Using Geospatial Information Systems for Strategic Planning and Institutional Research for Higher Education Institutions
This article has been updated since its initial publication in Hansel Burley's Cases on Institutional Research Systems in 2011. There have been additional uses for Geospatial Information Systems, or GIS, at The University of Texas at Dallas since this article originally was published. Many institutional research offices primarily focus on traditional statistical and analytical tools to provide data for assessing, developing or modifying institutional policies. However, Geospatial Information Systems, or GIS, can add a geospatial component to existing data sources to provide in-depth analysis on a wide array of research topics (Ormsby, Napoleon, Burke, Grossl, & Bowden, 2008). A suite of software tools introduced by ESRI in 1997 called ArcGIS has been useful for analytical purposes because it not only compiles and displays large amounts of data but can also plot this data onto maps, which can be particularly useful when analyzing demographic data (ESRI, 2010). This chapter will discuss the implementation and use of GIS at The University of Texas at Dallas in the Office of Strategic Planning and Analysis (OSPA).