Introduction to GIS -- GEOG358
This is a living document. Changes will be announced in class.
Instructor: Jim Coll
Office: 404C Lindley Hall
Email: jcoll@ku.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 10:00 — 11:30 or by appointment
Class Meetings: Monday 2:00 — 4:30 pm
Class Room: Lindley 228
Labs: Wednesday or Thursday 11:00 — 12:50 pm
Lab Room: Lindley 310
Hello all!
My name is Jim Coll and I am your instructor for the semester. A few notes for you pertain to how I run this course. Although the KU blackboard site will be the “official” site for this class and the place you submit all work to, I use this site here for the benefit of all and my own selfish desire to streamline my digital footprint. I will keep both sites as identical as possible when double posting material (e.g. the syllabus and course schedule), but in case of a conflict treat this version as the most recent. Use the navigation table to the left to find the syllabus, labs, and other documents. I have made myself as available to you as I can so feel free to find me via:
- Class slack channel
- Cornering me in the hallway
Below you’ll find the course outline and slides as appropriate. I look forward to an exciting, productive, and stimulating semester with you all.
Best,
Jim
To help us stay on track, I have pinned the semester schedule below with the relevant tasks, due dates, and other important institutional dates: Note that this is a living timeline subject to change.
| Date | Topic | Weekly Activity Due | Lab | University Dates | |
| Week 1 | 8/27 | Syllabus Day | Spatial skills pretest & Guided Walkthrough | Last day for a full refund 8⁄29 | |
| 8/29 | What is GIS | ||||
| Week 2 | 9/3 | Computer basics | Introduction to GISystems | ||
| 9/7 | Digital representations of the world | ||||
| Week 3 | 9/10 | Coordinate systems | Projections and Coordinate Systems | ||
| 9/12 | Basics of Field Measurement | ||||
| Week 4 | 9/17 | Introduction to GPS | Using GPS for field data collection | ||
| 9/19 | GPS activity | ||||
| Week 5 | 9/24 | Georeferencing | On-screen digitization and image referencing | ||
| 9/26 | Digitizing | ||||
| Week 6 | 10/1 | Cartography | Building a GIS database | ||
| 10/3 | Types of Maps | ||||
| Week 7 | 10/8 | Midterm review | No Lab | ||
| 10/10 | Midterm | ||||
| Week 8 | 10/15 | No Class | Selections Queries and Joins | ||
| 10/17 | Joining Data | ||||
| Week 9 | 10/22 | Advanced Selections | Overlay & site suitability analysis | ||
| 10/24 | Overlay analysis | ||||
| Week 10 | 10/29 | Site suitability & Intro to Map algebra | Introduction to network analyst and ArcScene | ||
| 10/31 | Terrain analysis | ||||
| Week 11 | 11/5 | Network analysis | Interpolation and Fire Hazard Modeling | ||
| 11/7 | Spatial interpolation | ||||
| Week 12 | 11/12 | Applications: Census mapping | Hands - on | ||
| 11/14 | Applications: TIN editing | ||||
| Week 13 | 11/19 | Applications: HAND flood mapping | Hands - on | ||
| 11/21 | Project Help | ||||
| Week 14 | 11/26 | No Class | No Lab | ||
| 11/28 | No Class | ||||
| Week 15 | 12/3 | Final Project presentations | Open Lab | ||
| 12/5 | Final Project presentations | ||||
| Week 16 | 12/10 | Practical Final on your own | Spatial skills test | ||
| 12/12 | Practical Final on your own | ||||
| Finals | 12/17 | In person final | |||