Geography 591: Introduction to Geographic Information Science
Email: dmark@buffalo.edu
[Note: This course does NOT include any software training or
laboratories, which are available in Geography 506 and other courses.]
Geography 591 presents a
survey of Geographic Information Science, the basic research field underpinning
geographic information systems (GIS). Geographic information science rests on
three basic areas: cognitive models of geographic concepts; computational and
implementations of geographic models; and interactions between GIS and society.
The course will provide overviews of these three research areas. The course
will review applications of GIS and sources of geographic data, and include
material on spatial data quality and spatial data standards. It also will
provide students with an awareness of the history of GIS, the current state of
the GIS industry, and trends and projections for the future. Ethical issues and
legal dimensions of geographic information will be presented, and current high
priority research areas within geographic information science also will be
reviewed. This course is required course in UB's IGERT (Integrated Graduate
Education and Research Training) multidisciplinary Ph.D. in Geographic
Information Science.
Facts About the Course
FALL 2008 INFORMATION: GEO
591
Registration Number: 112765
TIMETABLE: Geography 591
meets twice a week (Monday and Wednesday), 1:00-2:20 pm.
CREDIT HOURS: Geography 591
is a 3-credit course
GRADING: Two non-cumulative
short-essay tests will each be worth 35 % of the grade, and a term paper will
be worth 30 %.
Fall 2008 Course Outline
(subject
to modification)
- Aug 25 (M) Course Introduction; Defining Geographic
Information Science
- Aug 27 (W) Geographic Information Science and GI Systems
(GIS) overview
Part 1: Ontology and Representation of Geographic Information
- Sep 1 (M): Labor Day; no classes at UB
- Sep 3 (W) Ontology of the Geographic Domain: Geographic
Entities and Phenomena
- Sep 8 (M) Representing Geographic Entities and
Phenomena in Computational Systems
- Sep 10 (W) SDTS, the U.S. Spatial Data Transfer Standard
Part 2: Computational Aspects of Geographic Information
- Sep 15 (M) Map Overlay: The Core of GIS
- Sep 17 (W) Coordinate Systems and Map Projections
- Sep 22 (M) Voronoi Principles, Computational Geometry,
and Hierarchical Spatial Data Models
- Sep 24 (W) No class meeting for GEO 591; D Mark at
GIScience2008
o
Review the paper titles and topics in the GIScience2008 program
- Sep 29 (M) Address Matching and Related Topics
- Oct 1 (W) Acquisition and Quality of Geographic Data
o
NCGIA CC
Unit 45 - Accuracy of Spatial Databases
o
NCGIA CC
Unit 6 - Sampling the world
o
UCGIS
White Paper on "Spatial Data Acquisition and Integration"
Part 3: Cognitive Aspects of Geographic Information
- Oct 6 (M) Cognitive Models of Geographic Phenomena
- Oct 8 (W) Human Interaction with GI and Technology
- Oct 13 (M) "Volunteered Geographic
Information" and Virtual Globes
- Oct 15 (W) Test #1 (Mid-term)
- Oct 20 (M) Qualitative Spatial Reasoning: Formalizing
Spatial Relations
- Oct 22 (W) Scale, Detail, and Generalization in GIS
input and Output
- October 27-31, No lectures in GEO 591, David Mark
running a workshop
in New Mexico & Arizona
- Nov 3 (M) Categories for Geographic Entities: Cultural
and Linguistic Differences
- Nov 5 (W) Time in Geographic Space and in GIS
Part 4: Geographic Information and Society
- Nov 10 (M) Geographic Information and Society Overview;
Efficiency, Equity, Effectiveness
- Nov 12 (W) Intellectual Property, Privacy, and Ethics
- Nov 17 (M) Public Participation GIS
- Nov 19 (W) GIS and Indigenous People
- Nov 24 (M) GIS and Social Theory
- Nov 26 (W) UB Classes cancelled for Thanksgiving
- Dec 3 (W) TEST #2 (non cumulative)
- Dec 5 (F) (Last day of classes)
Last
updated on December 1 2008
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