ba in management program spring 2012 opim 406 – …€¦ · page 1 of 6 ba in management program...

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BA in Management Program Spring 2012

OPIM 406 – Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Instructor: Burçin Bozkaya, Ph.D. Office: SOM 1016 Phone: (216) 483-9687 Fax: (216) 483-9699 E-mail: [email protected] Web: SUCourse Office Hours: When my door is open, or by appointment Type Time Days Where Class 2:40 pm - 4:30 pm T SOM G062 Class 12:40 pm - 1:30 pm W SOM G062 Course Objective: Use of information technologies and systems in business decision-making is becoming ever more important as different technologies and more computational power become available. One of such technologies is known as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a generic term for digital mapping and analysis tools. Most people would associate GIS with Google Maps and Google Earth, but GI systems are typically much more capable than just displaying maps. The objective of this course is to cover the foundation behind GI systems and make students familiar with the basic modeling/analysis tools and software available in this context. Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to: 1. Have a thorough understanding of basic concepts behind geographic data modeling,

representation, cartography and spatial analysis, 2. Recognize importance of GIS tools in business decision-making in such areas as

retailing, real estate planning, customer relationship management and logistics, 3. Analyze a business scenario, and select and use appropriate tools from the GIS

toolset in developing an analytic solution to the business problem. Course Material: The course will follow the textbook: Kang-Tsung Chang, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 6th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2012 (Chang for short). Additional readings may be assigned from the supplementary textbook Geographic Information Systems in Business, by James B. Pick, or from the academic and popular

OPIM 406 Spring 2012 2/6

literature on GIS. The readings are chosen with the aim of stimulating class participation, and students are expected to read all assigned material before coming to class. As instructed by the professor, laptop computers must be brought to class for in-class exercises where GIS software will be used. Course Web: This course will have a SUCourse web site. Lecture notes, slides and additional course material will be available at this web site. Students will be expected to visit the course web site often. SUCourse will also be used during class for occasional short assignments, uploading and downloading files, etc. Sabanci University uses a very powerful web-based tool called Turnitin. Turnitin is the worldwide standard in online plagiarism prevention. It allows instructors to compare student papers against a database composed of millions of articles. Every paper you submit will be scanned by Turnitin, and results will be reflected in your grades.

Instructional Design: To facilitate hands-on learning, a widely available GIS software package will be used in this course. Students will be asked to install the software on their laptops and complete the exercises assigned by the Professor. Exercises will cover basic concepts on GIS modeling, cartography and analysis tools, as well as specific sector-related applications. The software is provided to students free of charge for academic use only. No software programming experience is required in this course, although students with Visual Basic or C# programming experience will find the course more rewarding as they will be able to customize the GIS software for different needs. Grading:

Attendance & Participation : 10% Homeworks & Exercises : 25% Midterm Exam : 25% Term Project & Presentation : 40%

All homeworks, reports and other assignments are to be submitted before the class starts on the day they are due. Late submissions will be accepted up to 48 hours, with a penalty of 25% for each day of lateness (even if it is 10 minutes late). If there is no class on the assignment due date, you will have until midnight to submit your paper. All submissions must be made via SUCourse, unless otherwise notified. Additional information regarding homeworks and the exam will be provided during the course of the semester. The Midterm Exam will be will be a laptop-based e-exam, so it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the tools and applications used in this course.


The Term Project is a capstone activity that will allow students to put everything learned in this course into action in a real GIS modeling and analysis exercise. In groups of 2 or 3, students will be asked to analyze a given business scenario and propose a solution using suitable GIS modeling and analysis tools. The overall project grade will be based 70% on the quality of the analytical work done, and 30% on the group presentation. The Professor of this course takes it very seriously the lecture attendance and participation in class discussions whenever applicable. It is the students’ responsibility to pay utmost attention to this and show their best effort throughout the semester. Peer Evaluation in Teamwork With the Term Project, students will be asked to provide an evaluation of the members of their team. Each student will divide 100 points between the members of her team, including him/herself. This division should reflect that student’s judgment of the contribution of the members of his/her team. The scores should not be merely functions of time spent by each member, but they should be measures of the “contribution;” their relative contribution to the idea generation, research, analysis, report writing, etc. If the team was highly functional and each member did what they committed themselves to, then the student can assign the same mark to each member of the team. If, on the other hand, some members of the team did not fulfill their commitments and did not contribute as much as the others, then points can be distributed unevenly. In cases where there are conflicting marks, it is most likely that the Professor will meet with the team members and provide a mark based on an interview. For example, in a group of four, if Students A and B believe they did most of the work, and Students C and D believe otherwise, the team may be called in for an interview in order to be fair to everyone. The points submitted by all members of the team will be aggregated by the instructor. Every student will be given his/her aggregate peer evaluation, without disclosing the individual peer evaluations to the students. The peer evaluation will have a direct impact on the student’s individual score. For instance, if the group score is 85 out of 100, and if the student’s contribution is found to be less than expected, then the student’s mark will be less than 85. There are no simple rules for adjustment. Academic Honesty: Learning is enhanced through cooperation and as such you are encouraged to work in groups, ask for and give help freely in all appropriate settings. At the same time, as a matter of personal integrity, you should only represent your own work as yours. Any work that is submitted to be evaluated in this class should be an original piece of writing, presenting your ideas in your own words. Everything you borrow from books, articles, or web sites (including those in the syllabus) should be properly cited. Although you are encouraged to discuss your ideas with others (including your friends in the class), it is important that you do not share your writing (slides, MS Excel files, reports, etc.) with anyone. Using ideas, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work is plagiarism. Copying from others or providing


answers or information, written or oral, to others is cheating. Unauthorized help from another person or having someone else write one’s paper or assignment is collusion. Cheating, plagiarism and collusion are serious offenses that could result in an F grade and disciplinary action. Please pay utmost attention to avoid such accusations. Classroom policies and conduct: Sabancı BA in Management Program values participatory learning. Establishing the necessary social order for a participatory learning environment requires that we all: • Come prepared to make helpful comments and ask questions that facilitate your

own understanding and that of your classmates. This requires that you complete the assigned readings for each session before class starts.

• Listen to the person who has the floor. • Come to class on time. • You will be using your laptop frequently in this course to encourage hands-on

learning and enhance understanding of the course material. However, laptops will be used only for educational purposes and as instructed by the Professor; any other use during the lecture will be strongly discouraged. The Midterm Exam will be a laptop-based e-exam, so it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the tools and applications used in this course.

Course Schedule: Week 1 Date: February 14-15, 2012

Topic: “Location Location Location” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 1 (Introduction to GIS) in Chang

Assigned: Homework #1

Week 2 Date: February 21-22, 2012

Topic: “How do I view it right?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 2 (Coordinate Systems) in Chang

Week 3 Date: February 28-29, 2012

Topic: Previous lecture continued… Requirements: Due: Homework #1

Week 4 Date: March 6-7, 2012

Topic: “How do I organize my data?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 3 (Vector Data Model) in Chang

Assigned: Homework #2



Topic: “How do I get my data content right?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 8 (Attribute Data Management) in Chang

Due: Homework #2 Assigned: Homework #3


Topic: “What basic information can I get from my data?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 10 (Data Exploration) in Chang

Due: Homework #3 Assigned: Homework #4


Topic: “How do I draw and display it better?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 9 (Data Display and Cartography) in Chang

Due: Homework #4

Week 8 Date: April 10-11, 2012

Topic: In-class Midterm Exam on Tuesday Previous topics continued on Wednesday…

Requirements:


Topic: “What more do my data tell me?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 11 (Vector Data Analysis) in Chang

Assigned: Term Project


Topic: “Where is everyone located?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 16 (Geocoding) in Chang

Week 11 Date: May 1-2, 2012

Topic: “How accessible are my facilities and customers?” Requirements: Reading: Chapter 17 (Least-Cost Path Analysis and Network

Analysis) in Chang


Week 12 Date: May 8-9, 2012

Topic: Previous lectures continued… Requirements:

Week 13 Date: May 15-16, 2012

Topic: GIS as a Business Decision Support System Requirements: Selected readings on GIS project implementations

Week 14 Date: May 22-23, 2012

Topic: GIS as a Business Decision Support System Requirements: Selected readings on GIS project implementations

Weeks 15-16 Date: May 28-June 9, 2012

Topic: Project Presentations (date to be announced) Requirements: Due: Term Project Report and Team Presentation

ba in management program spring 2012 opim 406 – …€¦ · page 1 of 6 ba in management program...

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