In the Spring Semester 2001, a group of students from the Advanced GIS course at Georgia State University compiled a database of demographic and land-use data for the 20-district area of Shanghai, China. The purpose of the project was to assist with a larger project being developed within the department as part of a growing relationship with East China Normal University in Shanghai. Emphasis was placed on data relevant to an examination of the changes taking place in Shanghai due to rapid urban and industrial expansion. Data for the project included tabular, spatial, and remotely sensed data, which was compiled and mapped by the students for delivery on a CD and service online.

For the past several years selected faculty and students of the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia, have been cultivating a relationship with certain individuals at East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai. The growing relationship has resulted in a very productive exchange of geographic data, analysis, and research, including a trip to Shanghai in June 2000 for several GSU faculty and students. Shanghai is one of the major industrial and economic engines of the Chinese nation, and is a city experiencing rapid population growth, urbanization, and industrialization. Along with the growth come the resulting challenges of pollution, resource depletion, and other effects of rapid economic and population growth. In many ways Atlanta is experiencing similar challenges due to its own rapid economic growth and sprawling urbanization, making the relationship between the two universities particularly rewarding and potentially revealing. Most recently, a group of five students in the Advanced GIS class has constructed a database for Shanghai including census information at the District and Sub-district level, industrial land-use data, and an analysis of spreading urbanization using remotely sensed imagery.

As a final project for the Spring 2001 Advanced GIS course taught by Elaine Hallisey-Hendrix, a group of five students was asked to assemble a geographic database of Shanghai. The project was designed by graduate student Brian Kaplan, urban geography professor Dr. Susan Walcott, acting Department Chair Zhi-Yong Yin, and GIS Instructor Elaine Hallisey-Hendrix. The group of students involved in the project consisted of geography graduate students Jared McLachlan, Paul DiGirolamo, Michele Mcintosh, Terrilyn Rolle, and undergraduate Mark Jarrett. The students worked in close contact with the advising faculty, making changes to the project as data became available and as the project vision developed. The goal of the project was to assist with ongoing research and analysis of Shanghai by constructing a geographic database and ArcView project with multiple maps delivered on CD, along with online service of maps using ArcIMS and related web pages via the department’s internet data server.

The area of interest and data collection for this project was limited to the extent of the 20 Districts of the city of Shanghai encompassing the urban core, the rapidly growing suburbs, and the still-rural peripheral districts. The time frame for data included is 1990-2000. This dataset and the resulting maps will be incorporated into a much larger project being developed by Brian Kaplan as a Master’s Thesis with the assistance of Dr. Walcott and Dr. Yin. Particular emphasis in data collection and mapping was placed on relevance to the examination of the rapid industrialization and urbanization which is taking place in Shanghai, including changes in land-use, population, industrial and agricultural productivity, and industrial facility location.

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