Thinking & Programming Basics

Module 2: Urban Data Wrangling & Visualization

Module 3: Data Analytics in Action

Week 1

Module 1

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Jan 20	Course Orientation & MTC Presentation Course logistics MTC presentation	Slides Lecture Slides - W1S1 MTC Slides
Thu, Jan 22	Computational Thinking Foundations Intro to Computational Thinking (CT) Problem definition	Slides Lecture Slides - W1S2 Required Read: Bad Choices Ch.1&2 Read: Computational Thinking by Jeannette M. Wing
Thu, Jan 22 & Fri, Jan 23	Lab Setup & Logistics

Week 2

Module 1

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Jan 27	The Data Behind the Map Intro to Geospatial Data CRS & Projection overview Raster & Vector data CT: Decomposition & Abstraction in Maps	Slides Lecture Slides - W2S1 Required Read: Geographic Data Science with Python - Part I (up to spatial weights) Optional USGS - Map Projections The True Size of Africa Axis Map - Map Projections
Thu, Jan 29	Python Ecosystem & Basics I Intro to Python & OSS Variables Operators Core data types Collection data types	Slides Lecture Slides - W2S2 Required Read: Variables (Basics) Read: Strings (Basics) Watch: Variables (cs50) Watch: Lists (cs50) Optional Python Standard Library Read: Variables (Advanced)
Thu, Jan 29 & Fri, Jan 30	Flipped Lab: Python Basics I Python basics flipped lab

Week 3

Module 1

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Feb 3	Python Basics II Truthiness Conditionals Loops FP: Team formation due A1 Release	Slides Lecture Slides - W3S1 Required Watch: Conditionals-Full (cs50) Watch: Conditionals-Short (cs50) Watch: Loops (cs50) Watch: Boolean Expressions (cs50)
Thu, Feb 5	Control Flow Type Recap for loop Patterns	Slides Lecture Slides - W3S2 Required Read: Conditional Execution (py4e) Watch: Conditional Execution - PartI & II (py4e) Read: Iteration (only for loop) (py4e) Watch: Loops and Iterations Part II, III, IV (py4e)
Thu, Feb 5 & Fri, Feb 6	Module I Review & Practice Module I overview Python basics practice

Week 4

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Feb 10	Working with Urban Data Intro to urban data Urban data types & formats Project structure A1 Due A2 Release	Slides Lecture Slides - W4S1 Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.1 Dark Data: What We Don't See Shapes Our World Read: Glaeser, E. L., Kominers, S. D., Luca, M., & Naik, N. (2018). Big data and big cities: The promises and limitations of improved measures of urban life.
Thu, Feb 12	Dictionaries & Pandas I: Wrangling Python Dictionaries Data wrangling with Pandas Vectorized operations	Slides Lecture Slides - W4S2 Required Read: Getting Started with pandas Pandas comparison with spreadsheets Watch: Dictionaries (cs50) Watch: Dictionary Methods (cs50) Optional Pandas Visual Intro Watch: Pandas (5 yrs ago) (yt)
Thu, Feb 12 & Fri, Feb 13	Lab: A1 Walkthrough

Week 5

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Feb 17	Pandas II: Data Exploration, Sanity Checks & Grouping Data exploration Sanity checks Groupby & merge Plotting with Seaborn FP Proposal Due	Slides No Slides, Review W5S1 Activity Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.2 Discovering Dark Data: What We Collect and What We Don't Read: Pandas Data Explore Optional Pandas Pivoting & Reshaping Watch: Pandas-Groupby (yt)
Thu, Feb 19	GeoPandas I: Spatial Data Model + CRS Management Geospatial data types in Shapely GeoDataFrame and GeoSeries Reading & writing geospatial data CRS management recap (applied)	Slides Lecture Slides - W5S2 Required Watch: Luc Anselin: What is spatial analysis?
Thu, Feb 19 & Fri, Feb 20	Lab: Pandas recap and GeoPandas basics

Week 6

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Feb 24	GeoPandas II: Spatial Predicates + Spatial Join Spatial relationship (predicates) Spatial operations Spatial join A2 Due	Slides Lecture Slides - W6S1 Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.3 Definitions and Dark Data: What Do You Want To Know? Read: Spatial Relationship Practice: Spatial Relationships
Thu, Feb 26	GeoPandas III: Spatial Operations + Joins + Overlay Spatial join & Overlay Missing Data in Pandas and GeoPandas Hands on workshop	Slides Lecture Slides - W6S2 Optional Introduction to GeoPandas and its Python ecosystem
Thu, Feb 26 & Fri, Feb 27	Lab: Spatial queries + joins + operations

Week 7

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Mar 3	Guest Lecture: Sam Pottinger Visualization, Interactivity and Co-design in Exploring Humanity and the Built Environment through Data A3 Release	Slides Guest Lecture Slides - W7S1 Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.4 Unintentional Dark Data: Saying One Thing, Doing Another Read: Design and Redesign in Data Visualization. Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Viégas. 2015.
Thu, Mar 5	Value of Vis Graphical marks Visual encoding channels Expressiveness & effectiveness	Slides Lecture Slides - W7S2 Required Read: Fundamentals of Data Visualization, Ch.20: Redundant coding
Thu, Mar 5 & Fri, Mar 6	Lab: Practice Pandas Vis

Week 8

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Mar 10	Chart Types: Bars & Distributions Color theory & perception Color accessibility Bar Charts Visualizing Distributions Hands-on Vis Critique	Slides Lecture Slides - W8S1 Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.5 Strategic Dark Data: Gaming, Feedback, and Information Asymmetry Read: Fundamentals of Data Visualization, Ch.19: Common pitfalls of color use Optional From Data to Vis Color Brewer Coblis (Color Blindness Simulator) Datawrapper - A detailed guide to colors in data vis style guides Urban Institute - Do No Harm Guide: Applying Equity Awareness in Data Visualization
Thu, Mar 12	Chart Types: Lines & Correlations Line Charts (Avoiding) Pie Charts Visualizing Correlations Seaborn & marginal plots	Slides Lecture Slides - W8S2 Required Pypalletes (Color maps for Python) Optional Python Graph Gallery Read: Fundamentals of Data Visualization, Ch.19: Common pitfalls of color use
Thu, Mar 12 & Fri, Mar 13	Lab: ArcGIS StoryMaps & GitHub Pages	Required Github for Planners. Watch up to 29:25.

Week 9

Module 2

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Mar 17	Guest Lecture: Geoff Boeing Spatial Network Analysis A3 Due	Slides Coming Soon In-Class Activity (press open in Colab)
Thu, Mar 19	Thematic Mapping: Map Types & Classification Schemes Elements of Maps Choropleth maps Proportional symbol maps Classification schemes Data Normalization	Slides Lecture Slides - W9S2
Thu, Mar 19 & Fri, Mar 20	A3 Walkthrough & Module II Workshop

Week 10

Recess

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Mar 24	Recess
Thu, Mar 26	Recess
Thu, Mar 26 & Fri, Mar 27	Academic Holiday

Week 11

Module 3

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Mar 31	Land Use & Zoning Data Aggregation & spatial join Large data visualization LonBoard Writing your Own Functions FP Midterm Due	Slides Lecture Slides - W11S1 Required Read: Porta, S., Crucitti, P., & Latora, V. (2006). The network analysis of urban streets: A dual approach Play: Function Sandbox Optional Watch: Creating Modules
Thu, Apr 2	Network Analysis & Routing Basic Street Network Measures Isochrones and distance based metrics Network-based catchments (distance-bounded subgraphs) Programs vs. Modules Functions Continued	Slides Lecture Slides - W11S2 Required Watch: Functions (CS50-shorts) Watch: Return Values (CS50-shorts) Watch: Side Effects (CS50-shorts) Read: Boeing, G. (2019). Urban spatial order: Street network orientation, configuration, and entropy. Prettymapp
Thu, Apr 2 & Fri, Apr 3	Lab: Research Question Activity + Functions Review

Week 12

Module 3

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Apr 7	Errors, Tracebacks, & Debugging Error & Tracebacks Error Types Debugging	Slides Lecture Slides - W12S1 Required Read: How to think like a computer scientist? 1.6-1.10 (Debugging & error types) Watch: Debugging (CS50)
Thu, Apr 9	Misinformation, Deceptive Visualizations, & Spurious Correlations Deceptive Patterns Spurious Correlation Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (MAUP) Ecological Fallacy	Slides Lecture Slides - W12S2 Required Read: Dark Data. Ch.6 Intentional Dark Data: Fraud and Deception Read: Gordon Pennycook et al. (2015). On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound bullshit. Judgement and Decision Making Read: Kwan (2012), The uncertain geographic context problem Watch: How to Mop the Maup
Thu, Apr 9 & Fri, Apr 10	Lab: TBA

Week 13

Module 3

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Apr 14	Workshop by Min Ragan Kelley: Interactive Visual Analytics A4 Release	Required The peril of laziness lost
Thu, Apr 16	Python Functions & List Comprehensions Python Functions: hands-on activity List Comprehensions	Required Read: Páez, A., Scott, D. M., & Morency, C. (2012). Measuring accessibility: positive and normative implementations of various accessibility indicators
Thu, Apr 16 & Fri, Apr 17	Lab: Deceptive Vis and Spurious Correlation

Week 14

Module 3

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Apr 21	Advanced Topics: Computer Vision in Planning Computer vision applications in urban planning Image-based urban analysis
Thu, Apr 23	Advanced Topics: LLMs in Urban Analytics LLM basics: it's all about probability
Thu, Apr 23 & Fri, Apr 24	TBA

Week 15

Module 3

	Topics	Resources
Tue, Apr 28	Workshop: MTC Workshop Project synthesis & polish A4 Due
Thu, Apr 30	Final Project Work Session Finalization (StoryMaps/artifacts)
Thu, Apr 30 & Fri, May 1	Lab: Final Project Work Session

Final Project Submission: May 12th - More on exhibition possibilities later
Final Submission Due May 12th