[{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM3MjU0OTQ1","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-12-28 15:57:46 +0000 UTC","comment":"Class is well organized and labs are successful tools to challenge students and learn the material. I appreciated the specificity of this course to geography, particularly the real-life examples in labs and connections to previous GIS knowledge.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2ODg3MDky","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-11-23 23:21:28 +0000 UTC","comment":"Professor Gao is a genuinely compassionate teacher. For some similar 'esoteric' courses in the past I've had professors get annoyed by more fundamental questions/when students are struggling to grasp a concept, but Professor Gao seriously valued every question I heard asked and gave encouraging and comprehensive answers.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2ODg0MDc2","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-11-23 02:59:57 +0000 UTC","comment":"Song is very knowledgeable and talented, with strong geospatial industry experience. I enjoyed his lectures a lot. It is not easy to get A in his class as it requires programming and heavy labs. You need to make great efforts and practice more to achieve the best grade. ","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM2ODQ4MjMz","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-11-16 21:21:26 +0000 UTC","comment":"This class is absolutely awful if you do not have prior CS experience. Having taken GEOG 377, I thought I would be prepared and I was dead wrong.  The labs are astoundingly difficult (and I'm not dumb by any means, I literally had a 4.0, which this class ruined).  Song is a terrible lecturer and I learned absolutely nothing in class. ","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":1.0,"difficulty_rating":5.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1NzY1Njc3","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-01-18 14:07:50 +0000 UTC","comment":"I found this course extremely challenging because I did not have any prior coding experience. However, the professor and TA were always available to help with materials I was struggling with; they went above and beyond to help students learn the material.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1NzY1Njcy","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-01-18 14:05:28 +0000 UTC","comment":"I think this class would be better if we had more labs or homeworkmore chances to actually write Python codeand fewer lectures.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":4.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1NzY1NjY5","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-01-18 14:04:00 +0000 UTC","comment":"Professor Gao is really cool. I love his instruction mode. We have a lot of examples on class to help understand the programming knowledge and how it relates to GIS fi eld. I learned a lot in this class. The TA also works well with Prof Gao with effective response of emails and the ability to solve problems. I'm very happy in this class.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1NzY1NjYz","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2022-01-18 14:00:55 +0000 UTC","comment":"This course attempts to do double-duty in both teaching Geocomputing as well as providing intro to Python programming. It could be more accomplished if the course could have a programming intro as a prerequisite and maintain a focus on geocomputing/GIS topics, the area where both the professor and TAs have the greatest expertise to offer in depth.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTM1MjUxMzI5","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2021-11-16 22:43:17 +0000 UTC","comment":"Prof. Gao is nice, & good to connect with if you want to work in his lab. If you want a fairly easy A, take this class. But if you want to learn geospatial coding, don't take his class. Code is taught off slides and uses outdated, non-open-source methods. I promise you will learn Python mapping in a much easier, deeper way by taking CS220 & CS320.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":2.0,"difficulty_rating":1.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMzODgxNDk5","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2020-11-24 16:39:46 +0000 UTC","comment":"He is very understanding and cares about students","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTMxMjM3NzM4","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2019-01-10 16:04:19 +0000 UTC","comment":"His presentations rocked. Very concise and to the point. In addition, they were very relevant to labs and core concepts behind the coding language.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":4.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI5MTk2ODIy","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2017-12-14 11:53:33 +0000 UTC","comment":"Prof. Gao demonstrated how to solve geocomputing problems with Python programming. It is practical and very helpful for my individual studies. Ready to learn much cool stuff!","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0},{"observed_at":"2026-09-07 16:05:21.178373+00:00","run_id":"20260907T155543-ce3781c4","source_review_id":"UmF0aW5nLTI5MDczNTU4","source_instructor_id":"rmp:2313819","instructor_name":"Song Gao","course_label":"GEOG378","course_id":"GEOG 378","course_uid":"course_6b09a761a0eeeecdbbd88dc8","review_date":"2017-12-06 22:47:42 +0000 UTC","comment":"We learn Python programming with geospatial computation examples in his class. It is not easy for a beginner, but he takes great efforts to make the lecture slides are friendly to us and set appropriate discussion sections to help us have a better understanding of the content. His lectures are not boring at all but are helpful for our learning.","source_url":"https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/professor/2313819","quality_rating":5.0,"difficulty_rating":3.0}]