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UEP 232 Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Fall 2015

Location: GIS Lab, Tisch Library

Time: Tue, Thu 12-1:15PM

Instructor: Sumeeta Srinivasan, sumeeta.srinivasan@tufts.edu

Teaching Assistant: Anna Krane, annakrane@gmail.com

Office Hours: Tue, Thu 1:30-2:30PM and as arranged with individual students

There are no prerequisites. Students will be expected to have competence in computer

use and some familiarity with Microsoft Windows environment and file management.

1.0 Course Objectives: The major objectives are to:

Introduce basic concepts of GIS data structures, databases, geo-referencing and geo-

processing

Introduce geographic thinking as an analytical method

Introduce spatial analysis and spatial statistics

Provide experience in implementing an independent project

2.0 Course Description: This course introduces Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their applications. GIS is

a combination of software, data, methods and hardware with capabilities for manipulating,

analyzing and displaying spatially referenced information. In its simplest applications GIS

links spatial location to data. It is extremely helpful in layering location data from various

sources which could be at the most micro level to individuals and buildings which can be

aggregated. Data aggregation could be to several scales such as parcels, census units in the

US like blocks, block groups and tracts or even countries. This layering of different kinds of

data can help us ask spatial questions. For example, you could use GIS to ask: Do property

related crime cluster in the wealthiest parts of the city and homicides cluster in the poorest

parts of the city? Does the spatial distribution of tweets mentioning a candidate cluster in

locations where she has more voter support?

The course will meet two times every week. Every week, there will be a short lecture

followed by lab time where students will work with GIS software. The lab exercise will

segue into an assignment that must be handed in the following week. Additional time may

be required beyond the hours of assigned lab time to complete exercises. The lab

component will focus on the use of ArcGIS (Version 10.3) software in a Windows

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environment in the GIS Lab. The course will also require the student to implement an

independent project (See section 4.0).

3.0 Grading: The final course grade will be based on:

Assignments (8) 40%

Midterm exam 15%

Final project 30%

Participation 15%

4.0 Final Project The purpose of the final project is to provide additional experience in collecting, processing

and analyzing spatial data. The project can be relevant to your research interests or to your

thesis/ dissertation or for a joint project or final paper in another course. Students must

start thinking about project ideas early in the semester. They will be expected to hand in a

project abstract by November. The abstract should summarize the project in a paragraph

or two. It should mention the spatial and non-spatial data the student will be looking for, a

proposed methodology and the research motivation for the project. The project should use

ArcGIS or other GIS software to examine the spatial implications of a research problem. By

November 20th, the student is expected to have scheduled and met the instructor for at

least one discussion about their project (called project interview in the schedule that

follows). The final project will require a paper describing the data. The final project report

and poster is due in December 18th. Group projects are encouraged but the products of

group work will be expected to scale-up corresponding to the number of members in the

group.

5.0 Textbook Required: Campbell, J and M. Shin, (2011) Essentials of Geographic Information Systems

ISBN 13: 978-1-4533219-6-6. Available free at:

www.saylor.org/site/textbooks/Essentials%20of%20Geographic%20Information%20Syst

Sys.pdf

Recommended: Bolstad, Paul, 2015, GIS Fundamentals, 4th Edition, XanEdu Inc. 978-0-

9717647-3-6 (print) or 978-1-58390-244-8 (ebook)

This book is available from various booksellers both on and off-line.

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6.0 Student Responsibilities for Meeting Course Objectives 1. Obtain and read the required textbook and supplemental material. Students will be

evaluated on knowledge and skills obtained from lecture, discussion, the required

textbook and supplemental reading materials. The midterm exams and laboratory

assignments will be based on this material.

2. Be prepared for class discussions and participation. Volunteer to both discuss

information and answer questions. Outcomes of this practice will be used by the

instructor as a means to subjectively evaluate students at the end of the semester.

3. Follow the student honor code and ethical standards. The academic code of conduct

can be accessed over the web at:

http://uss.tufts.edu/studentAffairs/documents/HandbookAcademicIntegrity.pdf

4. Out-of-class assignment must be professionally prepared. This means the course

project and exercises will have to be legible and free of spelling errors, and poor

grammar. References must be cited properly. No late assignments will be accepted

under any circumstances.

5. If you need to communicate with the instructor, you may do so via e-mail, or by

making a personal appointment. It may take at least one workday for the instructor

to return a telephone or e-mail message. Please plan accordingly. If you need more

then 5-10 minutes of the instructor’s time, it may be best to schedule an

appointment.

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7.0 Course Outline and Readings

Lecture Laboratory Assignment

Week 1 Sep 8, 10

Course overview Introduction to GIS, applications and history of GIS Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 1 or Bolstad Ch 1

Lab 0: Looking for data

Week 2 Sep 15, 17

Spatial data models Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 3, 4 or Bolstad Ch 2

Lab 1a: ArcGIS Basics sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/ArcGIS-Basics_SomervilleTutorial.pdf Lab 1b: Creating legends sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Creating-and-Editing-Scale-bars-and-Legends1.pdf Assignment 1 due

Week 3 Sep 22, 24

Coordinate Systems and Projections Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 2 or Bolstad: Ch 3

Lab 2: Coordinate systems in ArcGIS sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Trouble-shooting-coordinate-systems_Updated.10.2.20141.pdf Assignment 2 due

Week 4 Sep 29, Oct 1

Creating Spatial Data Read: Geocoding: www.ncjrs.gov/html/nij/mapping/ch4_3.html; Georeferencing: resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//009t000000mn000000 Skim: Bolstad: Ch 4

Lab 3: Geocoding in ArcGIS sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Geocoding-Reference-USA-data-Exercise-2013-TIGER-_10.2.2_Updated3.20.15.pdf Assignment 3 due

Week 5 Oct 6, 8

Databases and Census Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 5, 6 Skim: www.spatial.cs.umn.edu/Book/sdb-chap1.pdf or Bolstad: Ch 8

Lab 4: Census data sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Census-Tutorial_Downloading-and-Mapping-American-FactFinder2-Tract-Data2.pdf Assignment 4 due

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Lecture Laboratory Assignment

Week 6 Oct 13, 15

Cartography and Visualization Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 9 and www.Colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/cartocom/cartocom_f.html

Lab 5: Select tools sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Tip-Sheet-for-Select-Query-Tools-in-ArcGIS-10.pdf

Week 7 Oct 20, 22

Spatial Analysis: Vectors Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 7 or Bolstad: Ch 9

Lab 6: Vector sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/VectorAnalysis-Groton-Farm-Lands_updated11.17.2014.pdf Assignment 5 due

Week 8 Oct 27, 29

Spatial Analysis: Rasters Read: Campbell and Shin, Ch 8 or Bolstad: Ch 10

Lab 7: Raster sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Suitability-Tutorial-_China-Wind-Farm_10.2.2_Updated-10.24.2014.pdf Assignment 6 due

Week 9 Nov 3, 5

Spatial Statistics Read: Bolstad: Ch 12 or Berry, 4.1, www.innovativegis.com/basis/papers/other/asprschapter/#Berry4_1_Surface_Modeling

Lab 8: Spatial Statistics Assignment 7 due

Week 10 Nov 12

No Class Spatial Models, Error and Uncertainty Read: Bolstad: Ch 1 or Berry, 6.1, www.innovativegis.co3, 14m/basis/papers/other/asprschapter/#Berry6_Modeling_Frameworks Assignment 8 due

Week 11 Nov 17, 19

Midterm exam Highly recommended Lab: sites.tufts.edu/gis/files/2013/11/Proximity_Tutorial_Nuclear_Power_Plant_Risk_Assessment_Updated-10.2.2._11.7.20141.pdf

Week 12 Nov 24, Dec 1-10

GIS Project

Week 15 Final Poster and Paper due December 18th

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