Dr Ronald Briggs GR 3.212

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

briggs@utdallas.edu

http://www.utdallas.edu/~briggs/poec6382.html

Office hours (in GR 3.212 or 3.206):

Tues/Wed3-4; Thurs 6:30-7:00

& by appointment or drop-in

Spring 2003, GR3.206, Tue: 4:00-6:45 or Th. 7:00-9:45p.m

POEC 6382

Applied Geographic Information Systems Software

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are becoming a part of mainstream business and management operations around the world in organizations as diverse as cities, state government, school districts, utilities, telecommunications, railroads, civil engineering, petroleum exploration, retailing, etc. This array of institutional types is integrating GIS into their daily operations, and the applications associated with these systems are equally broad from infrastructure management, to vehicle routing, to site selection, to research and analysis.

The intent of this course is to further develop hands-on skills in the use of industry-standard geographical information systems software beyond that acquired in POEC 6381 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, which is a pre-requisite for this course. Upon completion of Applied GIS Software, you should have a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of a modern GIS software environment and how to use it. This provides all the necessary applied skills to independently complete a GIS project including acquiring, converting and integrating data, creating GIS layers (themes) in multiple different formats, editing and correcting GIS layers, developing processes to modify data and conduct geographical analyses, customizing applications, and presenting the results. These skills will be essential for completing work in other courses in the geographical information sciences curriculum at UTD and for conducting GIS projects “in the real world”.

The course will begin with an overviews of the ArcGIS software environment and then examine a series of topics critical to GIS implementation and use. Evaluation will be based upon a set of three assigned projects (one each associated with Mapping, Editing, and Analysis, for a total of 30%), a hands-on computer based midterm (45%) and a final student-selected project (25%). Additionally, there will be seven smaller exercises which must be completed but will not be “handed-in” or graded. In all cases, students are expected to hand in work they have accomplished themselves. Because of the great variability possible with ArcGIS, no two mapping assignments would be identical or almost identical. You should be aware that assignments may require a substantial amount of work outside of class time. Some work will require use of the ARCInfo software level which is not available for use at home so this work must be conducted in the GIS lab on campus.

Books (from other GIS Certificate courses)

Ormsby, et. al. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop ESRI: Redlands, CA

Zeiler, Modeling our World: The ESRI Guide to Database Design ESRI: Redlands, CA

Course Timetable as of 4/18/2003

(class topics may be modified but exam date will remain fixed)

Jan. 14/16 ArcCatalog: Data Management and GIS Data Types

Lab: Ex 1—Using ArcCatalog (ex1_arccat.doc)

Demo/Lecture: arcintro.ppt arccatalog.doc,

Reference/Reading: Zeiler Chap. 1 Arccatalog.ppt geodatabase.ppt,

Jan. 21/23 ArcToolbox: Data Conversion and Analysis

Lab: Ex 2—Workstation ArcInfom (ex2_workstation.doc)

Demo/Lecture: arcworkstation.ppt arctoolbox.doc

Reference/Reading: Zeiler Chap 3,4; arctoolbox.ppt,

Jan 28/30 ArcMap: Graphics

Lab: Project 1 Toxic Site Analysis (proj1_arcmap.doc)

Demo/Lecture: arcmap1.doc

Reference/Reading: Zeiller Chap 2, 11 arcmap.ppt

Feb. 4/6 ArcMap: Tables

Lab: Project 1 Toxic Site Analysis (contd)

Demo/Lecture: arcmap2.doc

Feb. 11/13 Georeferencing

Lab: Ex3—Georeferencing

Demo/Lecture: georef.ppt ex3_georef.doc

Feb 18/20 CAD Conversion Project 1 due

Lab: Ex 4—CAD Conversion

Demo/Lecture: ex4_cad.doc

Reference/Reading: Zeiler Chap 5, 6, 7

Feb 25/27 Creating & Editing Geodata

Lab: Project 2 City Data Layer Creation (proj2_edit.doc) Data_Proj2 (link to all project data)

Demo/Lecture: av8edit_lines.doc

Reference/Reading: geodatabase.ppt, av8edit.doc (for polygons from 6381) av8gdb.doc (from GISC 6383)

Thur Mar 6 Midterm Exam, both sections, 4:00pm or 7:00pm

(no class Tuesday, Mar 7)

Mar 11/13 Spring Break Begin Final Project!!!

March 18/20 Creating & Editing Geodata (cont’d)

Lab: Project 2 City Data Layer Creation (contd)

Reference/Reading:

March 25/27 Networks and Network Generation Project 2 due

Lab: Ex5—Networks (ex5_networks.doc)

Demo/Lecture: networks.ppt

Reference/Reading: Zeiler Chap. 8

Apr 1/3 Spatial Analysis: Points

Lab: spatstat.doc

Demo/Lecture: spatstat.ppt

Reading:

Apr 8/10 Spatial Analysis: Polygons

Lab: Project 3 Census Data Analysis

Demo/Lecture: proj3_analysis.doc

Reference/Reading:

April 15/17 Surfaces and Surface Generation

Lab: Ex 6 Surfaces (ex6_surfaces.doc)

Demo/Lecture: surfaces.ppt

Reference/Reading: Zeiler Chap 10

April 22/24 Customizing ArcGIS: Project 3 due

Lab: Ex 7—Customization (ex7_custom.doc)

Demo/Lecture: custom.ppt

Reference/Reading:

Apr.29/May1 Catch-up (if required)

Thurs May 1 Final Project due

Lab: what you are will need to do individually during or after class

--if no document is listed, your assignment is included in the demo instructions

Demo/Lecture: what we will cover in class as a group

Reference/Reading: additional readings and reference materials

.doc files will usually be instructions for in class demos, exercises and projects

--documents with date of 2002 have not yet been updated for 2003

.ppt files will usually be short lectures used in class, or reference materials developed at UTD

.pdf files will usually be reference materials from other sources (e.g, from ESRI)

--the folder p:\data\p6382\info_materials contains additional reference materials