GTECH 361
Introduction to
GIScience
Contact Information
Instructor: Jochen Albrecht
Office: Hunter N1030
Office hours: We, Th 2-3 PM
E-Mail: jochen@hunter.cuny.edu
Phone: (212) 772-5221
TA: Pyung Ho Kim
E-Mail: phkim@hunter.cuny.edu
Course Overview
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GIScience is a lofty goal for this course
Principles/fundamentals of GIS is a
more realistic goal
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Theory and practice
GIS as a process
Becoming a well-versed user of any GIS
Relationship to GTECH 201
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Revision of course contents of
undergraduate offerings
One-time slight overlap with Fall 04
GTECH 201
New software (ArcGIS 9)
Texts
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Required: none
Recommended (choice of)
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Burke et al 2004. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop
(updated for ArcGIS 9). ESRI Press (but a lot
cheaper from Amazon).
Burrough, P and R McDonnell 1998. Principles of
GIS. Oxford: Oxford University Press .
deMers, Michael 2004. Fundamentals of Geographic
Information Systems. New York: Wiley.
Worboys, M and M Duckham 2004. GIS: a
computing perspective. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Policies
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Attendance
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Plagiarism
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Special accommodations
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Lab policies
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Assignments
Criteria for Evaluation
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10 Quizzes
20%
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14 Lab exercises
50%
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Midterm exam
15%
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Final exam
15%
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Hunter undergraduate grading scheme
according to percentage of points
accumulated over the semester.
Schedule
Class #
1
2
L1
3
L2
4
L3
5
L4
6
L5
7
L6
8
Date Topic
01/28 GIScience and GIStudies
02/01 Storing geographic information
02/04 Lab 1: Getting started with ArcGIS
02/08 Geographic data sources
02/15 Lab 2: Creating map symbology
02/18 Cartographic communication and geospatial
visualization
02/22 Lab 3: Referencing data to real locations
02/25 Datums, projections, and coordinate
systems
03/01 Lab 4: Organizing geographic data
03/04 Basic spatial queries
03/08 Lab 5: Creating and editing data
03/11 Secondary data
03/15 Lab 6: Exploring the geodatabases model
03/18 Midterm Exam
Class #
L7
9
L8
10
L9
11
L10
12
L11
13
L12
14
L13
L14
Schedule
Date Topic
03/22
03/24
04/01
Lab 7: Creating a geodatabases
Advanced spatial queries
Lab 8: Creating and editing features in a
geodatabases
04/05 The third dimension
04/08 Lab 9: Adding behavior to a geodatabase
04/12 Raster GIS and map algeba
04/15 Lab 10: Getting started with GIS analysis
04/19 Spatial statistics and data quality
04/22 Lab 11: Geoprocessing and Modeling
05/03 GIS and society: social, legal, economic and
organizational aspects
05/06 Lab 12: Designing maps with ArcGIS
05/10 Review and final exam preparation
05/13 Lab 13: Working with Labels
05/17 Lab 14: Working with Annotation
05/19 - 05/22 Final (online) Exam
Course Web Site
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www.geo.hunter.cuny.edu/~jochen/GTECH361
Lecture PowerPoint slides
Lab exercise instructions
Lab exercise datasets
GIScience vs. GIStudies
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GISystems (GIS)
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Emphasis on technology and tools
GIScience (GISci)
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Fundamental issues raised by the use of GIS and
related technologies (e.g.)
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Spatial analysis
Map projections
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Accuracy
Scientific visualization
GIStudies (GISt)
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Systematic study of the use of geographic
information
GIS as an Approach to Science
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Geographic Information Science is
research both on and with GIS.
“the generic issues that surround the use
of GIS technology, impede its successful
implementation, or emerge from an
understanding of its potential
capabilities.” (Goodchild, 1992)
The Science Behind
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In the U.S.: geography, UCGIS
to GIS as statistics is to the statistical
packages
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The science behind the systems
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Fundamental issues arising from use
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The science that is done with the technology
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Systematic study of geographic
information using scientific methods
A New Discipline
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Symptoms of a science
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journals, terms, books, conferences,
departments, heroes, cultural artifacts
grand challenges
What would we say to Albert Einstein or
Stephen Hawking?
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“As young man, my fondest dream was to become a
geographer. However, while working in the customs
office I thought deeply about the matter and concluded
that it was far too difficult a subject. With some
reluctance, I then turned to physics as a substitute.”
Contributing Disciplines
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Geography
Remote Sensing
Surveying
Statistics
Computer Science
Information Science
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Cartography
Photogrammetry
Geodesy
Operations Research
Mathematics
Management Science
Major Journals/Magazines
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International Journal of Geographical
Information Science
Cartography and Geographic
Information Science
Geographical Systems
Transactions in GIS
Geo Info Systems
GEOWorld (formerly GISWorld)
Specialty Journals
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Business Geographics
GIS Law
Mapping Awareness
GrassClippings
Arc User
Intergraph News
 GIS Europe
GIS Asia/Pacific
GIS World Report/CANADA
Regular GISci Scholarly Papers
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Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Cartographica
Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems
Computers and Geosciences
IEEE Transactions on Computer Graphics and
Applications
Occasional GISci Scholarly Papers
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International Journal of Remote Sensing
Landscape Ecology
Cartographic Perspectives
Cartographica
Journal of Cartography
Geocarto International
IEEE Geosciences
Remote Sensing Review
Mapping Science and Remote Sensing
Infoworld
Professional Organizations
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AAG: The Association of American Geographers.
GITA: Geospatial Information & Technology Assoc.
(formerly AM/FM)
URISA: Urban and Regional Information Systems
Association.
ACSM: American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.
ASPRS: American Society for Photogrammetry and
Remote Sensing.
UCGIS: University Consortium for Geographic
Information Science