GEOG 380 MAPS AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION                                     

Fall 2006                                                                                                        

CRN:11448

                  

Lecture:   MWF 10:15-11:20 PM in 413 CH

Lab:          Wed 6:00 – 7:30 PM in 469 CH

                  Th 6:00- 7:30 PM in 469 CH

Fri 2:00 – 3:30 PM in 469 CH

 

Instructor: David Banis

Email: dbanis@pdx.edu
Office Hours: MWF 11:30-1 or just stop by

Office: 424N Cramer Hall

 

Teaching Assistant: Laura Reilly

                                                                                   

Text: John Campbell Map Use and Analysis 4th edition 2001

 

Course Content:

 

This course is recommended as a prerequisite for all other geography techniques courses. It should be taken before any other courses dealing with GIS, remote sensing, or cartography. The goal of the course is to lay the conceptual foundation necessary to understand how mapping and map analysis occurs, both traditionally and within the context of contemporary computer-based techniques.

 

Maps are used to collect, store, analyze and present spatial information. Learning about maps is much like learning a new language: there are numerous new words to learn (vocabulary), precise meanings of words to clarify (semantics), and rules for how the words are used together (syntax). Activities in the class revolve around how data and ideas are translated into the "map language" and how maps can provide us useful information.

 

Among the topics to be covered are: scale, map projections, locational reference systems, map compilation, the nature of geographic data, symbolization, topographic map reading, digital map data models, types of thematic maps, and the use of remote sensing imagery. Exercises designed to enhance the student’s understanding of these topics will be assigned. Each student must sign up for a weekly 1-1/2 hour lab section in addition to the three lectures per week. The software introduced (but not taught in detail) in the labs is Idrisi Kiliminjaro.

 

There is no prerequisite coursework for this class, but students are assumed to have:

  1. attentiveness to observing the world/space around them
  2. an interest in how to organize and analyze information about that space
  3. a concern for how graphic communication occurs and can be improved
  4. ability to do basic math and deal with simple algebraic and geometric concepts
  5. experience with computers running the Windows operating system

 

Requirements:

 

Attendance Regular attendance in Lecture and Lab is strongly encouraged. Lectures will frequently cover material that is different from, or not included in, the textbook. There will also be frequent short in-class exercises; missed in-class work normally cannot be made up. Missing one in-class exercise will not likely affect your grade; missing a few probably will. You should bring your Quad sheet with you to each class; you will not need your textbook in class.

 

Exams There will be two mid-terms and a final exam. All exams will be a combination of objective and essay questions. The final is not comprehensive, It will cover material discussed since the last midterm, and some broad concepts from the class as a whole.

 

Exercises A central part of the course is a series of exercises, some of which will be completed outside of class, but most of which will be completed during a scheduled lab session. Exercises are due on the date indicated when the exercise is handed out. Late materials will be accepted only with a specific constraint and only within a certain limit:

The Constraint: for each day an assignment is late it will be marked-down 1/3 of a letter (or an equivalent number of points. The maximum reduction is a full letter grade.

The Limit: no exercise will be accepted after other students' papers have been graded, i.e., graded, not returned.

 

Computers Each student should have a PSU ODIN account and should be familiar with the basics of files, folders, and file copying on Windows computers.

 

Grading:

 

In-class exercises- 10%

Lab and take-home exercises- 40%

Exams- 50%

 

 

Date

Monday
Discussion Topic/ Readings

Wednesday
Discussion Topic/ Readings

Friday 
Discussion Topic/ Readings

Lab

Sept 25/27/29

Course Overview;

Intro to Maps

 

Map Scale

(Ch. 5, 6)

 

Map Elements (Ch. 1)

In-Class: Pdx map

Lab 1: Map Scale Problems

Oct 2/4/6

Earth Geometry and Graticule (Ch. 2)

Earth Geometry and Graticule (continued)

In-Class: Scale equivalents

Projections (Ch. 3)

 

Lab 2: Intro to Idrisi

Oct 9/11/13

Projections (continued)

Compilation and Generalization

In-Class: Compilation

Location Systems (Ch. 4)

 

Location Systems (continued)

In-Class: Quad coordinate estimation

Take-Home: Topo coordinates

Lab 3: Projections

Oct 16/18/20

Spatial Data Models

(Ch.19)

 

MIDTERM

 

Direction and Navigation (Ch. 7)

 

Lab 4: Raster Images and Coordinates

Oct 23/25/27

Field Mapping

In-Class: Azimuth and distance

Relief Portrayal; Profiles

(Ch. 8)

Take Home: Quad profile

Contour Interpolation (Ch. 9)

Reading Topo Maps (Ch. 10)

In-Class: Interpolation

Lab 5: DEM

Oct 30

Nov

1/3

Watersheds

In-Class: Reading Topo Maps

Take-Home: Watershed delineation

Scales of Measurement; Classification

Visual Variables;

Descriptive Statistics

 

Lab 6: Symbols

Nov 6/8/10

Spatial Patterns (Ch. 12) Sampling

In-Class: Sampling

MIDTERM

VETERAN”S DAY

Lab 7: Quadrat Analysis

Nov 13/15/17

Thematic Maps (Ch. 11, 14)

Take-Home: Web maps

Thematic Maps (continued)

In-Class: Thematic maps

 

Social Construction of Maps

(Ch. 16)

Lab 8: Geo-referencing and Compilation

Nov 20/22

Remote Sensing Intro

(Ch. 17)

Take-Home: Air photo scale

Digital Remote Sensing

(Ch. 18)

 

THANKSGIVING

Lab 9:

NO LAB

Nov 27/29 Dec 1

Visual Interpretation

In-Class: Visual interpretation

GIS Intro (Ch. 20, 21)

 

GIS Applications

Lab 10: GIS Suitability Mapping

Dec 6

 

Final Exam (10:15- 12:05)