Instructor: Dr. Peter Linehan
Office: 220
Science-
Telephone: 717-749-6089.
Email: pel2@psu.edu
Office Hours:
Wednesday and Friday10:00 to 12:00
Email or telephone for an appointment.
Stop by when I am in the office.
Course Objectives: In this course, students will acquire the basics of spatial data analysis using geographic information systems technology. The course will cover acquiring data, manipulating databases, and displaying the results to solve spatial analysis problems. Problems will come largely from natural resources sciences and forest management. GIS is rapidly becoming a standard technology in many disciplines that use data having a spatial component. Students with knowledge and experience in GIS may improve their job prospects significantly.
Meeting time:
The class will meet from 2:00 to 4:00 pm on Wednesday and Friday
in the 313
Class Website:
Materials for this course can be found on the ANGEL course management system located at http://cms.psu.edu . If you are registered for the course it will appear when you log in to ANGEL.
Academic credits: 3
Texts: GIS Fundamentals: A First Text on Geographic Information Systems by Paul Bolstad (Second Edition). Getting to Know ArcGIS desktop. Ormsby, T. et. al.
Materials: Most of the work can be done on the lab computers. It will be very helpful for students to have a USB portable hard drive. Blank CD’s may also be necessary. If you want to work at home on your own computer a broadband internet connection is helpful, but not required.
Software Used: The course will use ArcGIS 9.2 installed in the computer labs. We will also use online data sources and resources. Much of the data we will use will come from the Pennsylvania Geospatial Data clearinghouse: http://www.pasda.psu.edu
Evaluation:
With a small group such as this I prefer to run the course as workshop rather than a formal course with tests. You will work on projects that will include the projects at the end of the chapters of the book and analysis projects using outside data. You will be graded on four projects and my evaluation of your effort.
|
Project 1 |
15% |
|
Project 2 |
15% |
|
Project 3 |
15% |
|
Project 4, GIS analysis project with field data for Academic Fair |
25% |
|
Short assignments / Research projects |
30% |
Your final grade will be calculated as follows:
Grade Percentage earned
|
A |
91 - 100 |
|
A- |
89 - 90 |
|
B+ |
87 - 88 |
|
B |
81 – 86 |
|
B- |
79 – 80 |
|
C+ |
77 - 78 |
|
C |
71 – 76 |
|
D |
65 – 70 |
|
F |
< 65 |
Academic Fair: This year Penn State Mont Alto will be holding a Student Fair at the end of April. The purpose of this new tradition is to highlight student work and research projects. Given that one of the main goals of GIS is to communicate findings to the public, your fourth project will be entered into the fair. This may be a poster presentation or an oral presentation. In the last project your will work on a problem of your choice that uses spatial analysis. More information will be presented later.
Class Policies:
General Philosophy
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REACHING YOUR EDUCATIONAL GOALS. This means that class attendance, completion of assignments, reading the text, studying for and taking tests etc. are all your responsibility. The instructor cannot help you if you don’t ask for help.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend all class sessions. However,
attendance is not part of the calculation of your grade. Please inform the
instructor by email or telephone if you must be absent from class. Following
Academic Integrity
Cheating and plagiarism is wrong. A reduction of grade or a zero may be given for plagiarized assignments.
Here is the University College Academic Integrity Policy that we will follow: https://teamworks.campuses.psu.edu/uc/Academic%20Programs/UCpolicies.pdf
The
Class Preparation
It is your responsibility to come to class prepared. This includes reading the assignments and being ready to ask and answer questions.
Late assignments
Completed assignments should be handed in on time unless the instructor postpones the due date or you make prior arrangements. If you find that you cannot complete an assignment on time then you should send the instructor an email explaining how much you have completed and what is your problem with the assignment. Include specific information on the difficulties you are having, not just that you couldn’t do it. The instructor reserves the right to give late assignments a lower grade or zero.
Inclement Weather
In this class we will follow campus policies in case of delayed or cancelled classes. http://www.ma.psu.edu/inclement.html For commuting students, if you feel you can safely come to class during a storm, just call my office or send me an email. I will be happy to work with students who must miss class due to adverse weather conditions to cover any material missed.
Computer Usage
Computer systems have become very powerful and indispensable tools in all our lives. It's becoming hard to remember how we did things before the computer age. As with all good things there are also negative uses of this new technology, including software piracy, network hacking, and the creation of viruses. In this course we will follow the University's computing policies which can be found at http://cac.psu.edu/policies/
Tobacco Usage
There is no smoking allowed in Penn State buildings. Also, please do not chew tobacco during class. Students who chew in class will be asked to leave and will get a zero for that day's assignment. On most days there will be periodic breaks during class, where you can go outside to satisfy your cravings. During outdoor labs do not use tobacco products when we are together in a group.
Official Academic Policies
The official academic policies for
Note to students with disabilities: It is