Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
GEOG 176A, Fall 07, 4 credits

Instructor: Dr. Martin Raubal, raubal@geog.ucsb.edu
Office (hours): Wednesday 2-4pm, EH 5713
Phone: 893-4839
Teaching Assistants:
Brent Hecht, bhecht@umail.ucsb.edu, Monday 12-2pm, Star lab;
Indy Hurt, indy@umail.ucsb.edu, Thursday 11am-1pm, Star lab;
Class meets:
Lectures – T, Th 5-6:15pm , 1610 Broida Hall
Lab 1 (Brent Hecht) – W 12pm – 1:50pm, 2610 Ellison Hall, aka the Star lab
Lab 2 (Indy Hurt) – W 10am – 11:50am, 2610 Ellison Hall, aka the Star lab
Lab 3 (Indy Hurt) – Th 9am – 10:50am, 2610 Ellison Hall, aka the Star lab
Lab 4 (Brent Hecht) – M 6pm – 7:50pm, 2610 Ellison Hall, aka the Star lab

Course description:
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) deal with the acquisition, representation, analysis, and visualization of geographic information. They are part of the interdisciplinary field of Geographic Information Science (GIScience). The lectures in this course give a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of both GIS and GIScience. Topics include geographic data collection, modeling, and representation; geographic databases; cartographic issues; spatial queries; mobile GIS and GI Services; cognitive and social aspects.
The lab sessions providehands-on experience in geocoding, data classification and visualization, and geographic data modeling with current GIS software (ArcGIS). Students will also work on a final project.

Recommended preparation:
GEOG12 Maps and Mapping

Required Textbook: Longley, P.A., M.F. Goodchild, D.J. Maguire, and D.W. Rhind, 2005. Geographic Information Systems and Science. Second Edition. New York: Wiley.
http://www.wiley.com/legacy/wileychi/longley/
It is required that students buy their own copy of this book.
Weekly readings are listed below. Please come to class prepared to discuss the readings, which are listed for that day.

Course Website: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~raubal/Courses/geog176a/index.htm

Required Media: You must have a USB flash drive for the lab. You will be working between several different workstations. Flash drives enable you to easily transfer your work between workstations and to back up your work.

Cover Image

Evaluation:

Mid-term

25%

 

 

Final

30%

 

 

Lab Assignments

30%

 

 

Project

15%

 

Course Policies: Attendance is required for both the lecture and the labs. It is crucial for students to attend the full lab period to get the necessary exposure with the topic, the technology, and to stay on target on the lab work and project. Your TA will provide theoretical and technical help that will aid you in completing the lab and project work.
Typically, labs are always due exactly two weeks after they are assigned (except for Lab 1). Lateness will cost you 20% each day, starting at the exact beginning of your lab session. This rule is not flexible. Please inform us in advance if you will miss a lab meeting or will have a personal situation that will affect your attendance or performance.

Academic conduct: http://hep.ucsb.edu/people/hnn/conduct/acad_cond.html

 

Date

 

Lecture topic

Reading

Labs

 

 

 

 

 

Week 1

Sep 27

Course overview (Tomlinson video)

 

No lab

 

 

 

 

 

Week 2

Oct 2

Introduction to GIS & GIScience

Chapter 1

Lab 1: ArcGIS introduction, Test (Meri Marsh)

 

Oct 4

Georeferencing & Earth measurement

Chapter 5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 3

Oct 9

GIS software (Brent Hecht)

Chapter 7

Lab 2: Geocoding & data input (GPS)

 

Oct 11

GIS applications (Indy Hurt)

Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 4

Oct 16

Projections, coordinates, and GPS

Chapter 5

 

 

Oct 18

Geographic data representation

Chapters 3, 4

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 5

Oct 23

Data collection

Chapter 9

Lab 3: Data classification & visualization

 

Oct 25

Uncertainty

Chapter 6

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 6

Oct 30

Geographic data models

Chapter 8

 

 

Nov 1

Mid-term

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 7

Nov 6

Cartography & Geovisualization

Chapters 12, 13

Lab 4: Model builder & spatial analysis

 

Nov 8

Spatial queries & analysis

Chapter 14

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8

Nov 13

Spatial modelling & simulation

Chapter 16

 

 

Nov 15

Mobile GIS & LBS

Chapter 11

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 9

Nov 20

Cognitive aspects

 

Lab 5: Final project

 

Nov 22

Thanksgiving – no class

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 10

Nov 27

GI Services & interoperability

 

 

 

Nov 29

GIS implementation

Chapter 17

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 11

Dec 4

Future of GIS, Test (Meri Marsh)

Chapter 21

 

 

Dec 6

Final

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 12

Dec 13 (Thursday), 7:30-10:30pm

Project presentations

 

 

Bibliography:

Links: