School of Public & Environmental Affairs

Instructors: Bernadette Slusher and Laura Carlson
Spring semester 1999

This course is designed to help the student learn to apply their basic knowledge of geographic information systems (GIS) to public and environmental issues.

Table of Contents

• General Information
• Course Prerequisites
• Course Objectives
• Method of Instruction
• Course Schedule
• Grades posted to the web (Posted April 11, 1999)
• SB230 Shedule Remember to select SB230 and the correct week
• Announcements
• Course Readings
• Links to Web Sites of Interest
• Links to Web Sites Associated with Student Projects
• Download ArcExplorer, ESRI's free data viewer

General Information

Applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

E529, section 8116, 3 credit hours

Team Taught by Bernadette Slusher and Laura Carlson

• Mailbox and Secretary: Room 349 (open office area behind elevator on the 3rd floor)
• Secretary: Jennifer Mitchner
• Contact via Jennifer at 855-7980 or leave message at 855-1606
• Office hours: SB230 (SGI cluster), Fridays 10 am-12 noon (Bernie) and 1:30-3:30 pm (Laura)
• E-mail: bslusher@indiana.edu
• E-mail: laacarls@indiana.edu

Teaching Assistant: Gopaul Noojibail

• Office Hours: Student Building 230, Mondays 5-7 pm
• E-mail: gnoojiba@indiana.edu

Lecture:

• Tuesday, 5:30-6:45 p.m., Student Building, Rm. 150

Lab:

• Thursday, either 10:15 a.m.-1:10 p.m. or 1:25-3:20 p.m., Student Building 230

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Course Prerequisites

• Though there are no listed prerequisites, it is strongly recommended that you have had Vector-based GIS (currently a E400/E555 topics course, soon to be permanently numbered E418/E518) or the equivalent experience
• Interest in applying your GIS knowledge

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Course Objectives

Method of Instruction

• Lab demonstrations and exercises
• Lectures, in-class discussions and demonstrations
• Group projects and presentations

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Announcements

The GAP lab is now due one week later than shown on your course schedule. So it is now due Feb. 18th in lab. (Posted 27 Jan 1999)

For your environmental equity lab report -- if you choose to turn it in -- be sure to include an explanation of the steps the instructors took (see Appendix B). You should have something in both your Methods and Technical Appendix. (Posted 31 Jan 1999)

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Reserve Readings

• Pennisi, E. 1993. Filling in the Gaps: Computer mapping finds unprotected species. Science News 144: 248-251.

• Scott, J. M., B. Csuti, and S. Caicco. 1991. Gap Analysis: Assessing Protection Needs. In: Landscape Linkages and Biodiversity. (ed. W.E. Hudson) pp. 15-26.

• Short, H.L. and J.B. Hestbeck. 1995. National Biotic Resource Inventories and GAP Analysis. Bioscience 45(8): 535-539.

• Hurn, J.1993. Differential GPS Explained. Trimble Navigation.

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Links to Web Sites of Interest

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

• Raster, Vector and Digitizing

Dictionaries and General GIS Help/Resources

• The GIS Dictionary
• GIS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
• GIS WWW Resource List
• The Great Globe Gallery

Data Sources

• U.S. Geological Survey All sorts of data.
• USGS Mapping Products (DLG, DEM, DOQ and DRG) Status by State
• Entry points for Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
• EPA Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation, GIS resources page
• EPA: GIS/Resources on Internet This site offers TIGER files (national
  roads, rail), census information, and state and local boundaries.
• GIS Netsites
• USGS Greenwood digital map server This website offers Arc/Info data sets of geologic maps from around this country (and others).
• ESRI, the maker of Arc products Some free (and some not-so-free) online data sets available for downloading
• ESRI Data Hound An ESRI service that catalogs and searches Web sites that offer freely downloadable data compatible with ESRI software. The Data Hound can find free GIS data for you or submit your site as a link so that others can share your data.
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service This site has downloadable National Wetlands Inventory data sets in Arc/Info format.
• Seamless Administrative Boundaries of Europe This site contains detailed administrative boundaries for 25 European Countries.
• Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team This site has downloadable data sets for bridges, topo map boundaries, county boundaries, lakes, hydrologic information, as well as others.
• US Geodata
• UT, Austin's Geography Resources: Geospatial Datasets

Lecture Topics

Metadata and Data Transfer Standards

• FGDC metadata page
• Metadata Tools for Geospatial Data
• Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM) in Acrobat Reader format
• CSDGM Metadata Tool Exercise
• Metadata and WWW Mapping Home Page
• USGS SDTS Home Page
• Spatial data and data standards Includes info on scale, resolution and accuracy in GIS

Gap Analysis

• Gap Analysis Home Page

Global Positioning Systems

• GPS Overview
• Introduction to GPS Applications
• General GPS information
• Yahoo! Top:Science:Geography:Navigation:Global Positioning System
• GPS Project's Bookmarks
• Using GPS to Map Plants
• Mission Planning with Trimble's SatView
• Trimble's list of Community Base Stations (CBAs) around the World
• Trimble's List of Indiana base stations
• Bedford (U.S. Forest Service) Base Station
• Fort Wayne (CompassCom) Base Station

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1999 Student Project Links

GIS Literature Sites

• GIS Literature Sources

Archeological Applications of GIS

• GIS in Archeology -- References

Project Contacts

• Heartwood (Bloomington, IN)

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