GEO241 Syllabus

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) permeate nearly every aspect of our lives in the 21st century. Applications of GIS range from the completely mundane (e.g. routing of delivery vehicles) to much more important societal functions (crime analysis, environmental monitoring and research, epidemiology, national security, etc.). This course presents an introduction to this technology that will build a strong and broad base for further work in this area, as well as a well-rounded survey of the field as a whole. GIS has grown immensely over the past 25 years into an industry estimated at approximately $30 billion per year. At the same time it has matured as an area of academic and scholarly technique that spans several of the traditional disciplines.

Class work includes student mapping projects that will be completed using GIS and graphics applications in the GIS Collaboratory, 224 SAC. It is assumed that students are comfortable and confident users of quantitative data and computer applications in a Windows client-server environment. A fundamental understanding of computing will allow a student to move beyond the simple lab exercises to develop competence in GIS and its applications.

The student will be evaluated on the completion of four (4) lab activities, five (5) scheduled quizzes, a final project, and a class notebook. Students must complete all lab activities, quizzes, the final project, and notebook in order to pass the course. There will be no make-up quizzes, lab activities, or projects without prior arrangement.

Lab activities are evaluated on their completeness, analytical strength, and attention to detail. In some instances you may need to return to the lab to complete work not finished during class time. It is a good idea to check the lab schedule and plan to return to the lab at least once a week (depending on availability) to finish your work. Lab activities will be given a check - (7), check (8.5), or check + grade (10). Late work will be assessed fair penalties depending on circumstances. The full credit grade is reserved for exceptional work, handed in on time.

Students will keep a paper notebook (legal pad or similar recommended) that is dedicated to this course. Notebooks should be brought to each course meeting. I will on occasion ask for the notebooks and will return them quickly.

These four components (lab activities, quizzes, final project, and notebooks) will contribute to the final grade in the following proportions:

Communication regarding the course will take place using the email account that you use in Campus Connect. Get in the habit of checking the inbox there at least daily.

Class attendance is essential to your success. Excessive unexcused absences can result in your being dropped from the course. Acceptable reasons for absence include family or personal emergencies, medical problems, or other circumstances that are determined to be beyond your control. Please contact me as early as possible regarding expected absence from class. Excessive lateness is a problem that I have noted in many of my classes. It distracts from what is happening in the class and takes away class time from those who arrived at the scheduled time. It is your responsibility to be on-time for every class, please respect all in the class by making an extra effort to be on time.

Academic honesty and integrity are expected at all times. Academic dishonesty, such as cheating or copying during exams, will be punished severely. Plagiarism – using someone else’s work without acknowledgment and, therefore, presenting their ideas or quotations as your own work – is strictly forbidden. DePaul University officials will be informed of any instance of academic dishonesty and notification will be placed in your file. Please read the DePaul Academic Integrity Resources page (http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/Resources/index.html) for definitions and explanations of plagiarism and the University’s Academic Integrity expectations for students. Cutting and pasting text taken directly from a web-site without appropriate referencing and quotation marks is plagiarism and is forbidden. Submitting work that has any part cut and pasted directly from the internet is grounds for an automatic grade of zero.

Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussion will remain confidential. To ensure that you receive the most reasonable accommodation based on your needs, contact me as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week or two of the course) and be sure to contact the following office for support and additional services:

Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD)

#370, Student Center, LPC, 773.325.1677

Collaborates with writers from all disciplines, backgrounds, levels of expertise, and roles within the University community. Their goal is to help develop better writers along with better writing and reflection through continual revision. If you need assistance with writing assignments, they can be contacted at: 773.325.4272 (LPC) or wcenter@depaul.edu

Term Schedule

week/date	topic	reading
1/January 3, 5	Introduction, GIS - First Principles	Bolstad, Chapter 1
2/January 10, 12	Data Models, Projections, Coordinate Systems - Lab 1	Bolstad, Chapter 2, 3
3/January 17, 19	Data Sources - Geocoding Data, Thematic Mapping	Bolstad, Chapter 4, pp. 123-145, 159-169.
4/January 24, 26	GNSS-GPS, Lab 2	Bolstad, Chapter 5, pp. 175-191, 196-206.
5/January 31, February 2	Public Domain Data Sources – Final Projects	Bolstad, Chapter 7 (quick read)
6/February 7, 9	Geodatabases – Attribute Data - Lab 3	Bolstad, Chapter 8
7/February 14, 16	Spatial Analysis I	Bolstad, Chapter 9, pp. 321-341
8/February 21, 23	Spatial Analysis II - Lab 4	Bolstad, Chapter 11 (skim)
9/February 28, March 1	Google Earth	Bolstad, Chapter 12
10/March 6, 8	Final Project Finishing
	Final Project Due March 15 @ 11.45am

This calendar is a plan for the term – circumstances may entail revising dates, assignments, and times. Changes, if made, will be communicated through your Campus Connect email address. Please get in the habit of looking at this at least daily.

DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY LEARNING GOALS

Courses in the Department of Geography teach students:

1. Understand spatial patterns and processes of modification of the Earth’s physical and cultural landscapes

(a) As social constructions.

(b) As systems that link the Earth with human society in interdependent, dialectical relationships, and

2. Understand the concept of scale as a spatial phenomenon that ties the local, the regional, the national, the transnational, and the global in a system of interaction.

3. Understand the phenomenology of the discipline of Geography—most importantly, “space”, "place", "landscape," "region," and "location".

4. Distinguish that spaces, places, and so on, may have both objective and subjective/symbolic dimensions.

5. Develop research and writing competences that would allow you to:

(a) Formulate a cogent research question about the spatial character of a physical, socio-cultural, or environment-societal phenomenon,

(b) Write about it in ways that reflect analytical and critical thinking, and

6. Engage competently in qualitative and quantitative spatial analysis, and with exercises that are concerned with explaining spatial regularities (for example, the spatial calculus behind the location of retail commerce in Chicago, or transnational flows of capital).

7. Learn the basic utility and use competently one or more of the information technologies that are now redefining the logistical limits of spatial analysis: geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing.

8. Achieve greater general knowledge of the world, its regions, its physical systems, its cultures, and political-territorial divisions.

Scientific Inquiry Learning Goals & Outcomes

1. Students will understand the major principles guiding modern scientific thought. Students will demonstrate a mastery of the science content knowledge of their SID courses.

2. Students will know that science, technology, and math serve as mechanisms for inquiry into the nature of the universe. Students will:

a. identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations
b. design and conduct a scientific investigation to test a scientific hypothesis
c. use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data to support or refute a scientific hypothesis
d. develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models using evidence
e. describe relationships between evidence and explanations using critical and logical thinking
f. recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions
g. communicate scientific procedures and explanations
h. use mathematics in all aspects of scientific inquiry

3. Students will understand and appreciate the interrelationships among science, technology and math. Students will:

a. use technology and mathematics to identify a problem or design a solution to a problem
b. give examples of how science and technology inform and influence each other

4. Students will understand and appreciate the role of science in society and in their lives. Students will:

a. provide examples of how science and technology impact our lives, and how social needs and concerns impact our development of technology and scientific investigation
b. develop positive attitudes towards science, technology, and mathematics
c. establish an ongoing experiential/service-learning interest in science, technology, and mathematics

5. Students will understand the nature of science, technology, and mathematics. Students will:

a. provide examples of the abuse of science, including the representation of unfalsifiable claims as science and other forms of pseudoscience,
b. explain the strengths and limits of scientific inquiry
c. explain the difference between evidence and inference, and the provisional nature of scientific explanations by providing examples of how our understanding of the workings of the world has changed in the past,
d. explain the difference between probability and certainty, and describe what is meant by uncertainty in the context of science, technology, and mathematics

Writing Expectations: Writing is integral for communicating ideas and progress in science, mathematics and technology. The form of writing in these disciplines is different from most other fields and includes, for example, mathematical equations, computer code, figures and graphs, lab reports and journals. Courses in the SI domain must include a writing component where that component takes on the form appropriate for that course (eg, lab reports, technical reports, etc.)