Advanced Cartography/GIS GY451 Level One     (3 hrs)         S10

20946 001     11:15-12:15 MWF 203 Martin Hall

Professor: Dr. Miriam Helen Hill

Office Hours: Monday 12:15-2:15 p.m.
Tuesday and Thursday 8:45-9:45 a.m.
Wednesday 10:15-11:15 a.m.
Or by e-mail or WWW by appointment in the virtual classroom or AOL IM

E-mail address: hillmir@aol.com or mhill@jsu.edu (the jsu forwards to the former)
Telephone: (256) 782-8063

Prerequisite: GY307 or equivalent knowledge of GIS using ArcGIS 9.x.

Texts: Paul Bolstad, GIS Fundamentals: A First Text on Geographic Information Systems, THIRD EDITION, 2008, 978-0-9717647-2-9 White Bear Lake, MN: Eider Press. www.atlasbooks.com (800) 247-6553 ($40)

Other resources and prerequisite: USB key is required (at least 1 G). Ear phones for the computer speakers may also be needed. Access to computers and the World Wide Web are required and available through university facilities. Students are expected to be familiar with computers and to have had previous experience using ArcGIS 9.x.

Purpose of the course: This is an intensive course designed to expand on GIS fundamentals and to provide hands on experience with geodatabases, data acquisition, data input, preprocessing, data management, manipulation and analysis, product generation, and presentation of results. Data input activities include both heads-up and heads-down digitizing.

Computer requirement: Minimum system requirements are: PC-Intel, Windows Vista (Ultimate, Enterprise, Business, Home Premium), Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home Edition and Professional), or Windows 7 (Ultimate, Professional, Home Premium), 1 GB RAM, 1.6 GHz processor, 1024 x 768 recommended or higher at Normal size, 2,4 G hard disk space, DVD-ROM drive, 24-bit graphic accelerator, and Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 7.0/8.0. (See http://wikis.esri.com/wiki/display/ag93bsr/ArcGIS+Desktop for additional specifications.) Work in the GIS lab, 203 Martin Hall, is required.

Class homepage: The class homepage will be at http://www.jsu.edu/depart/geography/mhill/advgis/advgisf.html and linked to Dr. Hill's homepage at http://www.jsu.edu/depart/geography/mhill/index.html. This syllabus will also be linked to the class homepage.

Grading: Daily activities will count 15% of the grade. Problem 1 will count 15%, ESRI course work will count 30%, Site Analysis Project will count 30%, and the Bolstad reports will count 10%. Guaranteed percentage grades will be: above 90% A; 80-90% B; 70-80% C; 60-70% D; below 60% F. Papers without names or with illegible names may earn NO CREDIT. Late submissions will be penalized 10% per class session.

Daily Activities and Assignments: Each day, an activity will be submitted or a class discussion/participation grade recorded. These will include a variety of questions and question formats including practical hands-on computer work, written, and oral questions. If class is missed, write a one page summary of an ESRI White Paper or a published RESEARCH article using GIS from one of the following journals, the Geographical Review, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, International Journal of Geographic Information Science, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, and URISA Journal. Be sure to include the hypothesis and to state whether the hypothesis was accepted or rejected.

Examinations: No formal exams are scheduled. However, daily activities will assist in monitoring the progression and quality of work.

Project 1: A data entry exercise will be undertaken early in the term. The emphasis will include but not be limited to tablet digitizing.

ESRI Course Work: Completion of a selection of ESRI Virtual Campus courses will introduce students to geodatabases. Satisfactory completion as documented by course certificates is required.

Site Analysis Project: The Site Analysis Project involves completion of the Walker Junction project. Additional details will be given in class. The project will be presented in PowerPoint presentations. Outside guests may be invited to attend the presentations. The most important document from both assignments is the documentation. Work subsets may count toward daily activities.

Reading Assignments: Read the Bolstad text. For each chapter, a posting to your Blackboard class blog should identify the five most important new things that you learned from the chapter and summarize why each is important to doing GIS.

Back-Up your work routinely to your USB Key.

Attendance: Attendance is expected; the benefits are both inherent and will facilitate receiving high scores on the daily activities. You are also expected to work on the computer assignments outside of class time, although a large portion of class sessions will be devoted to computer work.

All materials presented in this class are done so with educational goals in mind and are not intended to cause distress or any nature. Please be aware that controversial materials, theories, exhibits, etc. will be presented in this class. If you are unwilling or unable to view these presentations in the educational light in which they are presented, then you need to reconsider your enrollment in this class.

Class membership: Class members are expected to answer and ask questions, be involved in activities, and to facilitate an educational academic atmosphere. Proper attitude and behavior are expected. At all times presence should facilitate a smooth flow of intellectual ideas, knowledge, and intelligent discussion. Failure to contribute or promote this important goal will risk grade penalties. Computer laboratory rules are to be strictly adhered to and unauthorized manipulation of the systems will risk removal of access privileges.

Additional Comments: During class sessions, other bonus points might be offered. These are only available to the students in attendance that day. Bonus credit is possible for exceptional meritorious performance or behavior in all categories of grading. No individual extra credit papers, projects, or activities are planned. See Dr. Hill if with any questions.

Academic Dishonesty: Academic dishonesty is defined to include any form of cheating or plagiarism. A discussion of the topic is set forth in the student handbook. Working and studying with classmates are beneficial and to be encouraged. Copying work is not to be confused with comparing work and discussing similarities and differences. You are responsible for both understanding answers submitted and the completion of the materials.

Disabilities: According to Public Law 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Jacksonville State University will provide reasonable access and appropriate accommodations for otherwise qualified disabled students. If you need such access or accommodations, please consult with Disability Support Services and your professor immediately.

You will need: Bring ALL of your texts, class notes, paper, pencil, USB key, ear phones, and other related materials to each class meeting.

Questions or problems: Please contact the professor. Asking questions is an extremely important part of the learning process.

Class Schedule: Use the outline provided to complete the assigned reading BEFORE class on the designated dates. Specific readings generally will not be announced in class. Note that class weeks begin on Wednesday and end on Tuesday.

COURSE OUTLINE (tentative*) Adv. GIS One S10

week	activity	Bolstad Readings
1	Introduction and Review	1 and 2
2	Review and Digitizing	3 and 4
3	Problem 1	5
4	Problem 1 cont.	6
5	Intro. and Managing 1 and 2	7
6	Managing 3 and 4	8
7	Features	9
8	Topology	10
9	WJ data entry	11
10	WJ data entry cont.	12
11	WJ Merge	13
12	WJ Analysis	14
13	WJ Layouts	15
14	Presentation
WJ Presentation	10:30-12:30 Friday, April 23

*Any major changes to this schedule will be announced in class.

All work is final on Friday, April 23, 2010 at 12:30 CST.