Course GISC 2301 001: Introduction to Geospatial Information Science Instructor Yongwan Chun TA Harini Sridharan Term Fall

2011 Meetings Tuesday & Thursday 10:00am 11:15am, GR 3.602

Contact Information Office Phone Office Location Email Address Office Hours

972-883-4719 GR 3.208 ywchun@utdallas.edu Monday 2:00pm 4:00pm or by appointment Some of lecture materials may be uploaded on eLearning. Other Information Email contacts are strongly preferred. I do not read eLearning emails so contact me through my UT Dallas email.

TA Contact Information Office Phone 972-883-2908 Office Location GR 3.414 Email Address hxs065100@utdallas.edu Office Hours Wednesday 1:00pm 3:00pm Other Information Email contacts are strongly recommended General Course Information There are no pre-requisites and co-requisites. However, students Pre-requisites, Coare expected to have competence in Windows operating systems requisites, & other (e.g., Windows 7) and other computing skills such as word restriction processing and internet usage. This course examines the Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their applications. These systems are often the core of local (city, county) government operations, are being rapidly adopted by state and federal governments to manage operations from highway planning to environmental resource conservation, and are playing a major role in businesses as diverse as market research, site selection, real estate, civil engineering, and Course description geophysical exploration. Additionally, GIS are extensively used in academic research for various tasks such as data collection, data analysis, and publication of outputs in a wide range of disciplines from the Social Sciences to the Geosciences. The course will comprise both lecture and lab. The lab component will focus on the use of ArcGIS software, which is widely adopted GIS software. ArcGIS will be available in the GIS labs in Cecil H. Green Hall (The software will NOT be available in the universitys

McDermott Microcomputer lab). Understand the fundamental concepts of geographic information systems and their differences from other types of information systems Learning Outcomes Display features and tabular data, query features, create new features, analyze spatial relationships of features, produce maps, reports, and graphics Conduct a predesigned GIS project Longley, Goodchild, Maguire, and Rhind, 2011, Geographic Information Systems & Science, 3rd edition, John Wiley & Required Texts & Sons, ISBN: 978-0-470-72144-5 [LGMR] materials Ormsby, Napoleon, Burke, Groessl, and Bowden, 2010, Getting to Know ArcGIS (for ArcGIS 10), ESRI Press, ISBN: 978-158948-260-9 [ONBG] Reading Materials Additional reading materials may be distributed through eLearning or email. (Tentative) Assignments & Academic Calendar Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Date
8/25 8/30 9/01 9/06 9/08 9/13 9/15 9/20 9/22 9/27 9/29 10/04 10/06 10/11 10/13 10/18 10/20 10/25 10/27 11/01 11/03 11/08

Topics Course Introduction What is GIS? Lab1: Introduction to ArcMap GIS applications Lab2: Introduction to ArcCatalog Representing Geography Lab3: Display GIS data GIS data models Lab4: Classification/Labeling features Working with attributes Lab5: Working with attributes GIS Analysis I Lab6: GIS Analysis I Midterm exam review Midterm exam GIS Analysis II Lab7: GIS Analysis II Projections and coordinates Lab8: Projection GIS Data collection I Lab9: Creating features GIS Data collection II 2

Reading [LGMR] Ch1 [LGMR] Ch1 [ONBG] Ch3 [LGMR] Ch2 [ONBG] Ch4 [LGMR] Ch3 [ONBG] Ch5 [LGMR] Ch8 [ONBG] Ch6/7 [LGMR] Ch10 [ONBG] Ch8/9 [LGMR] Ch14 [ONBG] Ch10/11

[LGMR] Ch14 [ONBG] Ch12 [LGMR] Ch5 [ONBG] Ch13 [LGMR] Ch9 [ONBG] Ch14/15 [LGMR] Ch9

11/10

13 14 15 16

11/15 11/17 11/22 11/24 11/29 12/01 12/06

Lab10: Editing features/Geocoding Cartography and map production Lab11: Creating maps Spatial modeling I No Class: Thanksgiving Lab12: Modeling Final exam review Final exam

[ONBG] Ch16/17 [LGMR] Ch12 [ONBG] Ch18/19 [LGMR] Ch16 [ONBG] Ch20

* Additional reading materials may be provided and this schedule is subject to change Grading Policies A+ (100 97), A (96 93), A (92 90) B+ (89 87), B (86 83), B (82 80) C+ (79 77), C (76 73), C (72 70) D+ (69 67), D (66 63), D (62 60) F (59 0) Course Policies Quizzes (including pop quizzes): 10% Lab assignments: 30% Grading (credit) Midterm exam: 25% Criteria Final exam: 30% Class attendance and participation: 5% Make-up Exams accompanied by proper formal documentation (e.g., a doctors excuse). Extra Credit Might be given to optional lab assignments.
Late submission will be penalized for 10 % per day being late. Late submission after one week since the due date will not be graded. Class attendance is mandatory and will be taken in various forms including Class in-class quiz. Students are expect to arrive to class on time and to be Attendance participate in class discussion properly and actively. No make-up exam and/or project will be given without a legitimate excuse

Late Work

Classroom Citizenship

Students arriving to a class session after it has begun are expected to enter quietly and take a seat in the least disruptive matter: students leaving a class session early are expected to do so in the least disruptive manner. Students are expected to display a positive attitude toward learning by conducting themselves with civility, respect for others (e.g., sharing thoughts and actively listening to the thoughts and comments of peers and the instructor), and general good, courteous behavior, including not engaging in cell phone (which should be turned off), personal movies/TV and personal newspaper (or other reading materials) usage, and not participating in social discussion groups during class time.

Note: Students must read other syllabus policies (including plagiarism, disability service, religious holydays, and email use), which are available on http://provost.utdallas.edu/syllabuspolicies/. There descriptions/timelines are subject to change at the discretion of the instructor.