Geographic Information Systems

GEOL512, GEOL412, and ENVS 412 ( Spring 2004 )

        This course will provide a thorough introduction to the theory and application of GIS, and the use and operation of the ArcGIS software package. This course will try its best to seek a balance of theoretical and applied materials, so that students may apply knowledge of GIS in the solution of real-world problems. Topics include an introduction to GIS, spatial data models, map projections and coordinate systems, data entry, global positioning system (GPS), aerial photographs and satellite images, metadata, georeferencing, databases, vector and raster spatial analyses, statistical and spatial analysis, interpolation, map making, accuracy assessments, GIS programming, a description of other GIS tools and future trends, and examples of real world GIS applications. 

        We are very interested in your feedback about everything. Please feel free to email us, talk to us, or slip anonymous notes into our mailboxes if you have comments, concerns, criticisms, or suggestions. We also will have two mini surveys to collect your feedbacks for improving the class. Your feedback and inputs are very important to us!!! We wish you a happy and productive journey with us.

Dr. Hongjie Xie , Email: mailto:hjxie@nmt.edu , Tel: 835-6448, Department of Earth and Environmental Sicences
Mr. Glen Jones , Email: mailto:glen@gis.nmt.edu , Tel: 835-5627, New Mexico Bureau of Geology & Mineral Resources

Monday and Wednesday 14:00-15:00 or by appointment, MSEC 310 (Xie)
Monday and Wednesday 14:00-15:00 or by appointment, B94B (Jones)

Lecture:

Monday/Wednesday 12:35-13:50 at MSEC 105 

Lab:

Tuesday 2:00 - 4:00 pm at WEIR 209
Friday 9:00 - 11.00 am at Speare 116

Textbook:

Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop ($59.95), Tim Ormsby et al., 2001, ESRI press. You can get this book from Tech Book Store, from ESRI press via here , or from http://www.addall.com/ for a good deal (about $35.00, please input the ISBN number of 1879102897). This book comes with two CDs. One has a fully functional copy of ArcView 8 software (ArcView 8 is not an updated version of ArcView 3, but one of the ArcGIS products) that expires 180 days after you install it; the other CD has exercise data, which will mostly be our lab materials. You can install the software and data in your own computer, so you can do your work and exercises at your home. You can get an evaluation CD of ArcView 8.3 from here .

Besides the above book, other lecture materials and reading materials will be come from different books as belows and internet. It will be helpful for your future career and reference if you can get any one or two of these books:
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems ($65, 2nd Edition), Kang-tsung Change, 2003, McGraw-Hill Higher Education press;
Geographic Information Systems and Science ($140), Paul A. Longley et al., 2001, John Wiley & Sons press;
Getting Started with Geographic Information System ($76, 4th Edition), Keith C. Clarke, 2003, Prentice Hall press;
GIS Fundamentals ($38), Paul Bolstad, Eider press (via here to order). 

Grade Policy:

The final grade for the course will be determined as follows: the homework 20%, lab participation and results submission 20%, the midterm exam 15%, the final exam 25%, and project and presentation (20%).  

Homework:

Homework will be assigned on Wendesday and due midnight Tuesday two weeks later. Late homework is unacceptable, unless you do have an good excuse.

Lab:

Lab is very important for you to actually learn how to use the ArcGIS software package, which will help you to understand the GIS concepts, and prepare you to solve real world problems. It is strongly recommended for students to attend every lab and ask any question you may have in the lab or before the lab. To check if you finish each lab or not, we ask you to send (by email) the lab instructor a MS Word file with screen snapshots of the last step for each lab section. For example, in lab 2, you will have three lab sections (3a, 3b, and 3c). So you should have 3 screen snapshots in your Word file. Ususally, the email is due after each lab. However, if you could not finish the lab in the lab hours or you will not be able to attend a lab in the lab time, you can send the email by the next lab time.

Project and presentation:  

A major portion (20%) of this class is a project including a 15-20 minutes class presentation and a final project report on a GIS application topic of your interest or your major. This project could be carried out by yourself or up to 2 persons as a group.  You need to find a topic, to collect data, to transfer all data to GIS formats in a same coordinate system, to create an ArcGIS project, to analyze the data you collected, to make maps, to solve and answer any question related to your topic, to make a metadata, to present the entire procedure to your class, and to write a final report. The instructors will be available throughout the course to assist you with topic selections, data collections and transformations, details on use of some special GIS tools, and others. Topics must be approved by an instructor before April 5. You are responsible for handing out an outline and notes to the class and instructors on the day of your presentation. PowerPoint presentation is encouraged. If two persons are in one group, it is important to have each person presenting about half of the material and using about half of the time. We encourage you to rehearse each other, or to preview materials with instructors prior to actual presentation to the class for getting initial feedback. The final project reports are due on or before the last class day (May 7). Your report should be like a professional paper (about 10 pages is fine) includes title, author name, abstract, materials, methods, results, conclusion, acknowledge, and references. For undergraduate student, the final report is not required. However, you will receive extra credits if you will do it.

Tentative Schedule: