EAS 221 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Winter 2008

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1 The University of Alberta Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences EAS 221 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Winter 2008 Instructor: Dr. Arie Croitoru Tory Tel: Croitoru (WebCT course website) Office Hours: Tuesday 10:00-11:00 or by appointment Teaching Assistants (office ours by appointment): (WebCT) Office Yasmine Huang yingduan Tory 3-19 Mauricio Castillo mcastill Tory 3-19 Aaron Ball raball Tory 3-4 Xianmin Hu xianmin Tory Carlos Portillo portillo Tory 3-105B Daniel Brown dmbrown1 Tory Course Objectives Geographic information has become a fundamental building block in numerous application areas. The primary objective of this course is to review the foundations and principles of Geographic Information Science (GIScience) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In conjunction, the course will also introduce the principles and applications of Remote Sensing in the context of GIS. The course will emphasize both the theoretical and methodological aspects of GIScience, GIS and Remote Sensing, and will provide students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with some of the currently used algorithms, tools and practices in this field. 2. Course schedule The course will include both lecture sessions and lab tutorials. There are three lecture sessions per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 10:00-10:50 in ESB Every week six lab sessions will be offered (one lab per lab group): Session H1 Monday, 11:00-13:50 in T2-87 Session H2 Monday, 14:00-16:50 in T2-87 Session H3 Monday, 17:00-19:50 in T2-87 Session H4 Wednesday, 18:30-21:20 in T2-87 Session H5 Thursday, 14:00-16:50 in T2-87 Session H6 Friday, 14:00-16:50 in T Textbooks The primary textbook for this course is Geographic Information Systems and Science by Paul A. Longley, Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, and David W. Rhind (ISBN ). In addition, the following book will serve as a supplementary text: Principles of Geographic Information Systems by Peter A. Burrough and Rachel A. McDonnel (ISBN ). Copies of both textbooks are available in the Cameron library reserve desk. 1

2 4. Prerequisites A prerequisite of this course is the successful completion of a 100-level Science course. 5. Course outline a. Lectures: The following topics will be covered (tentative): Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 No. Date Day Topic Lab [BUR] [LON] 1 7-Jan M Course Introduction and overview 2 9-Jan W Why does GIS matter? Ch. 1 Ch Jan F GIS and information systems Ch. 1 CH Jan M The components of a desktop GIS system Lab 1 Ch. 1 CH Jan W Data models and axioms (1) Ch. 2 Ch. 3, Jan F Data models and axioms (2) Ch. 2 Ch. 3, Jan M Data models and axioms (3) Lab 2 Ch. 2 Ch. 3, Jan W Georeferencing (1) Ch 4 Ch Jan F Georeferencing (2) Ch 4 Ch Jan M Georeferencing (3) Lab 3 Ch. 4 Ch Jan W Data collection (1) surveying, photogrammetry, maps Ch. 4 Ch Feb F Data collection (2) GPS Ch. 4 Ch Feb M Data collection (3) Remote sensing Ch. 4 Ch Feb W Data collection (4) Remote sensing Ch. 4 Ch Feb F Data collection (5) Remote sensing Ch. 4 Ch Feb M Spatial databases (1) - vector DBs Lab 4 Ch. 3 Ch Feb W Spatial databases (2) - raster DBs Ch. 3 Ch Feb F Spatial databases (3) DB design and analysis Reading week (18-22 Feb) Feb M Spatial databases (4) spatial queries and SQL Ch. 3 Ch Feb W Spatial databases (5) DB operations Ch. 3 Ch Feb F *** Mid-Term Exam *** Ch. 3 Ch Mar M Surfaces from point data (1) Lab 5 Ch. 5 Ch Mar W Surfaces from point data (2) Ch. 5 Ch Mar F Analysis of discrete entities in space (1) Ch. 7 Ch Mar M Analysis of discrete entities in space (2) Ch. 7 Ch Mar W Analysis of discrete entities in space (3) Ch. 7 Ch Mar F Analysis of continuous fields (1) Ch. 8 Ch. 15, Mar M Analysis of continuous fields (2) Lab 6 Ch. 8 Ch. 15, Mar W Analysis of continuous fields (3) Ch. 8 Ch. 15, Mar F No class - good Friday Ch. 9 Ch Mar M No class - Easter Monday Ch. 9 Ch Mar W Errors and quality control Ch Mar F Errors and quality control Ch Mar M Intro to distributed GIS (1) Lab 7 Ch Mar W Intro to distributed GIS (2) Ch Mar F Digital cartography and map design (1) 35 7-Mar M Digital cartography and map design (2) 36 9-Mar W GIS Project Management Ch. 12 Ch Mar F Conclusion [LON] - Geographic Information Systems and Science / Longley et al. [BUR] - Principles of Geographic Information Systems / Burrough and McDonnel 2

3 b. Labs: The course will include the following lab assignments (tentative): Week of Lab Topic Due within 14-Jan 1 Basic computing skills and introduction to ArcExplorer 1 week 21-Jan 2 Introduction to ArcMap and the Choropleth Map 1 week 28-Jan 3 Map projections 2 weeks 11-Feb 4 Spatial data collection 2 weeks 3-Mar 5 Creating and manipulating geodatabases 2 weeks 17-Mar 6 Spatial analysis 2 weeks 31-Mar 7 Distributed GIS 2 weeks When you login to the WebCT course site you will be required to sign-up for your lab session. Please make sure you select the session you registered for. 6. Policies and procedures a. Attendance: You are required to attend all class and lab meetings. Lab attendance will be verified during each lab session. Please arrive on time to all class and lab meetings. b. Exams: The course includes two written exams: A midterm on February 29, :00-10:50 in ESB The midterm will be based on all class and lab materials presented until February 9 th A final exam on April 24 th 2007 (time and room TBD). The final exam will be based on all course materials. All written exams are mandatory and there will be no exceptions to these dates. I will only accept a certification from the University of Alberta Health Center indicating that you are/were sick as an explanation for failing to attend the written exams. c. Labs All labs are mandatory. Unless specifically stated, all labs are individual and should be submitted by each student separately. Submission of lab reports should be made in digital form through the course WebCT website. Lab submissions are due by the indicated date (see Section 5b). Note that each lab will have a different weight according to its level and workload. The weight of each lab in the overall grade will be indicated in the lab instructions. The overall grade of the labs will be totaled as a weighted average according to the weight assigned to each lab. Late lab submission: Labs submitted between 1 to 5 days past the due date will result in a late penalty of 10 points per day. Labs submitted after more than 5 days will not be accepted and will be marked with a zero grade. In addition, incomplete or insufficient lab work may not be made up. There will be no exceptions to these rules. d. Grades Each lab report and each written exam will be given a grade in the range 0 to 100. At the end of the term all the marks will be totaled as a weighted average according to the following weights: Lab reports 45% Midterm 15% Final exam*** 40% *** A minimum grade of 45 is required in the final exam in order to pass the course. Failure to achieve this grade will result in an automatic fail grade in the course. 3

4 Final grades at the end of the course will be assigned using a combination of absolute achievements and relative standing in the class, and will remain unofficial until approved by Faculty Council or its designates (i.e. Department Chair). e. Course website: The course has a WebCT website. This website will provide a single portal through which you may obtain lecture notes, retrieve lab materials and submit lab reports, review your grades, review links to additional materials, and receive special announcements. You are required to visit the course website regularly to download course materials and get important updates. It is your responsibility to make sure you able to login to the course WebCT website. If you are unable to login to the course website please consult The WebCT support webpage ( for further instructions. f. communication: all communication should be done through the course WebCT website. Please do not use any other addresses to communicate with the course staff. g. Students with special needs: Specialized Support and Disability Services (SSDS) provides assistance to University students whose disabilities involve any number of conditions affecting mobility, vision, hearing, learning or mental or physical health. Students who require accommodations in this course due to a disability affecting mobility, vision, hearing, learning, or mental or physical health are advised to discuss their needs with Specialized Support and Disability Services, Students' Union Building, (phone) or (TTY). Please do not hesitate to contact me or one of the TAs regarding your special needs if you encounter any problems. h. Academic honesty: The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Student are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior (online at and avoid any behavior which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University. This course includes lab assignments, a midterm and a final exam. All assignments and exams are to be taken individually. Submission of joint work is not permitted under any circumstances. Each student is expected to complete the required assignments and examinations on his/her own. 7. General guidelines for lab preparation, submission, and grading a. All students must have an EAS account in order to use the Lab facilities. If you do not have an account or if you can not login to your account please contact Mr. Valery Companiytsev (valeryc@ualberta.ca, Tel: ) to resolve any issues with your account. Please note that it is your responsibility to obtain and maintain and backup your EAS account. For further instructions on the usage of the EAS computing lab please refer to the Course website. b. Grades of labs will be based on: Academic merit of your answers to the questions Conciseness and completeness of your answers. Please write to the point and explicitly address the question or task. Avoid using unnecessary graphics (figures, tables, graphs etc.) unless they serve a specific purpose. 4

5 Make sure to use captions and to refer to the graphics you include in your written answer. Graphics without any reference or accompanying explanation will be disregarded. Organization and presentation. Remember that your lab report is a reflection of your thinking and learning process. Please organize your report in a logical fashion so that your answers could be easily identified. A general format for your presentation should, as a minimum, include the following components: 1. Question number 2. Your answer and discussion 3. Your support documents (images, graphs, tables, etc.) as required. Compliance with lab instructions. Before submitting your labs please verify that your submission complies with the lab submission instructions. Make sure all the necessary files/deliverables are included in your submission. c. All assignments are to be typed. Hand-written assignments will not be accepted. d. The electronic submission of your lab report should be made in a PDF format, unless specified otherwise. MS-Word files will not be accepted. e. Avoid using screenshots whenever possible. Instead use the print option in the software you are using to produce a PDF document or an image file and then imbed it in (or attach it to) your report. f. If more than one file is submitted, a single ZIP file containing all the lab files should be submitted. g. Each lab submission should include a cover page with the following information: lab title, lab number, student name, lab section (date and time), and submission date. When preparing your lab please use the cover page template that is available in the Resources section of the course website. h. Please make sure you have a backup of all your lab materials in case of a network hard drive failure. i. In case of any uncertainties regarding the exact submission time/date, the submission date recorded in the WebCT system will be used to determine the exact submission date and time. 5

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