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Government 1008An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Fall 2014

Time: 10-11:30 AM Tuesdays (Lecture); 9:30AM-12:30PM Thursdays (Open Lab time)Extra lab help hours: 11:30AM-1PM Tuesdays; 5-7PM, Wednesday; 3-5 PM Thursdays(HMDC Lab)

Location:Lectures: Tuesdays S 001 CGIS SouthLabs: Thursdays (except first week) at Rm. K018 Concourse Computer Training Labaccessed through the Harvard MIT Data Center Lab.Lab Exercise demonstration times at 10AM on Thursday

Instructor: Sumeeta Srinivasan, ssriniv @ fas.harvard.edu 

Teaching Fellow: Anna Hopper, ahopper  @ fas.harvard.edu

Course website: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k105915&login=yes  

Office Hours: As arranged with students; Lab hours on Tuesdays 11:30-1; Thursdays9:30AM-12:30; 3-5 PM

1.0 Course Objectives:The major objectives are to:

1. Introduce basic concepts of GIS data structures, databases and geo-referencing2. Introduce geographic thinking as an analytical method

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t oduce geog ap c t g as a a a yt ca et od

the city? Do poorer countries see more deaths due to conflict? Does the spatial distributionof tweets mentioning a candidate cluster in locations where she has more voter support?

The course will meet two times every week. Every week, there will be a lecture onTuesdays and a laboratory exercise on Thursdays where students will work with GISsoftware to solve a spatial problem. The lab exercise will segue into an assignment thatmust be handed in the following Friday. Additional time may be required beyond the hoursof assigned lab time to complete exercises. The lab component will focus on the use of

 ArcGIS (Version 10.2) software in a Windows environment in the Computer Lab. Thecourse will also require the student to implement an independent project (See section 4.0).

There are no prerequisites. Students will be expected to have competence in computeruse and some familiarity with Microsoft Windows environment and file management(directories, subdirectories, copying, etc).

3.0 Grading:

The final course grade will be based on:

Lab exercises (4 points each for Labs 1-4, 6 points for Labs 5-7) 34%

Midterm exams (2) 8%+14%

Final project presentation (10%) and report (20%) 30%

Participation (each week 1 point) 14%

4.0 Final Project

The purpose of the final project is to provide additional experience in collecting, processing

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due Dec 15th. Group projects are encouraged but the products of group work will beexpected to scale-up corresponding to the number of members in the group. All projects

must include a final report of at least 8 and at most 10 single-spaced, 12 pt font, pages(excluding maps, tables, graphs and other visuals).

5.0 Textbook

Required:

Bolstad, Paul, 2012, GIS Fundamentals, 4th

 Edition, (Atlas Books). ISBN 978-0-9717647-3-6

Optional:

Longley, Paul A., Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, David W. Rhind. 2011Geographic Information Systems and Science, 3rd Edition (John Wiley & Sons). ISBN9780470721445

The required and optional textbooks are available from various booksellers both on andoff-line. The books will also be on Reserve at the Lamont Library.

6.0 Student Responsibilities for Meeting Course Objectives

1. Obtain and read the required textbook and supplemental material. Students will beevaluated on knowledge and skills obtained from lecture, discussion, the required

textbook and supplemental reading materials. The midterm exam and laboratoryexercises will be based on this material.2. Be prepared for class discussions and participation. Volunteer to both discuss

information and answer questions. Outcomes of this practice will be used by the

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7.0 Course Outline and Readings

Lecture Content Laboratory Exercise Content

Week 1Sep 2, 4

Course overviewIntroduction to GIS, applications and history of GISBolstad: Ch 1Skim: Goodchild What is GIS?http://ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u002/ Greenman, Turning a map into a layercake of informationhttp://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/01/circuits/articles/20giss.html 

Lecture format (first class meets atCGIS Knafel K050) on Tue and Thu.

 All subsequent Thursdays will meet inthe CGIS Knafel K018 lab)

Week 2Sep 9, 11

Spatial data modelsBolstad: Ch 2, 4Skim: Goodchild, Rastershttp://ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u055/ 

Lab 1: ArcGIS Basics

Week 3Sep 16, 18

Georeferencing 1: Coordinate Systems and ProjectionsBolstad: Ch 3, 5Kirvan, Latitude and Longitudehttp://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u014/u014_f.html Dana, Map Projectionshttp://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj.html#Intro 

Lab 2: Coordinate Systems andProjections in ArcGISLab 1 due Sep 19

th 

Week 4Sep 23, 25

Georeferencing 2: Creating Spatial DataBolstad: Ch 6, 7GPS Demo: TBA

Lab 3: Working with data: GoogleEarth; Geocoding in ArcGISLab 2 due Sep 26

th 

Week 5Sep 30, Oct 2 DatabasesBolstad: Ch 8Foote, Database Concepts http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/datacon/datacon_f.html 

Lab 4: Databases in ArcGIS: Queries& JoinsLab 3 is due Oct 3

rd 

Week 6Oct 7, 9

Cartography and VisualizationLongley: Ch 12, 13Foote and Crum, Cartographic Communicationhttp://www.Colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/cartocom/cartocom_f.html 

24 hour take home midterm exam part1(until Week 6 Lecture and Labs 1-4)

Lab 5: Raster Data, DEM

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LectureContent

Laboratory ExerciseContent

Week 7

Oct 14, 16

Spatial Analysis 1: Introduction

Bolstad: Ch 9, 10 or Longley: Ch 14

Lab 6: Vector transformations

Lab 4 is due Oct 18

th

 

Week 8Oct 21, 23

Spatial Analysis 2: ModelsBolstad: Ch 11, 12, 13 or Longley: Ch 15, 16Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis:http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/education/curricula/giscc/units/u128/u128_f.html 

Lab 7: Basic spatial analysisLab 5 is due Oct 25

th 

Week 9Oct 28, 30

Spatial Error and UncertaintyBolstad: Ch 13, 14 or Longley: Ch 6, 16

24 hour take home midterm exampart 2(until week 9 lectures and labs 5-7) 

Week 10Nov 4, 6

GIS in the real worldGuest lecture: Jeff Amero, City of Cambridge Longley: Ch 17, 18

Lab 6 is due Nov 7

Week 11Nov 11, 13

GIS Project Discussion Lab 7 is due Nov 14th 

Project abstract is due Nov 13th 

Project interviews

Week 12Nov 18, 20

GIS in your career

Guest lecture : Prof Kelly O’Neill and Dr. Wendy Guan, CGA 

Project interviews

Week 13

Nov 25

GIS Project

Guest lecture: Anna Hopper  

Thanksgiving Break

Week 14Dec 2,4

Presentation of projects Presentation of projects

Week 15Dec 9, 11

GIS Project HelpHMDC lab

GIS Project HelpHMDC labProject paper is due Dec 15

th