Overview
Get a hands-on introduction to concepts, tools and techniques for working with spatial data.
Spatial data and mapping tools are increasingly central to how mining and energy projects understand communities, place, and social dynamics, support engagement and assess potential social impacts.
This practical 2-day workshop introduces those who regularly work with social data but are not GIS specialists, to spatial thinking, core data concepts, and hands-on methods you can apply in community relations, social performance and impact assessment work.
You'll build confidence to interpret spatial information, discuss data limitations and ethics, and use simple mapping approaches to support better decisions in complex social and physical landscapes.
The course places a strong emphasis on using spatial data to better understand communities not just physical environments.
Who should attend
This workshop is designed for professionals working in or with the resources sector who regularly work with social data and want to engage more with spatial information, including:
- community relations and social performance practitioners
- environmental and social impact professionals
- health and safety professionals
- approvals and planning teams
- geoscientists, environment officers and field teams
- government, NGOs and consultants working on resource projects.
Entry requirements
There are no prerequisites for this course.
What you'll learn
- Explain basic GIS concepts and find relevant spatial datasets.
- Understand why location, scale and spatial extent matter for analysing communities, social risks and impacts.
- Identify how different social impacts can be expressed spatially.
- Apply proxies when direct social data are unavailable, and discuss their limitations.
- Recognise ethical considerations (privacy, consent, cultural data sovereignty, representation and bias) and when collaboration is important.
- Use simple mapping to identify cumulative impacts on communities.
- Apply field-based methods to map community significant places and reflect on how this mapping can inform decisions in the mining and energy sectors.
Time commitment
This is an in-person course that will require roughly 16 hours to complete.
- This is a two-day in-person workshop (8 hours per day)
Course curriculum
Assessment
There is no formal assessment.
Certification and accreditation
Students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion to verify their skills and achievements.
Facilitators
Cost
| Applicant | Price |
|---|---|
| Domestic | A$1,700 |
| International | A$1,700 |
GST is excluded from the cost
Payment optionsWe accept credit cards (Visa/MasterCard) for payment, including corporate credit cards.
If you do not have access to a card, please contact our team at education@smi.uq.edu.au to discuss your options.
Location
Sir James Foots Building (47A), Room 470
Sustainable Minerals Institute
St Lucia, QLD, 4067
Contact
Sustainable Minerals Institute
For more professional development options, visit the Sustainable Minerals Institute website.