Overview This laboratory course uses hands-on experience to provide planning students with essential mapping and spatial analysis skills. This course balances lectures on the core principles of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with applied instruction on managing, processing and interpreting spatial data. It should be particularly useful for students interested in conducting environmental, demographic, suitability and transportation-related research. Students are not expected to have prior experience with GIS. A desire to learn and explore is essential. This course is fast-paced and will require a large amount of independent work. It relies on student initiative and interest and is a work-in-progress. Students are strongly encouraged to share experiences, knowledge and suggestions with the instructors and each other. Course Structure The course web page is central to the organization of the course. It provides the latest syllabus and assignments. It also provides web hints for solving common problems. The web page is updated with new assignments, links and hints as the course progresses. In addition, the web page provides web links for data sources and additional information on GIS and analysis topics. During the first two weeks of class, students are expected to create and post a personal web page. Assignments througout the quarter will be posted to this page. Class will often be held in the computer lab and will consist of a mixture of lectures on the principles of GIS and spatial data, demonstrations of GIS processes and in-class lab exercises. The class has four principle phases: I. Tutorial Assignments. In the tutorial phase, students are expected to independently complete the first 29 chapters of the tutorial Getting to Know GIS: the geographic information system for everyone (includes CD-ROM). This book should be available in the LuValle bookstore or by ordering online (from Amazon books, etc.). Students may want to try to borrow this tutorial book from students who took the course last year. The tutorial phase is very intense requiring considerable time. This is primarily a self-learning stage, but the instructors will be available for consultation if needed. Progress will be tracked through screen prints and in-class lab exercises. These exercises require students to demonstrate an understanding of the skills introduced in the tutorial exercises. They are designed to be relatively straight-forward if students have completed the required tutorial chapters. II. Mid-term. In the mid-term phase of the course, students design and prepare a mid-term project. This exercise allows students to apply their new mapping skills to manipulate and display census-based demographic data. Students are required to acquire spatial and tabular data and produce demographic thematic maps responding to a planning issue of interest. III. Special Topics. The special topics section of the course is designed to present more detailed information on topics such as data quality, data manipulation, spatial analysis and information systems. These topics will be covered mainly through lectures and classroom demonstrations. Although this section does not have graded assignments per se, these topics will be very helpful as students begin to plan and design their final projects. IV. Final Projects. The fourth phase will consist of an individual final project in which students use mapping and spatial analysis to address a planning problem of interest. The topic and design of the final project must be approved by one of the instructors. Final projects will be presented during Poster Sessions during the final week of class. Students are required to make a brief 10-minute presentation of maps and charts which concisely and clearly address their particular planning question. The analysis should draw from a combination of geographic and attribute data including data from an original source. In addition, students are required to turn in a one-to-two page write-up which describes their planning issue, description of data, data limitations, results and recommendations. Grading It is very important that students keep up the the course assignments. Students who fall too far behind will be asked to drop the class. If, for some reason, you must turn in an assignment late, notify the instructors immediately by email. The final project, though, must be presented during the final week of class with no exceptions. Course progress will be evaluated using the following criteria: Participation & Progress [10%]: Learning GIS takes a certain amount of perseverance and discipline. For this reason, we take into consideration whether students are keeping up with assignments and progressing with the course work. While class attendance is not required, it is strongly recommended. Although in-class lab exercises will not be officially counted towards your grade, the results of lab exercises that are posted to your web page will help us track your progress. Tutorial assignments [20%]: All tutorial assignments must be completed and posted to your web page. Mid-term project [25%]: The mid-term project indicates that you have mastered basic GIS skills. Your maps and short write-up must be posted to your web page. Final project [50%]: The final project indicates that you have used your mapping and analysis skills to investigate a planning issue. Your maps and short write-up must be posted to your web page. In addition, all students are required to prepare a project poster and to present their final project during the Final Project Presentations during the last week of class. Additional Information To complete the course, students have to devote considerable time and effort. Students with some past experience will be able to complete the course assignments with little help. Other students are encouraged to work in small groups to learn together, but each student will be responsible for his or her own assignments. Students who need additional assistance are encouraged to work in the computer lab to obtain help from other students or the instructors who will visit the computer lab on a daily basis. The computer lab assistants can be helpful should you encounter hardware problems (printing, memory, lost files, etc.), but do not have sufficient knowledge of GIS to help you with mapping questions. GIS skills have proven to be very helpful to the field of planning. Upon completion of this course, students should have the necessary skills to construct maps and perform analysis which can be used in a variety of planning settings. Students will be exposed to a variety of introductory GIS concepts and topics, but those students who desire to know more about the theoretical basis of mapping should enroll in the advanced GIS course in urban planning as well as other courses offered in the Geography Department.

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