Seeing Is Believing: Visualizing Climate Change Through Technology

Course Details

Many local and regional governments have not yet addressed the threats and challenges of climate change. Recent innovations in mapping and visualization, including photo simulations, index-point mapping, three-dimensional analysis, density heat mapping, program dashboards, and similar techniques offer the potential to help planners effectively communicate the significance of these threats and their potential impacts.

Presented examples show how they were used to educate and inform the policy-making process, resulting in actionable plans that mitigate the impacts of climate change and build more resilient communities. Presenters demonstrate how these techniques can be applied to a variety of other planning problems and issues and incorporated into the long-term comprehensive-planning process.

Learning Outcomes

• Use freely available geospatial data to evaluate and understand climate-change vulnerabilities at the local and regional levels.
• Educate the public and policy makers on the potential impacts of climate-change-related hazards through mapping and other visualization techniques.
• Present climate-change data in a clear and understandable manner to increase awareness of climate-change-related hazards and their impacts on the community.