UCC/UGC/ECCC
Proposal for New Course
Please attach proposed Syllabus in approved university format.
1. Course subject and number: GSP 529
2. Units:
See upper and lower division undergraduate course definitions.
3. College:
College of Social and Behavioral
Sciences
4. Academic Unit:
3
Department of
Geography, Planning,
and Recreation
5. Student Learning Outcomes of the new course. (Resources & Examples for Developing Course Learning
Outcomes)
By the completion of this course, students will be able to:
 Articulate principles and applications of satellite image analysis and 3-dimensional lidar
data;
 Conduct image acquisition, preprocessing techniques, and image analysis methods;
 Apply ENVI software and independently perform satellite image analysis;
 Critically review remote sensing publications and evaluate image processing techniques.
 Write a project proposal with literature review.
 Deliver an oral presentation focused on research in remote sensing, describing project
objectives, methods, and results of their analysis.
6. Justification for new course, including how the course contributes to degree program outcomes,
or other university requirements / student learning outcomes. (Resources, Examples & Tools for Developing
Effective Program Student Learning Outcomes).
A graduate level remote sensing course has not been offered at NAU for several years. Faculty
who taught similar courses retired and their courses have not been updated. This new course
has been designed to include satellite image analysis and digital interpretation methods in
ENVI software. Computer-based digital image analysis is a major and new emphasis, which
was not previously taught. A “pilot” course, GSP 599 Applied Remote Sensing, has been
offered twice to determine the feasibility of, and demand for, this new course. Both times the
demand exceeded the 15-student capacity. The course learning outcomes listed above are
vital to graduate student degrees in geospatial sciences and related fields. The course focus
is on contemporary technologies and software now relied upon within the remote sensing
field. Finally, the Department of Geography, Planning & Recreation recently revived and
redesigned an undergraduate-level remote sensing course (GSP 320) which is required for the
new Geospatial Sciences emphasis within the Geographic Science & Community Planning
degree. The GSP 320 is considered a potential “feeder” course to this co-convened graduate
course, thereby providing a remote sensing course sequence for students intending to find
employment within this field or related fields.
Effective Fall 2013
7. Effective BEGINNING of what term and year?
See effective dates calendar.
Fall 2014
8. Long course title: APPLIED REMOTE SENSING
(max 100 characters including spaces)
9. Short course title: APPLIED REMOTE SENSING
(max. 30 characters including spaces)
10. Catalog course description (max. 60 words, excluding requisites):
This course will introduce the principles and applications of digital image analysis. Students
will work with digital images from various satellite sensors and 3-dimensional lidar data in the
latest edition of ENVI software. An individual term project will be required using the
techniques learned in the course and via literature review.
11. Will this course be part of any plan (major, minor or certificate) or sub plan (emphasis)?
Yes
No
If yes, include the appropriate plan proposal.
The course will be used as elective credit for the Applied Geospatial Sciences M.S. No plan
change proposal is necessary because the course won’t be specifically named in the program
of study.
12. Does this course duplicate content of existing courses?
Yes
No
If yes, list the courses with duplicate material. If the duplication is greater than 20%, explain why
NAU should establish this course.
13. Will this course impact any other academic unit’s enrollment or plan(s)?
Yes
No
If yes, describe the impact. If applicable, include evidence of notification to and/or response from
each impacted academic unit
14. Grading option:
Letter grade
Pass/Fail
Both
15. Co-convened with:
14a. UGC approval date*:
(For example: ESE 450 and ESE 550) See co-convening policy.
*Must be approved by UGC before UCC submission, and both course syllabi must be presented.
16. Cross-listed with:
EES 529
(For example: ES 450 and DIS 450) See cross listing policy.
Please submit a single cross-listed syllabus that will be used for all cross-listed courses.
17. May course be repeated for additional units?
16a. If yes, maximum units allowed?
16b. If yes, may course be repeated for additional units in the same term?
Effective Fall 2013
Yes
No
Yes
No
18. Prerequisites:
None
If prerequisites, include the rationale for the prerequisites.
19. Co requisites:
None
If co requisites, include the rationale for the co requisites.
20. Does this course include combined lecture and lab components?
Yes
No
If yes, include the units specific to each component in the course description above.
Dr. Temuulen “Teki” Sankey,
Dr. Erik Schiefer, Mr. Mark
21. Names of the current faculty qualified to teach this course: Manone
22. Classes scheduled before the regular term begins and/or after the regular term ends may require
additional action. Review “see description” and “see impacts” for “Classes Starting/Ending
Outside Regular Term” under the heading “Forms”
http://nau.edu/Registrar/Faculty-Resources/Schedule-of-Classes-Maintenance/.
Do you anticipate this course will be scheduled outside the regular term?
Yes
No
Answer 22-23 for UCC/ECCC only:
23. Is this course being proposed for Liberal Studies designation?
If yes, include a Liberal Studies proposal and syllabus with this proposal.
Yes
24. Is this course being proposed for Diversity designation?
If yes, include a Diversity proposal and syllabus with this proposal.
Yes
No
FLAGSTAFF MOUNTAIN CAMPUS
Scott Galland
Reviewed by Curriculum Process Associate
12/5/2013
Date
Approvals:
11-22-13
Department Chair/Unit Head (if appropriate)
Date
Chair of college curriculum committee
Date
Dean of college
Date
Effective Fall 2013
No
For Committee use only:
UCC/UGC Approval
Date
Approved as submitted:
Yes
No
Approved as modified:
Yes
No
EXTENDED CAMPUSES
Reviewed by Curriculum Process Associate
Date
Approvals:
Academic Unit Head
Date
Division Curriculum Committee (Yuma, Yavapai, or Personalized Learning)
Date
Division Administrator in Extended Campuses (Yuma, Yavapai, or Personalized
Learning)
Date
Faculty Chair of Extended Campuses Curriculum Committee (Yuma, Yavapai, or
Personalized Learning)
Date
Chief Academic Officer; Extended Campuses (or Designee)
Date
Approved as submitted:
Yes
No
Approved as modified:
Yes
No
Effective Fall 2013
COURSE SYLLABUS
EES 529 / GSP 529
APPLIED REMOTE SENSING
General Information
 College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Sciences, School of Earth Sciences and
Environmental Sustainability/College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of
Geography, Recreation, and Planning
 EES 529/GSP 529 Applied Remote Sensing
 This course will be offered: Fall Semester
 2.5 hours/week and 3 credit hours
 Instructor: Dr. Temuulen “Teki” Sankey
 Office address: ARD Building, Room 223, 1298 S. Knoles Drive, Flagstaff AZ 86011
 Office hours: M W 10am-Noon
Course prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Course description
This course will introduce the principles and applications of digital image analysis. Students will work
with various multispectral satellite images from different sensors, 3-dimensional lidar data, and
airborne hyperspectral images in the latest edition of ENVI software. An individual term project will be
required using the techniques learned in the course and via literature review.
Student Learning Expectations/Outcomes for this Course
By the completion of this course, students will be able to:
 Articulate principles and applications of satellite image analysis and 3-dimensional lidar data;
 Conduct image acquisition, preprocessing techniques, and image analysis methods;
 Apply ENVI software and independently perform satellite image analysis;
 Critically review remote sensing publications and evaluate image processing techniques.
 Write a project proposal with literature review.
 Deliver an oral presentation focused on research in remote sensing, describing project
objectives, methods, and results of their analysis.
Students will complete a term project (topic and study area to be determined by students as they
relate to their graduate research), in which they will retrieve satellite data from image archives and
perform complete pre-processing and image analysis. Students will prepare a project proposal with
literature reviews of up to 10 peer-reviewed publications. At the end of the semester, students will
deliver a presentation and a term paper, in which they will describe the project objectives, methods,
and results of their analysis.
Course structure/approach
The course will meet Mondays and Wednesdays 2:00-3:15 pm. Each class will have a
lecture/presentation component, where a new image analysis topic will be introduced by the
instructor. On some of the topics, guest lecturers will present their research and students will review
research articles. Each lecture/presentation will be followed by a laboratory exercise, in which
students will work with a dataset related to the topic and complete the analysis technique presented
in the lecture. These in-class lab exercises are designed to provide real world examples of the image
Effective Fall 2013
analysis applications presented. Students will then be able to choose the image and analysis
techniques that best fit their research interest and term project. Two weeks of class time will be
dedicated to their research and term projects to help students troubleshoot and interact individually
with the instructor.
Textbook and required materials
There is no required textbook for this class. Reading materials for the course will mostly consist of
peer-reviewed publications and 1-2 chapters of various remote sensing textbooks. All course material
will be provided electronically via BbLearn.
Recommended optional materials/references (attach reading list)
Thomas Lillesand and Ralph Kiefer. 2000. Remote sensing and image interpretation. Fourth Edition.
Available at NAU Cline Library.
Course outline
Week 1: Introduction to digital remote sensing principles
o Energy sources and Radiation Principles
o Energy interactions in the atmosphere and Reflectance
o Introduction to ENVI: Getting to know ENVI software
Week 2: Landsat data and image acquisition
o History of Landsat Program
o Landsat data characteristics
o Lab exercise: Acquiring Landsat data from the Landsat archive (web-based) and
Analysis of Landsat 5 TM satellite image and Landsat 8 OLI satellite image bands in
ENVI
Week 3: Image preprocessing techniques and atmospheric correction
o Multispectral and multitemporal image bands
o Atmospheric correction using FLAASH: Converting radiance data to reflectance
o Lab exercise: Band stacking, spectral and spatial subsetting in ENVI
o Lab exercise: Landsat 8 OLI atmospheric correction in FLAASH toolkit in ENVI
Week 4: Introduction to high resolution satellite data (WorldView and SPOT) and unsupervised
classification
o Introduction to WorldView image characteristics
o Introduction to SPOT data and SPOT program history
o Lab exercise: WorldView-2 image geometric and radiometric preprocessing in ENVI
Week 5: Introduction to hyperspectral imagery
o Hyperspectral data characteristics and acquisition
o Lab exercise: Airborne and terrestrial hyperspectral data processing and target
spectra extraction in ENVI
Week 6: Supervised classification techniques
o Training data for supervised classification
o Supervised classification methods
o Lab exercise: Maximum likelihood and minimum distance classification techniques
in ENVI using Landsat 8 OLI data
Week 7: Image classification accuracy assessment
o Introduction to accuracy assessment theory
o Ground truth data and high resolution imagery availability
o Lab exercise: Generating an error matrix in ENVI and ArcMap software using high
resolution data
Week 8: Vegetation indices
o Introduction to band ratios
Effective Fall 2013
o Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
o Lab exercise: Estimating NDVI using Landsat data in ENVI and extracting spatially
random samples for statistical analysis in Excel
Week 9: Introduction to coarse-resolution satellite data: MODIS and AVHRR
o Introduction to MODIS Terra and Aqua
o History of AVHRR and AVHRR data characteristics
o Lab exercise: Acquiring MODIS and AVHRR data from data archives (web-based)
and subsetting and georeferencing MODIS imagery in ENVI
Week 10: Change detection methods
o Introduction to change detection theories and data requirements
o Change detection techniques in ENVI and time-series data analysis
o Lab exercise: Comparison of multitemporal data for change detection: Landsat
images from northern Arizona over the last 3 decades
Week 11: Introduction to lidar and airborne lidar data analysis
o Laser scan principles and laser data acquisition
o Three-dimensional point cloud
o Lab exercise: Visualization and analysis of airborne 3-dimensional point cloud data
in BCAL toolkit in ENVI
Week 12: Terrestrial lidar data analysis
o Terrestrail laser scanner
o High-resolution 3-dimensional data
o Lab exercise: Visualization and analysis of terrestrial 3-dimensional point cloud data
and generating high resolution DEM and vegetation map
Week 13: Unmanned aerial vehicles
o Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) characteristics
o UAV-based data options
o Lab exercise: Introduction to NAU UAV system and high-resolution hyperspectral
and lidar data analysis using UAVs
Week 14: Individual research projects
Week 15: Individual research projects
Week 16: Term project presentations
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes
 Student learning will be evaluated via letter grades throughout the semester. Student
assignments will be submitted electronically to the instructor via BbLearn. Grades will be
posted electronically in LOUIE and BbLearn.
 Reviews of research articles will be submitted and graded throughout the semester. Students
are expected to complete a term project. Term project proposals will be due and graded by
Week 10. Term project reports and presentation are due Week 16. The report and
presentation grades will be posted at the end of Week 16.
Grading System
The grades will consist of:
30% - Critical reviews (3 assignments) of remote sensing publication and methods
30% - Term project proposal
40% - Term project report and presentation
90%=A, 80%=B, 70%=C, 60%=D, <60%=F
Effective Fall 2013
Course policy
 Attendance is mandatory. Students will need approval prior to class if they are not able to
attend class
 Students are expected to perform all of their work independently. While term projects can
overlap in topic or study area with shared data, each student is expected to perform their
individual analysis and deliver an independent proposal, final report, and presentation.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES
Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy
NAU’s Safe Working and Learning Environment Policy seeks to prohibit discrimination and promote
the safety of all individuals within the university. The goal of this policy is to prevent the occurrence of
discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation,
disability, or veteran status and to prevent sexual harassment, sexual assault or retaliation by anyone
at this university. You may obtain a copy of this policy from the college dean’s office or from the
NAU’s Affirmative Action website http://home.nau.edu/diversity/. If you have concerns about this
policy, it is important that you contact the departmental chair, dean’s office, the Office of Student Life
(928-523-5181), or NAU’s Office of Affirmative Action (928-523-3312).
Students with Disabilities
If you have a documented disability, you can arrange for accommodations by contacting Disability
Resources (DR) at 523-8773 (voice) or 523-6906 (TTY), dr@nau.edu (e-mail) or 928-523-8747 (fax).
Students needing academic accommodations are required to register with DR and provide required
disability related documentation. Although you may request an accommodation at any time, in order
for DR to best meet your individual needs, you are urged to register and submit necessary
documentation (www.nau.edu/dr) 8 weeks prior to the time you wish to receive accommodations. DR
is strongly committed to the needs of student with disabilities and the promotion of Universal Design.
Concerns or questions related to the accessibility of programs and facilities at NAU may be brought to
the attention of DR or the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity (523-3312).
Institutional Review Board
Any study involving observation of or interaction with human subjects that originates at NAU—
including a course project, report, or research paper—must be reviewed and approved by the
Institutional Review Board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects in research and researchrelated activities. The IRB meets monthly. Proposals must be submitted for review at least fifteen
working days before the monthly meeting. You should consult with your course instructor early in the
course to ascertain if your project needs to be reviewed by the IRB and/or to secure information or
appropriate forms and procedures for the IRB review. Your instructor and department chair or college
dean must sign the application for approval by the IRB. The IRB categorizes projects into three levels
depending on the nature of the project: exempt from further review, expedited review, or full board
review. If the IRB certifies that a project is exempt from further review, you need not resubmit the
project for continuing IRB review as long as there are no modifications in the exempted procedures. A
copy of the IRB Policy and Procedures Manual is available in each department’s administrative office
and each college dean’s office or on their website: http://www.research.nau.edu/vpr/IRB/index.htm. If
you have questions, contact the IRB Coordinator in the Office of the Vice President for Research at
928-523-8288 or 523-4340.
Academic Integrity
Effective Fall 2013
The university takes an extremely serious view of violations of academic integrity. As members of the
academic community, NAU’s administration, faculty, staff and students are dedicated to promoting an
atmosphere of honesty and are committed to maintaining the academic integrity essential to the
education process. Inherent in this commitment is the belief that academic dishonesty in all forms
violates the basic principles of integrity and impedes learning. Students are therefore responsible for
conducting themselves in an academically honest manner.
Individual students and faculty members are responsible for identifying instances of academic
dishonesty. Faculty members then recommend penalties to the department chair or college dean in
keeping with the severity of the violation. The complete policy on academic integrity is in Appendix G
of NAU’s Student Handbook http://www4.nau.edu/stulife/handbookdishonesty.htm.
Academic Contact Hour Policy
The Arizona Board of Regents Academic Contact Hour Policy (ABOR Handbook, 2-206, Academic
Credit) states: “an hour of work is the equivalent of 50 minutes of class time…at least 15 contact
hours of recitation, lecture, discussion, testing or evaluation, seminar, or colloquium as well as a
minimum of 30 hours of student homework is required for each unit of credit.” The reasonable
interpretation of this policy is that for every credit hour, a student should expect, on average, to do a
minimum of two additional hours of work per week; e.g., preparation, homework, studying.
Sensitive course materials
University education aims to expand student understanding and awareness. Thus, it necessarily
involves engagement with a wide range of information, ideas, and creative representations. In the
course of college studies, students can expect to encounter—and critically appraise—materials that
may differ from and perhaps challenge familiar understandings, ideas, and beliefs. Students are
encouraged to discuss these matters with faculty.
Effective Fall 2013