Geography 591: Introduction to Geographic Information Science

Instructor: David M. Mark

Email: dmark@geog.buffalo.edu

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.

FALL 2000 INFORMATION: GEO 591

TIMETABLE: Geography 591 meets twice a week (Tu & Th), 12:30-1:50 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 1999 Course Outline

• Aug 29 (Tu) Course Introduction; Defining Geographic Information Science
• What is GI Science?
• Aug 31 (Th) Geographic Information Science and GIS overview
• NCGIA CC Unit 1 - What Is GIS?
• GIS Frequently Asked Questions
• Basic GI Science research vs. basic Research Using GIS
• University Consortium for Geographic Information Science

• Sep 5 (Tu) Geographic Entities and Phenomena: Ontology and Representation
• NCGIA CC Unit 10 - Spatial Databases as Models of Reality
• NCGIA CC Unit 11 - Spatial Objects and Database Models
• Smith and Mark paper: Ontology and Geographic Kinds
• Sep 7 (Th) Raster and Vector Data Models
• NCGIA CC Unit 4 - Raster GIS
• NCGIA CC Unit 13 - Vector or Object GIS
• NCGIA CC Unit 14 - Vector GIS Capabilities
• NCGIA CC Unit 21 - The Raster/Vector Debate

• Sep 12 (Tu) Coordinate Systems and Map Projections
• NCGIA CC Unit 26 - General Coordinate Systems
• NCGIA CC Unit 27 - Map Projections
• Map Projections Overview
• Sep 14 (Th) SDTS, the U.S. Spatial Data Transfer Standard
• Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) Information Site
• NSDI Presidential Order

• Sep 19 (Tu) Formalizing Spatial Relations
• NCGIA CC Unit 12 - Relationships among spatial entities
• Sep 21 (Th) Map Overlay: The Core of GIS (Calkins)

• Sep 26 (Tu) Scale, Detail, and Generalization in GIS input and Output (Bian)
• UCGIS White Paper on "Scale"
• Sep 28 (Th) Spatial Data Acquisition and Integration (Flewelling)
• UCGIS White Paper on "Spatial Data Acquisition and Integration"

• Oct 3 (Tu) Address Matching
• University of Iowa "Address Matching" Page
• NCGIA CC Unit 29 - Discrete Georeferencing
• Oct 5 (Th) Accuracy, Error, and Data Quality
• NCGIA CC Unit 6 - Sampling the world
• NCGIA CC Unit 45 - Accuracy of Spatial Databases

• Oct 10 (Tu) Class cancelled (UB follows Monday schedule)
• Oct 12 (Th) Distributed Databases and Interoperability
• UCGIS White Paper on "Distributed Computing"
• Open GIS Consortium

• Oct 17 (Tu) Mid-term Test
• Oct 19 (Th) Time in GIS
• NCGIA CC Unit 42 - Temporal and Three-Dimensional Representations
• Temporal GIS and Spatio-Temporal Modeling (paper by May Yuan)

• Oct 24 (Tu) Human-Computer Interaction and User Interfaces
• ESRI's Usability Engineering page
• Oct 26 (Th) Visualization and Cartographic Design
• Color Use Guidelines for Data Representation (by Cindy Brewer, Penn State)
• "Light and Eyes" Lecture Material (from Stanford University)

• Oct 31 (Tu) Class cancelled (GIScience 2000)
• Nov 2 (Th) Web GIS, Embedded GIS
• Some Web Mapping and GIS Bookmarks

• Nov 7 (Tu) Geographic Information and Society
• UCGIS GIS & Society White paper, 1998 version
• GISOC'99 Conference
• Nov 9 (Th) Intellectual Property, Privacy, and Ethics; Efficiency, Equity, Effectiveness

• Nov 14 (Tu) Public Participation GIS; GIS and Social Theory
• Public Participation GIS Home Page
• Empowerment, Marginalization, and Public-Participation GIS (Varenius Project)
• Links relating to First Nations and GIS
• Intertribal GIS Council Home Page
• Nov 16 (Th) History of GIS
• History of GIS review paper
• The GIS History Project

• Nov 21 (Tu) The GIS Industry: Current Status
• NCGIA CC Unit 24 - GIS Marketplace
• Nov 23 (Th) No classes: Thanksgiving

• Nov 28 (Tu) GI and US Federal Policy
• Executive Order establising the NSDI
• GI Science Report
• PITAC report
• Congressional Hearings
• Nov 30 (Th) Current Research Issues in GI Science
• UCGIS White paper on "Cognition of Geographic Information"
• NCGIA's Research Initiative #19
• UCGIS White paper in GIS and Society

• Dec 5 (Tu) Current Issues in GI Science
• UCGIS Emerging Research Themes
• Dec 7 (Th) TEST #2 (non cumulative)
• Dec 8 ( F) (Last day of classes)

• Dec 14 (Th) Term Paper Due

Last updated on August 27 2000

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