Geography 655: Introduction to Geographic Information Science

Instructor:

This new course will present 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. The course will be a required course in UB's new Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training multidisciplinary Ph.D. in Geographic Information Science.

FACTS ABOUT THE COURSES

TIMETABLE: Geography 655 meets twice a week (Tu & Th), from 12:30 to 1:50 pm.

CREDIT HOURS: Geography 655 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 %.

NOTES:

Students who have taken GEO 506 from David Mark should not take GEO 655 "Introduction to Geographic Information Science", as there is a greater than 50 % overlap in course material.
It is anticipated that this will become a new course, GEO 591, beginning Fall 1999.

Course Outline

Sep 1 (Tu) Defining Geographic Information Science
Sep 3 (Th) Geographic Information Systems overview [1]
- Unit 1 - What Is GIS?
Sep 8 (Tu) Raster and Vector Data Models [4]
- Unit 4 - Raster GIS
Sep 10 (Th) Formal Representations of Geographic Entities and Phenomena, Part 1 [6]
- Unit 6 - Sampling the world
Sep 15 (Tu) Formal Representations of Geographic Entities and Phenomena, Part 2
- Smith and Mark paper: Ontology and Geographic Kinds
Sep 17 (Th) Coordinate Systems and Map Projections [26, 27]
- Unit 26 - General Coordinate Systems
- Unit 27 - Map Projections
Sep 22 (Tu) Map Overlay: The Core of GIS
Sep 24 (Th) Address Matching [29]
- Unit 29 - Discrete Georeferencing
Sep 29 (Tu) Formalizing Spatial Relations [12]
- Unit 12 - Relationships among spatial entities
Oct 1 (Th) Scale, Detail, and Generalization in GIS input and output
Oct 6 (Tu) Spatial Analysis in a GIS Environment
Oct 8 (Th) Spatial Data Acquisition and Integration
Oct 13 (Tu) SDTS, the U.S. Spatial Data Transfer Standard
- Spatial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) Information Site
Oct 15 (Th) Mid-term Test
Oct 20 (Tu) Accuracy, Error, and Data Quality [45]
- Unit 45 - Accuracy of Spatial Databases
Oct 22 (Th) Distributed Databases and Interoperability
Oct 27 (Tu) Human-Computer Interaction and User Interfaces
Oct 29 (Th) Visualization and Cartographic Design
Nov 3 (Tu) Web GIS, Embedded GIS
- Some Web Mapping and GIS Bookmarks
Nov 5 (Th) GIS and Social Theory
- UCGIS GIS & Society White paper, 1998 version
Nov 10 (Tu) Intellectual Property, Privacy, and Ethics
Nov 12 (Th) Efficiency, Equity, Effectiveness
Nov 17 (Tu) History of GIS [23]
- Unit 23 - History of GIS
- The GIS History Project
Nov 19 (Th) The GIS Industry: Current Status
- Unit 24 - GIS Marketplace
Nov 24 (Tu) (Wednesday schedule followed)
Nov 26 (Th) Thanksgiving
Dec 1 (Tu) Current Research Issues in GI Science: Cognitive
- UCGIS White paper on "Cognition of Geographic Information"
Dec 3 (Th) Current Research Issues in GI Science: Computational
Dec 8 (Tu) Current Research Issues in GI Science: GIS & Society
- NCGIA's Research Initiative #19
- UCGIS White paper in GIS and Society
Dec 10 (Th) TEST #2 (non cumulative)
Dec 11 ( F) (Dec 12 last day of classes)
Dec 15 (Tu) Term Paper Due

Last updated on September 15, 1998

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