Geographical Artificial Intelligence

Module code: GY7708

This module builds on the data science skills developed in the first semester to explore the application of artificial intelligence (AI) approaches to the study of geography. The last decade has seen a rapid expansion of the amount, diversity and openness of data with little precedent in history. Extensive official statistics datasets are now available at the click of a mouse. The ubiquitous presence of GPS and other location technologies has allowed the most diverse industries to generate vast amounts of data. The emergence of the internet and social media platforms led to a tremendous amount of text, images and videos being created constantly. This module explores AI methods and tools to analyse those volumes of complex and diverse geographic information.

The first part of the module will focus on machine learning, including the use of classic unsupervised clustering approaches for creating geodemographic classification from open data such as the census and the study of emerging methods in the field of Geographic Artificial Intelligence (GeoAI). The second part of the module will then focus on natural language processing and its role in exploring the geographic nature of text data, including geographic information retrieval and the study of recent advances in the use of large language models.