Course Outline

Theme: The digital-electronic revolution has produced a wide variety of tools that enable us to investigate and make decisions on spatial issues in ways that never were possible in the past. One unifying theme underlying much of this change is GIS (Geographic Information Science), it provides a means of inputting, organizing, analyzing, manipulating, and outputting spatial information for investigative and decision making purposes; information that is produced by a variety of technologies. This course will introduce these technologies as they relate to GIS.

 

Leaning Outcomes: Students will be aware of the power of GIS as an important decision making and unifying tool for allied technologies through hands-on exposure and map making based on:

Objectives: The following topics will be introduced over four days, allowing for both lecture and hands-on experience per topic. This means that the instructor will both explain and illustrate each topic and then students will have a chance in class to experiment with each during the period. Optional Assignments are then fashioned around each topic.

Topics, lecture and hands-on experience with:
  1. Web based electronic atlases, learn about downloading such data and the strengths and weaknesses of such technologies
  2. Web based thematic mapping package(s), learn to produce outputs and compare these results to electronic atlases
  3. Introduction to a GIS database and ArcView GIS Software for creating maps with existing spatial data.
  4. Demonstration of how GIS is able to analyze databases to answer questions.
  5. ArcView GIS software to capture data using screen digitizing and building final maps to address specific questions.
  6. ArcView GIS software to understand how changing projections effects information contained in a spatial database.
  7. Three-D analyst and other spatial extensions of ArcView to understand additional ways to analyze and present spatial data.
  8. Amimated Cartography GIS spatial demonstration by accessing web based sites and examples
Grading is A -- F, for an intensive four day course grading follows an unconventional method. The grade of B is obtained by students fully attending the four day course, successfully/satisfactorily completing all in-class exercises, and receiving a satisfactory grade (B or above) on the final class quiz. Grades ranging from B+ thru A requires work in excess of merely meeting in-class requirements by completion of optional assignments, the grade assigned within this higher range depends on quality and completeness of work. Grades of B- or lower are only given to students failing to successfully complete in-class assignments and/or are absent from class periods.  Grade calculations are as follows 10 points for every in class assignment, 10 points for the final quiz, 3.5 points for each days class attendance.  For every additional assignment 2.5 points are added to the grade and an additional 1 point can be earned by satisfactorily completing all additional work. 
LETTER GRADE RANGE                    
  A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D-
  94 90.0 86 82 78 74 70 66.0 62 58 54.0