Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

Geography 212/503
 Brandon Plewe
MWF 12:00-12:50pm 672B SWKT, 2-4161, plewe@.byu.edu
112 SWKT/640 SWKT  Office Hours: MWF 1:00pm-2:00pm

Objectives:

In a wide variety of fields, from biology to economics to business (to geography), professionals are sometimes required to answer questions and solve problems that are inherently geographic.  This course introduces you to some of the tools and technologies that are available for accomplishing geographic tasks, especially geographic information systems (GIS).   We cannot make you an expert technician or analyst in one course, but you should obtain enough basic skills and familiarity with each of these tools to do most of what you would need in a non-specialist job.  Using these tools effectively involves more than just knowing which buttons to push, so the course will also discuss some of the conceptual and methodological issues that must be addressed in real-world applications.  The course will introduce you to ArcGIS by ESRI, probably the most popular GIS program, but the basic skills you learn will be applicable to the wide variety of software you may encounter in your career.

Required Texts

Chang, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 4th Edition
Another valuable resource is the ESRI GIS Dictionary (http://support.esri.com/gisdictionary), also available in book form as A to Z GIS ($25 at ESRI Press)

Assignments

  1. Annotated Bibliography.  A short research piece, giving a survey of how GIS is used in a field of your choice.
  2. Reading Log. To encourage you to keep up with the reading and prepare for class, the readings for each week should be completed by Monday.  On the Discussion Boards on Blackboard, post an answer to one of the review questions (of your choice) from the end of the book chapter (I may also add a question or two); a couple sentences are enough. Your answer cannot duplicate an answer already posted, but must add to the previous answers.
  3. Training Exercises.  Step-by-step lessons, either on the ESRI Virtual Campus (training.esri.com) Learning ArcGIS course, exercises from the book (end of each chapter), or custom-made by the faculty, that will introduce you to doing things on ArcGIS. Each modue will be due on Wednesday, while we are working on that topic.  For each module, hand in the certificate or transcript of completion and a printout of the results.
  4. The Project.  During the semester, we will be working on a single large GIS project.  Each week you will complete a small portion of that project relevant to that week's topic, due the following Monday.  Each wekk, hand in a simple map showing that you completed the work.
  5. Final Project (503 only).  Rather than completing the end of the project (beyond the parts), graduate students will need to complete a project of your own design, preferrably related to your thesis topic.
  6. Midterm.  Focuses on the material covered in class, not on ArcView buttons.
  7. Final Exam (Friday, Apr 17, 11:00am). 2/3 of the exam will cover the second section of the course (readings and lectures), like the midterm. The other 1/3 will be comprehensive. Technical details about ArcGIS will not be tested. 
I will use Blackboard to post grades.  Grading will be according to the standard scale.

Schedule

Monday and Wednesday will be lectures, while Friday will be for lecture, tutorials or lab work (attendance required) as need demands. Friday class will be in 640 SWKT.
DATES TOPIC READING TRAINING (due Wed)Project (due Mon)
Jan 5,7,9 What is GIS?, ArcGIS Intro 1 Bibliography given
Jan 12,14,16
 Representing Objects 3.0-3.2, 3.4, 4.0-4.2, 9.2
 VC Module 1
Jan 21,23
 Representing Fields 5
 VC Module 2
Jan 26,28,30Projections - Coordinate systems2VC Module 3
Feb 2,4,6 Data Sources - Data Transfer 6.0-6.3, Links VC Module 4Bibliography
Feb 9,11,13 Data Entry - Digitizing 6.4,7.1,8.1-8.3,8.5
 VC Module 5 Part A
Feb 17,18,20 Attributes, MIDTERM (F)
 9
 Exercise 6Part B
Feb 23,25,27Mapping10.0-10.2, 11.0VC Module 8Part C
Mar 2,4,6 Data Exploration & Visualization 11
 Exercise 8Part D
Mar 9,11,13 Map Design 10.3-10.4  Ch 10 Task 1Part E
Mar 16,18,20 Analysis, Buffers 12.0,12.1,12.3, 13.0,13.1,13.5
 VC Module 6Part F
Mar 23,25,27 Overlay 12.2, 12.5, 13.2, 13.3 VC Module 7Part G
M30,Apr 1,3 Terrain
 14, 15 Ch 14 Task 1, 2
Part H
Dec 4-8 Geocoding & Networks 17.0-17.2, 18.3-18.5 Exercise 3 pt IPart I
Dec 11-13 catchup/review Exercise 12
Dec 21, 11:00
 FINAL EXAM
Final Project
The most up-to-date version of this syllabus, including lecture notes and assignments, can be found at:
http://www.geog.byu.edu/faculty/plewe/212/ . On the class website, you can find complete powerpoints and notes.