Syllabus and course policies

This creation of this course was funded though a course creation scholarship through the University of Kansas Intelligence Community Centers for Academic Excellence

This is a living document. Changes will be announced in class. The syllabus will supersede the blackboard course in the event of a conflict.

This course is an introduction to basic geospatial intelligence concepts and geospatial technologies. By blending broad brush conceptual lectures and hands-on experiences with mapping technologies, participants will learn how to identify, collect, and transform information about locations, people, objects, environments, events, and phenomena into digital representations of the world and generate end-products of geospatial analysis using modern (unclassified) tools. Overall, it contains four main parts: geospatial data and GPS, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and geospatial applications. Students will learn how to acquire and develop geospatial data as the sources for mapping, the skills of analyzing and interpreting spatial information, and how geovisualization can be used in addressing real-world problems in the Intelligence Community.
Satisfies: Lab and Field Experiences (LFE), Natural Science (N), Part of the KU Core and the undergraduate certificate and minor in intelligence & national security studies

It is student’s responsibility to attend the lectures, do the readings, and finish lab assignments in a timely manner. All students should be prepared to participate in class discussion and answer questions when called upon. All students are expected to complete labs and exams on time. Labs are typically due at the beginning of the lab period one week after they are assigned, unless otherwise noted.

Attend every Class/lab and ask questions! At times, the ArcGIS software can be very unforgiving, and GIS can seem like a foreign language. The last thing I want is for you to walk out of this class without understanding the material. I expect and hope that this will be a rewarding experience for everyone. We are available to answer questions and otherwise offer assistance during the office hours indicated above or by appointment. Additionally, if you have any questions, feel free to drop me an e-mail or use the slack channel (The link will be passed around on the signup sheet at the beginning of the year). I try to be diligent about responding to emails and by using slack you are likely to get a very rapid response.

The computers in the lab are not cheap to replace. Please do your part to lengthen their lives by not spilling coffee/soda/liquids of any kind on the computer or any of its parts. You do NOT need to go out and purchase a computer for this class, although I do recommend having a personal computer with ArcGIS installed.

ArcGIS is a demanding program, and a lower grade computer is not recommended. If you are looking to purchase a computer, I offer these general guidelines. You should aim for a 64-bit computer (x64), and aside from that I like to prioritize CPU & RAM > video & hard drive speed > hard drive space (External hard drives are really cheap, and as long as the computer has a USB port you are good to go).  For the last few years I’ve deferred to the pre-built pc choices on https://buildmypc.net/ or https://pcpartpicker.com/. In general, I tend to stay away from the “gaming” laptops.  For those prices, you can build a much more powerful desktop and get a lot more mileage out of it, but that’s just me.  If you want to go that route however virtually all will meet your school related needs. My “Ideal” build (This is excessive, visualization grade)

The lab is open for students whenever there is no scheduled class (see the calendar posted on the lab door. Additionally, ArcMap is available in the GIS lab on the second floor of Watson Library, and on the Architecture and Engineering computers if you have access to those. A signup sheet will also be passed around at the beginning of the semester for those who wish to install ArcGIS on your own personal computers.

Cheating and/or plagiarism is not tolerated. Feel free to discuss the labs with your classmates, but all work you turn in should be your own, and it’s insert year here, how hard is it to give someone credit for their work? I use Zotero for my citation needs, as a KU student you have access to Endnote through Office 365, and in a pinch Cite This for Me will also push you across the finish line but you really should try to be more efficient with your time.

Anyone who has a disability that may prevent full demonstration of academic ability should contact me as soon as possible to ensure accommodations can be made to allow for full educational benefit.

TODO - breakdown

There will be 14 computer labs which count for 50% of your final grade and each lab is equally weighted. Labs make up the bulk of your final grade because it is in the labs that you will gain the practical knowledge of how to use the geospatial technologies. Lab TA will help with your questions. Lab assignments are typically due in a week and should be submitted through Blackboard before the next lab meeting. Any assignment that is turned in after the due time is considered late. The penalty for a late assignment is based on the number of days late (including weekends) and will be penalized 10% per day.

Mid-term exam will cover the materials from the first half of the class, and the final exam will focus on the second half. The final exam is not comprehensive, but since we will be building on concepts throughout the semester, materials from the first half of the semester will inevitably be part of the final exam. Either exam may include a practical portion. This practical portion will consist of instructions to prepare some sort of short analysis or demonstration of practical knowledge related to geointellegence. These will be posted either a week before the exam and due on the date of the exam, or posted the day of the exam and due a week after.

KU uses a 10 point grade scale with +/- options (sans A+). As material is graded you may use the following [grade sheet helper](TODO - URL here) to determine what your grade in the course is. At the end of the term I export the blackboard gradebook and put it into this sheet to submit grades, so you can periodically check your grade this way should you have concerns. Letter grades are determined based on the following grading scale: