1. Geographic Information Systems GEO506, Fall 2014 Tu Th 5:00-6:20pm, 216 NSC The course is offered three times a year

2. Instructor Ling Bian, 120 Wilkeson Office Hours Tu Th 4-5pm or by appts

3. Lab Wilkeson 145 LabA Tue: 6:30-7:50pm, Lara Iverson LabB Thur: 3:30-4:50pm, Kejin Cui LabB Thur: 3:30-4:50pm, Kejin Cui LabC Tue: 12:30-1:50pm, Kejin Cui No lab in the first week

4. Access to WilkesonGIAL computer account printing account See Joe if there are still problems

5. Purpose There is a spatial component to all activities on the planet. Everything happens somewhere and knowing why and how these things happen at where and how these things are related to each other are important for us to fully understand the spatial phenomena. This course provides a general introduction to geographic information systems that help study these spatial phenomena. The goal of the course is to help students understand principles, application, and techniques of geographic information systems (GIS).

6. This is the introductory course of a series of GIS courses offered in the Geography Department. The lecture is divided in four sections. The first section introduces basics of a GIS system. The second section discusses GIS Data and their sources. The third section focuses on GIS functions in order to extract spatial information from geographic data. The fourth section covers GIS applications. GIS is useful to virtually any discipline that uses geographic information. The course should benefit students from a wide range of background.

7. A series of laboratory exercises are designed to help students familiarize with basic GIS operations. ArcGIS will be used as the primary software. Digital data of various themes will be used for the lab exercises. Students will gain experience with the following techniques: manipulating GIS data, querying spatial and attribute data, spatial join, projection, GPS, geocoding, 3D view, analysis, and online mapping applications. Labs

8. Text Lo, C.P. and Yeung, A. K.W. 2002, 2007 Concepts and Techniques of Geographic Information Systems. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

9. Project Proposal Graduate students are expected to develop a proposal for a project that uses GIS and present the proposed idea at the end of semester.

10. Grading System Undergraduate Graduate Mid-term exam 30% 30% Final exam 30% 30% Final exam 30% 30% Lab exercises40%30% Project Proposal 10% Total 100% 100% You will earn two identical grades for the lecture and the lab. The exams will be mostly based on lectures

11. Grad cut-off A93.33-100.0 A-90.00-93.32 B+86.67-89.99 B83.33-86.66 B-80.00-83.32 C+76.67-79.99 C73.33-76.66 C-70.00-73.32 D+66.67-69.99 D60.00-66.66 F<60

12. Tentative Schedule I. GIS System Aug 26Course introduction 28 Definition of GIS 28 Definition of GIS Sep 2 Coordinate systems Sep 2 Coordinate systems 4 Data models and data structures 4 Data models and data structures 9 Databases 9 Databases

13. Tentative Schedule (2) II. GIS Data Sep 11 Remote Sensing 16 GPS 16 GPS 18 Digital elevation models 18 Digital elevation models 23 TIGER 23 TIGER 25 Natural resources dat 25 Natural resources dat 30 Data Quality 30 Data Quality Oct 2 Visualization Oct 2 Visualization 7 Mid Term Exam 7 Mid Term Exam

14. Tentative Schedule (3) III. GIS Analysis Oct 9GIS analysis and modeling 14GIS analysis and modeling 14GIS analysis and modeling 16 GIS analysis and modeling 16 GIS analysis and modeling 21GIS software 21GIS software 23GIS analysis and modeling 23GIS analysis and modeling 28GIS software 28GIS software 30 GIS applications 30 GIS applications Nov 4Web GIS 6 Cloud GIS 6 Cloud GIS 11 Open source GIS 11 Open source GIS 13 GIS programming 13 GIS programming

15. Tentative Schedule (4) IV. GIS Applications Nov 18 GIS applications 20 GIS applications 20 GIS applications 25 GIS applications 25 GIS applications Dec 2 GIS applications 4 Conclusions 4 Conclusions Final Exam: Dec 9 (Tue) 7:15-10:15pm, 216 NSC (not a comprehensive exam, no multiple choices)

16. Plagiarism What is plagiarism and how to avoid it: http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/asl/guides/plagiarism.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german- defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/01/german- defence-minister-resigns-plagiarism

17. Expectation After this course, you should be comfortable to be a good GIS intern.