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ENV386 - Fundamentals of GIS (GIS I) Syllabus and Class Schedule (Spring 2008)
Instructor: Professor Chunzeng Wang
Office: Room 306, South Hall; Phone: (207) 768-9412 Email address: chunzeng.wang@umpi.edu; Website: http://www.umpi.maine.edu/~wangc Office hours: 12:30 - 2:00 PM, Monday through Thursday or by appointments Class hours: 4:30-6:30 PM, Mondays and Wednesdays
(Link to Students' Course Websites)
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Course overview: This course introduces students to basic concepts and techniques of digital mapping with ArcGIS. Topics include spatial data models and structure, location referencing methods, data collection techniques, database creation and manipulation, cartographic design, and spatial queries and problem solving with GIS. The course will focuses on vector-based GIS data. The course will be divided into: lectures, which introduce basic theories and concepts of mapping science, geographic information science, and GIS technology, and lab exercises, which address hands-on exercises with ArcGIS, covering the whole GIS production process from data modeling and acquisition to data editing, spatial queries, basic analysis, geoprocessing, and cartographic output. Objectives: The goal of this course is to provide students with experience in the geographic data acquisition, manipulation, query, geoprocessing, and visualization. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to: § understand basic concepts used in GIS, § demonstrate a working knowledge of ArcGIS, § and meet the prerequisite skill requirement for advanced GIS course, GIS II. Textbooks: Not required, but having one (or more than one) of the following will help. (You may buy from amazon.com). I will publish lecture notes and reading materials on the Blackboard. § Lo and Yeong, 2006. Concepts and Techniques of Geographic Information Systems (2nd edition). Prentice Hall. (Note: Several other University of Maine system campuses use it as a textbook. It is reader-friendly and recommended for this course and GIS II. ) § deMers, Michael, 2004. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems. Wiley. (Note: This text is widely used as a textbook. It is compact and less expensive. Some chapters may be hard to read.) § Ormsby et al., 2004. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop, (second edition updated for ArcGIS9). ESRI Press. (Note: This book focuses on ArcGIS and teaches how to work with ArcGIS9 for common GIS mapping and analyses methods. It could help your ArcGIS skills a lot.) Class policies: Read the following policies carefully please.
§ Attendance is crucial and strongly required. It is hard to catch up if you miss classes. § Lab exercises are significant portion of the course. They account for 50% toward your ENV386 final grade. (1) Don’t miss any lab exercises; (2) Hand in hard copies (if required) and post your lab work on your website timely. Basically, lab work for each lab is due no later than the following week after it is assigned. It is in your best interests to keep up with the work and meet deadlines for assignments. § Plagiarism is simply not acceptable. Help between students is strongly encouraged. However, each student must go through all lab exercises without copying anything from other students. Students with a lab exercise showing copied work will receive a zero grade. § Blackboard. This course will use Blackboard a lot. Lecture notes and other reading assignments may be published on the Blackboard. So you should check the Blackboard often. Data used for lab exercises and lab instructions for each lab will be also uploaded on the Blackboard. You need to know how to download data from the internet. Grading: Your final ENV386 grade = 50% (lab exercises) + 25% (midterm) + 25% (final exam). Blackboard: All the class materials including lab data (large-size data is exceptional and is hosted in a public drive, R: drive, in UMPI's network; you will be informed which data is hosted there), lab instructions, and reading assignments are published on the course site of the Blackboard. You need to login to Blackboard very often to download/print the relevant materials. A package of materials for a lab is published 1-2 days ahead of the lab meeting. Class schedule/calendar:
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Week |
Monday |
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Wednesday |
Th |
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1 |
1/14 Lecture 1: Introduction; What is GIS? Lab 1: Website construction with Microsoft Frontpage |
1/15 |
1/16 Lecture 2: Digital mapping and ArcGIS Lab 2: Get started with ArcGIS (1)—displaying, navigating, and browsing map data |
1/17 |
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2 |
1/21 Martin Luther King Day (No classes) |
1/22 |
1/23 Lab 1 and Lab 2 (cont.) |
1/24 |
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3 |
1/28 Lecture 3: Spatial data, data models, and basic spatial queries Lab 3: Get started with ArcGIS (2)—attribute tables, selection, and queries
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1/29 |
1/30 Lab 3: Get started with ArcGIS (2)—attribute tables, selection, and queries (cont.) |
1/31 |
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4 |
2/4 Lecture 4: GIS file management and metadata Lab 4: Exploring more with ArcGIS—ArcCatalog and metadata
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2/5 |
2/6 Lab 4: Exploring more with ArcGIS—ArcCatalog and metadata (cont.) |
2/7 |
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5 |
2/11 Class cancelled due to snow storm |
2/12 |
2/13 Class cancelled due to snow storm |
2/14 |
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6 |
2/18-2/22 February Break |
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7 |
2/25 Lecture 5: Datums, projections, and coordinate systems Lab 5: Referencing data to real locations—coordinate systems and projections
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2/26 |
2/27 Lab 5: Referencing data to real locations—coordinate systems and projections (cont.) |
2/28 |
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8 |
3/3 Lecture 6: The basics of creating a digital GIS map Lab 6a: Data classification and symbolization
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3/4 |
3/5 Lab 6b: Data classification and symbolization |
3/6 |
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9 |
3/10 Lecture 7: Analyzing spatial data—buffering and overlaying Lab 7: Buffering features, overlaying data, and calculating attribute values
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3/11 |
3/12 Lab 7: Buffering features, overlaying data, and calculating attribute values (cont.)
Midterm |
3/13 |
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10 |
3/17 Lecture 8: Cartographic design and output Lab 8a: Create and design a presentation map—cartographic design with ArcGIS
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3/18 |
3/19 Lab 8b: Working with labels and annotations |
3/20 |
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11 |
3/24 Lecture 9: GIS data sources and geodatabases Lab 9: Creating a geodatabase completely from scratch
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3/25 |
3/26 Lab 9: Creating a geodatabase completely from scratch (cont.) |
3/27 |
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12 |
3/31-4/5 Spring Break |
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13 |
4/7 Lecture 10: GPS Lab 10: Data acquisition with GPS |
4/8 |
4/9 Lecture 11: Features in a geodatabase Lab 11: Creating and editing feature data in a geodatabase
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4/10 |
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14 |
4/14 Lab 11: Creating and editing feature data in a geodatabase (cont.) |
4/15 |
4/16 University
Day; no class
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4/17 |
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15 |
4/21 Lecture 12: Advanced spatial data analysis—geoprocessing and modeling with ArcGIS Lab 12: Working with geoprocessing and modeling with ArcGIS |
4/22 |
4/23 Lab 12: Working with geoprocessing and modeling with ArcGIS (cont.) |
4/24 |
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16 |
4/28 Lab 12: Working with geoprocessing and modeling with ArcGIS (cont.) |
4/29 |
4/30 Lab 12: Working with geoprocessing and modeling with ArcGIS (cont.) Review for final |
5/1 |
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17 |
5/5 |
5/6 |
5/7 Final (4:30-6:00) |
5/8 |