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Introduction to
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Fall 2011 |
(subject to change)
Instructor: | Joe Piwowar email: joe.piwowar@uregina.ca phone: 585-5273 |
Office Hours: | 11:00 - 12:00
MWF CL 339 |
Meeting Times: | 8:30 - 9:45
TR CL 330.2 (TERRA Lab) |
Course Web Site: | http://uregina.ca/piwowarj/geog409 |
A geographic information system (GIS) is a tool for automating geographic concepts. At its most basic level it can help us to explain distributions and make decisions. At an advanced level it can help us understand complex environmental processes. Geographers (and others) use GISs to create spatial models to help them understand, describe, and predict how things are arranged in the real world.
All too often we produce a map from a GIS and conclude, "Gee, it looks like there is a pattern in the data," but we struggle to attach any certainty to our analysis. The real question we want answered is most likely, "Is there a significant pattern?" The methods developed in this course will help you answer this question. The aim of this course is to enable you to build your own toolbox of spatial analysis techniques to investigate spatial processes.
Wang, F., 2006. Quantitative Methods and Applications in GIS. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Although there is not a required text for this course, you are expected to use additional resources (e.g. texts from other courses, the Internet) extensively to supplement the lecture materials.
Clarke, K.P., Parks, B.O., and Crane, M.P. (eds.), 2002. Geographic Information Systems and Environmental Modeling. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall (on reserve in the Map Library).
DeMers, M.N., 2002. GIS Modeling in Raster. New York: Wiley (can be borrowed directly from me).
Hardisty, J., D.M. Taylor, and S.E. Metcalf, 1993. Computerised Environmental spatial analysis: A Practical Introduction Using Excel. Chichester: Wiley (can be borrowed directly from me).
Harris, R., Sleight, P., and Webber, R., 2005. Geodemographics, GIS and Neighbourhood Targeting. Chichester: Wiley (on reserve in the Map Library).
Kelly, R.E.J., N.A. Drake, S.L. Barr, 2004. Spatial spatial analysis of the Terrestrial Environment. Chichester: Wiley (on reserve in the Map Library).
Maguire, D.J., M. Batty, and M.F. Goodchild (eds.), 2005. GIS, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling. Redlands, ESRI Press (on reserve in the Map Library).
O'Sullivan, D. and Unwin, D.J., 2003. Geographic Information Analysis. Hoboken: Wiley (can be borrowed directly from me).
Stillwell, J. and G. Clarke, 2004. Applied GIS and Spatial Analysis. Chichester: Wiley (can be borrowed directly from me).
There are 8 lab assignments based on the lecture and text materials to be completed. Each assignment is work 5% of your final mark. You are expected to find additional resources to help answer some of the questions.
Discovering how other researchers are using advanced spatial analysis is an excellent way to learn new techniques that you can use in your own analyses. I would like you to review 1 article in the refereed journal literature where spatial analyses have been used. Your review should not be more than 5 pages long (double-spaced).
Your review should include:
A key component of the course is for you to demonstrate your learned spatial analysis knowledge and abilities by designing, developing, implementing, and assessing your own spatial analysis project.
Key stages of the spatial analysis project are:
Last updated: 2011.09.07 by JMP