School of Public and
Nonprofit Administration
Dr. Mark C. Hoffman
Phone: 616 331-6587
e-mail: HoffmanM@gvsu.edu
Welcome to PA 644
Course Name:
Term:
Instructors:
Lab assistant:
Time/location:
GIS in the Public Service
Fall 2009
Mark Hoffman, Jeremy Pyne
Nick Monoyios
Thursday 6-8:50 DeVos 205A
SYLLABUS:
This introduction sheet is intended to provide only the most essential information about the
course: GIS and Public Management. The full syllabus for this class can be found on
Blackborad . Here you will find a detailed description of the class method and purpose, the
grading criteria, course itinerary, reading list, class roster, and lab assignment descriptions. This
course will also use the password-protected Blackboard environment to provide online
supplemental readings and grades.
DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this course is to examine the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in
public and nonprofit management. Because GIS is a hybrid of database management, cartography
and spatial analysis, a brief background in each will be provided through readings and lectures.
The basic operation of ArcGIS 7, a popular GIS software package, will be introduced through
hands-on lab work. Specific GIS applications in public and nonprofit management will be
explored.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Andy Mitchell, The ESRI Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 1, ESRI Press, 1999
Andy Mitchell, The ESRI Guide to GIS Analysis, Volume 2, ESRI Press, 2005
RECOMMENDED TEXT:
Getting to Know ArcGIS, 2nd ed., ESRI Press, 2004.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mark C. Hoffman
e-mail: HoffmanM@gvsu.edu
phone: 331-6587
Jeremy Pyne
e-mail: pyneje@gvsu.edu
phone: 331-7219
Nick Monoyios
e-mail: nmonoyios@ridetherapid.org
ITINERARY (check course web page and your e-mail for changes and updates):
Day
Sept 3
JP/MH
Lecture Theme
Welcome to PA644
Part I: GIS and Planning
Sept 10 Thematic mapping
JP/MH/NM
Sept 17
JP/MH/NM
Sept 24
MH
Oct 1
JP/MH/NM
Census data
Practioner viewpoint:
Frank Wash
Census geography
Objective
what is GIS?
Before class:
working with census
data
create thematic maps
mapping change
learning layouts
working with census
geography
“More than Mapping" by Roberta
Baxter
"Beyond Maps" by Elliot Allen and
Randy Goers
Part II: GIS and Nonprofit Management
Oct 8
Centrographic statistics
using centrographic
JP/MH/NM
stats goecoding
addresses
Oct 15
Practioner viewpoint:
JP
symbolizing
&
Steve Faber
labeling
first exam (takehome)
join and relate tables
Part III: GIS and Health
Oct 22
Practioner viewpoint:
cluster analysis
JP/MH/NM
Brian Hartl and Jim
adding new fields
Smedes
joining tabular and
Oct 29
shape files
Cluster analysis
1.3: mapping the most and the
least
1.4: mapping density
1.7: mapping change
"Spatial Data Access by the
Grassroots" by Renee Sieber
1.2: mapping where things are
1.5: fiinding what's inside
2.2: measuring geographic
distributions
"Mapping Health on the Internet" by
John C. Maclachlan, et. al.
2.3 identifying patterns
2.4 identifying clusters
JP/MH/NM
Part IV: GIS and Public Safety
Nov5
Indexing
JP/MH
Nov 12
JP/MH/NM
film: "GIS technology in
the Fire Service"
second exam (takehome)
buffering around
features
building an index
Part IV: GIS and Public Management
Nov 19 GIS and City Management
Build an individual
JP/MH/NM
Guest speaker: D. Jain
GIS project (poster)
"Crime Mapping and the Crimestat
Program" by Ned Levine
1.6: finding what's nearby
2.5: analyzing geographic
relationships
Beyond City Limits: The
Multi-Jurisdictional Applications
of GIS” by Michael Greenwald
Nov 26
Thanksgiving Break
Dec 3
GIS and The Rapid
“
JP/MH/NM
GIS and the ethics of data
dissemination
"Cities, GIS and Ethics" by
Ann-Margaret Esnard
Dec 17
Poster Presentations
JP/MH/
Dec 10
JP/MH/NM