Spring, 1999 Dr Ronald Briggs GR 3.126

972-883-6877 (o), 972-690-3442 (h)

http://www.utdallas.edu/~briggs/poec6381.html e-mail:briggs@utdallas.edu

Office hours (in GR 3.126 or 3.206):

Mon 6:30-7:00; Tues/Thurs 10:00-11:00; 4:00-5:15

& by appointment or drop-in

GR2.534/3.206 T/Th—5:30-6:45 p.m.

This course introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their applications. These systems are becoming 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 geophysical exploration. Additionally, academic research in disciplines ranging from the Social Sciences to Geoscience is using GIS to expand research possibilities and productivity. In the vernacular, they are one of the killer apps. of the nineties, with substantial potential for further development and application.

GIS is a combination of software and hardware with capabilities for manipulating, analyzing and displaying spatially-referenced information--that is, information which is referenced by its location on the earth's surface. By linking data to maps, a GIS can reveal relationships not apparent with traditional item-referenced information systems and data base management products, and by displaying information in a graphic form can communicate complex spatial patterns succinctly. This course will introduce the concepts needed to use GIS effectively and correctly, and develop basic proficiency in GIS software usage. Examples will primarily focus on urban and regional analysis, though business, environmental and geological applications will also be included.

The course will comprise both lecture and lab. The lab component will focus on the use of ArcView (Version 3.1) software in a Windows NT environment in the Green Computer Lab (GR3.206). (The software will not be available in the university’s McDermott Microcomputer lab.) Should you desire your own copy, it is available at a student price of $250 (Version 3.1) from ESRI, Inc. (call 1-800-447-9778 to order). Alternatively, you may borrow a copy of the software from UTD for use on your machine at home for this course only, providing you agree to the terms of the loan.

This course is one of a series for the Certificate in GIS at the University of Texas at Dallas; five courses are needed to receive the certificate.

There are no formal prerequisites, however students will be expected to have competence in microcomputer use and familiarity with Microsoft Windows 95 and file management (directories, subdirectories, copying, etc). Evaluation will be based upon a midterm exam (35%), final exam (40%), and five lab projects (25%). Although some class time will be allocated to lab instruction, additional computing work outside of scheduled classes, will be necessary for successful course completion.

(note: all Let’s do it sessions will be held in the computer lab, GR 3.206)

(note: http:\\www.utdallas.edu\~briggs\poec6381.html has links to all on-line materials)

Jan 12,14: What's GIS and Where's It Used?

DeMers Chap 1

Application Examples (read/scan, as convenient, according to your interests):

Huxhold, Chap. 3: Application of Urban Geographic Information Systems.

Jan 19,21: GIS Concepts and Software

DeMers Chap 2 pp. 21-31

USGS: Geographic Information Systems (brochure).

Black, James D. Fusing RDBMS and GIS GIS World July, 1996, p. 44-47

Jan 26,28 Let's do it: Intro. to ARCVIEW GIS Software

Feb 2 Using ArcView GIS, Chap. 2; also parts of Chap. 5,6,7,10

Feb. 4,9,11 Terrestial Data Structures

DeMers Chap. 2, pp. 32-34; Chap 3, 50-67

Using ArcView GIS Chap. 9

Map Projections (USGS brochure)

Dana, Peter H. Coordinate Systems Overview @

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u013/u013_f.html OR

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/coordsys/coordsys.html

Kirvan, Anthony Latitude and Longitude @

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u014/u014_f.html

Dana, Peter H. The Shape of the Earth/ Geodetic Datums @

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u015/u015_f.html OR

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/datum/datum.html

Dana, Peter H Map Projections

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj.html

Veregin, Howard Data Quality Measuremnt and Assessment @

http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u100/u100_f.html

Feb. 16,18,23 GIS Data Structures

DeMers Chap 4, Chap. 7, Chap. 11, 287-311

Using ArcView GIS Chap 22

Goodchild, Rasters @

http://ncgia.ncgia.ucsb.edu:80/giscc/units/u055/

Goodchild, Quadtrees and Scan Orders @

http://ncgia.ncgia.ucsb.edu:80/giscc/units/u057/

Mar 4 GIS Data Sets and Sources—identifying the biggies

DeMers Chap 2, pp. 35-49, Chap 5,

USGS, US Geodata (brochure)

Dana, Peter GPS @

http://www.utexas.edu/depts/grg/gcraft/notes/gps/gps.html

Mar 16 Let's do it: Internet Data Acquisition and Conversion

Mar 18 Let’s do it: Geocoding

Mar 23,25,31 Data Preparation and Integration

Using ArcView GIS Chap.18 thru 21

Apr 2 Let’s do it: Data Editing and Topological Structures

Apr 7,9 Analysis and Modelling in GIS

Apr 14,16 GIS Outputs and Application Examples

DeMers Chap 3, 67-81, Chap 14

Making Better Maps, selections from Business Geographics

Business Applications: market analysis, site selection, routing

April 21,23 Let's do it: DEMS and 3-D Displays.

DeMers Chap. 15

Apr 28 Project #5 due: Creating a Layer: Tracts for Dallas

April 28 The Future of GIS and Some Dissenting Perspectives

April 30 Review and Wrap-up

May 4 Final Exam: any 2 hour slot beginning between 4:00pm and 6:00pm. (Note: the official exam time published in the class schedule is Friday May 7 at 8:00pm. Students unable to make the revised time should contact me on or before the last class meeting.)

The Using ArcView GIS text is primarily intended to help you with the lab projects, which give you hands on experience with ArcView. How you use this text is a personal decision. You might like to work through the examples in this book before tackling the projects. Or you may prefer to jump in with projects, using the book as a reference. Below is a very general guide to the chapters as they relate to each Project.

Project 1: Daycare location: Chap. 2, parts of 5,6,7,10 (purpose: general introduction)

Project 2: Texas Demographics: Chap. 3,4,6,10 (purpose: map creation and layouts)

Project 3: Pipeline: Chap 11, 12, 13, 14 (purpose: drawing and data selection)

Project 4: Housing Sales: Chap 5,8 (purpose: geocoding, graphing)

Project 5: Census Tracts: Chap 18, 20,22 (purpose: spatial editing and data preparation)

A note on editions. We are now using ArcView Version 3.1 software. Using ArcView GIS was first released for version 3.0. As of January, 1999 we have not received an updated version of Using ArcView GIS. However, changes are not major.