Please visit the GIS Contest Archive to see previous winning projects.
Purpose: To promote the use of spatial analysis and geographic techniques to study California planning and policy issues.
Submissions Requirements:
- Address a planning, policy, or social welfare research question relating to the California region.
- Submit project via Google Form including the following:
- Name and affiliation (Group submissions are allowed)
- Project title
- Introduction and background (1-2 paragraphs)
- Research question(s)
- Methodology (data sources and methodological approach)
- Findings
- Conclusions and policy recommendations
- Submit 1 PDF* package via e-mail to LewisCenter@Luskin.ucla.edu including the following:
- 3-5 maps demonstrating your analysis.
- 1-3 tables supporting your analysis. Tables are not required, but are permitted in the package if they help to understand the maps and analysis.
- Submissions received by 11:59PM on Friday, June 3, 2016 will be given priority consideration.
- Submissions will be received until 11:59PM on Friday, June 17, 2016.
*To ensure image quality, please export images as PDFs out of the mapping software, rather than exporting as Jpegs or other image type and then converting to PDF.
Judging Criteria:
- Effective or innovative use of GIS and spatial analysis
- Topic choice – not reproducing previous work on subjects and issues widely covered in practice
- Overall presentation and map design
- Connection to California planning/policy/social welfare issues
Submissions will be evaluated on research organization and methods as well as the use of GIS to produce descriptive and analytical insight regarding the policy question. The submission does not need to be something that was produced exclusively in a GIS course. Web-based projects are welcome to apply. However, they need to be framed in the same manner as non-web based projects. This means each web-based submission should pose a policy question and use GIS techniques to answer this question. Winners will be selected by a panel of GIS researchers and faculty.
Award Amounts*:
- 1st Place – $300
- 2nd Place – $200
- 3rd Place – $100
Award winners will be announced in June right before the end of the academic school year.
Awardees must be enrolled in a Luskin School graduate course during the current academic year.
For questions, please contact Norman Wong at wongn@luskin.ucla.edu
*The Lewis Center reserves the right to make awards at their discretion based on the quality of projects submitted.