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Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies

University of Arkansas

GEOS/ANTH 3543: Introduction to Geographic Information Science Fall 2010

Home » Education » University » Online Course Material » GEOS 3543

In GEOS/ANTH 3543 “Introduction to Geographic Information Science” you will be introduced to a range of new and exciting analysis tools that can be applied to many disciplines and types of problems! According to the US Department of Labor the field of geospatial technologies will be one of the most rapidly growing areas in the next decade – along with nanotechnologies and biotechnologies.

"The biotechnology, geospatial technology, health care, financial services, and the skilled trades are just a few of the areas that have been as high growth, emerging areas. Leaders in these industries are telling us the same thing: they can't find enough workers with the right skills for these high-skilled, good-paying jobs"… Workforce Innovations 2005, July 11, 2005

An article in the August 12th 2007 NY Times (link) also provides some examples.

The leading science journal Nature (link) had an article in its 22 Jan 2004 issue article discussing how geospatial technologies are becoming a key research skill across an enormous range of domains.

While many such courses focus on geographic information systems (GIS), this “Introduction to GIScience” course introduces students to a much broader range of new tools for geographic (spatial) problem solving. Another title for the course might be “Introduction to Geomatics or “Introduction to Geospatial Applications” or  perhaps “Introduction to Geoinformatics.” The technologies considered in the class include: GIS, remote sensing, GPS, photogrammetry, surveying, and many new 3D tools. For more on geospatial technologies and the course structure being developed here at the University of Arkansas see www.cast.uark.edu/geomatics.  The term geoinformatics emphasizes the IT elements of the field.  The UA Computer Science/Computer Engineering Department, in cooperation with Geosciences, has begun offering a BA in Computer Science with an emphasis in geoinformatics.   

The content of the course is designed to serve as the initial course for a range of advanced courses as well as providing a basic skill set for non-majors who wish to acquire basic proficiency in GIS to use in their fields.  For this latter group we have also included a number of EXTRA CREDIT units that cover many topics in more detail and provide opportunities to build more advanced skills. The credits do apply to the standard class totals. Graduate students taking the class are REQUIRED to take these units, with some exceptions that will be identified as we go.

The UA offers a broad range of classes in aspects of GIS, remote sensing, photogrammetry, surveying and GPS. Course sequences for students with a range of interests are provided at the www.cast.uark.edu/geomatics and with the addition of new faculty in GEOS additional classes will be offered.

Roughly 60% of the course will deal with what is traditionally seen as GIS, with the rest distributed over photogrammetry, surveying and the cadastre, GPS, and remote sensing. Obviously these will not be intensive overages but are designed to give the student a good overview of the methods and serve as a basics foundation for later courses or work, if desired.

The course is designed to be part of a comprehensive curriculum that prepares the student for the ASPRS Certified Mapping Scientist (GIS/LIS) Provisional Certification exam. Details are on this page.  Basically ASPRS allows an active student to complete the qualification exam and then begin professional practice.  The course is also designed to prepare students for meeting the requirements for the Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) certification. Details are here. Students planning to pursue careers in the field are strongly urged to acquire both certifications. This course is also a key class in the UA’s Specialization in cartography/GIS/remote sensing. In this program a student must complete three required courses – which includes this class as well as GEOS 3023 (Introduction to Cartography) and GEOS4413 (Principles of Remote Sensing) as well as an additional nine hours chosen from GEOS4523 (Computer mapping), GEOS 5423  (Remote sensing of natural resources), GEOS 4553 (Introduction to raster GIS), GEOS 4583 (Vector GIS), GEOS 4593 (Introduction to GPS), STAT 4003 (Statistical Methods or other approved statistics class), CVEG 2053 (Surveying Systems or other approved surveying course).  Details are here.

This class approaches education in a new way and is based on much new research in education strategies. There will be no formal in-class lectures.  Content that was previously delivered in a lecture will be available in a series of (short) online videos.  There will also be a wide range of other online content. As students develop questions they can be tweeted or e-mailed to the instructors and the first part of class time will be used to answer these and any new questions that arise. We presume that class time will be largely used by students to work on their lab exercises.  The instructor and TA will be available to assist students and you are encouraged to work together.  The quizzes and exams will also be online. Their details are below but you will not be required to take these in class.

Twitter

Twitter use in this course will be entirely optional, and is offered primarily as a convenience for students.  Twitter will be used for students to ask questions and receive answers, to receive reminders of due dates, to receive links to interesting resources and materials, and occasionally for small extra credit opportunities in the form of 1-question pop-quizzes.  Students are welcome to use disposable Twitter accounts if they do not wish to use their personal ones for class, but you will only be eligible for extra credit through Twitter if the TA knows who the account belongs to.

Since you are not required to attend class or exams, there is no need for any approved absences or any inclement weather questions. If your religious beliefs require that you cannot perform any of the class activity you should inform the instructor within the first week of class as to the specifics and an alternative option will be developed.

Class components 

There are a number of class components: text readings (Shellito and others), online videos and lectures, conceptual exercises, blog posts, Esri modules, online quizzes, and online exams.

Each week you will be given selected readings, online videos and online lectures to watch. You are expected to read and view the videos and lectures.  You may tweet or email any questions you might have as you do these.  In the same week you will have quizzes, labs and conceptual exercises that utilize the readings and lecture content. You will also be required to think about and blog on key issues/topics that arise.

In the first part of the semester our efforts will be a bit “front loaded” in this course. You will be required to put substantial effort into learning ArcGIS using the Esri online training modules in the first six weeks of the class. While the class focuses on the principles and practice of geomatics it is essential that you have practical experience with software that implements these principles in order to understand them fully.

Since ArcGIS is the most common GIS software in use in the US we have elected to use it in this class. It is essential that we focus on learning ArcGIS early in the class to provide a context for understanding the concepts that we will cover. It is also important for you to separate the principles/concepts from the specific way that Esri has decided to implement (or not) them in code. ArcGIS is a well designed and comprehensive GIS package and you are well advised to become proficient in its use, but you should NOT allow yourself to be mentally constrained by the software – there are other geospatial software solutions and there are other algorithms and methods to accomplish a task.

Class weekly schedule

Each week the material (readings, deliverables, etc.) for the week will become available to you the Friday of the previous week at 12:30AM, and all exercises, labs, quizzes, blogs for the week are due by midnight Saturday of the week. For example the material for Week 2 will become available Friday (Aug 24^th) 12:30AM and will be due midnight Saturday (Sep 1^st).

Esri Learning ArcGIS desktop online: There are eight modules in the Esri online course “Learning ArcGIS Desktop”. There is also an online Esri “exam” for each. There is ALSO a Blackboard quiz (and sometime a map assignment) associated with each module.  You will be given a unique keycode to allow you to access the class and instructions are provided on Blackboard.

Class points

Grand total is 1,500 points. Grades are based on 90 (1,350), 80 (1,200), 70 (1,050), 60 (900) and below percent of total. Since grading is not curved students are strongly encouraged to form study groups and work together on the laboratory assignments and in preparing for the exams. The quizzes and exams are OPEN BOOK, open resource; you are welcome to utilize texts, online sources, etc.

The JBHT 231 lab will be open at all times except for other classes and for special periods to be announced. Note that the J.B. Hunt Center is locked each evening and is locked on weekends. However, students enrolled in the class will be able to use their UA student ID cards to access the building and computer lab after-hours.

Collaboration

Professional involvement in GIScience almost always means that you will be part of a team focusing on solutions to problems. As a result you need to develop team participation skills. You are encouraged to collaborate on the lab problem sets as they are intended to reinforce concepts discussed in class.

Academic Integrity

As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail.  Each University of Arkansas student is required to be familiar with and abide by the University’s ‘Academic Integrity Policy’ which may be found at http://provost.uark.edu/245.php.  Students with questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately contact their instructor.

Computer Access

Information about working with the computers in JBHT can be found on the Blackboard site. All students and faculty using any UA computer facilities are required to read and agree to the "Computer Users" form. Copies will be provided in class. Note that there is very specific guidance as to approved and not approved use. Violations of these rules will be cause for disciplinary and, potentially, legal action. In particular, no system is to be used for any activities that violate any law including loading of unauthorized or pirated software and/or distribution of illegal materials.

Esri Virtual Campus 

Esri has created an extensive suite of online courses at their web site training.esri.com. You will be REQUIRED to complete one of these, “Learning ArcGIS Desktop (for ArcGIS 10)” as part of the class. You will be given a unique keycode to allow you to access the course, and further instructions are provided on Blackboard. There are many additional modules in the Esri Virtual Campus. If you would like to work on any of these please let the instructor or TA know and we can generate an access key for you.