A GIS project is required for graduate students. The project is intended to provide a deeper understanding of a GIS application through experience. The project should investigate a particular research problem using the GIS software packages that we use in class. You will need to acquire the spatial data and the project should involve some type of spatial analysis. In addition, it is expected that you will investigate and cite some work in the active research literature related to your topic. The deliverable is a printed Powerpoint presentation that you will present to the class. You should use the knowledge and skills you acquire in the class discussion, books, library research, and the lab/practical component of the course. Every project must include the following sections: an Introduction, Methods, Results, and Conclusions and appropriate Citations. Your methods section might be a detailed cartographic model with descriptions of each of the steps. A cartographic model is an interconnected flow chart describing spatial and attribute operations on single or multiple layers.There are two stages to the project (the dates they are due are listed on the course schedule):
- Submit a one or two page project proposal. It should include a research question, a detailed description of the spatial and attribute databases you will use, and a conceptual description of the methods you will use. The instructor will discuss the proposal with each student
- 8 minute Oral presentations. The presentation should describe data sets, the analyses you performed, and display the maps and tabular output. Give the instructor a printed Powerpoint presentation.
Additional information about projects is available in the following word document.
It is suggested that you use secondary GIS data sources to do your project. While you are welcome to digitize (heads-up or table) or do a GPS survey to create your own spatial data set, doing so is very time-consuming and is not the purpose of this project. Doing GIS analyses is the purpose of this project. Regional datasets from Metro's Regional Land Information System (RLIS) are available on the network. Also, you can download GIS data layers from the Oregon Geospatial Data Clearinghouse or the sites listed on the following web page: David Banis' spatial data links.