GEO 426/595 - Designing Spatial Information Systems
Lecture: Monday, Wednesday: 8:30 - 9:50, 351 Filmore
Professor: Douglas
Flewelling
Office:
151 Wilkeson
Phone:
645-2722 ext. 38 E-mail: dougf@geog.buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday: 10:00 - 11:00, or by appointment (email verified)
The course offers a theoretical foundation for representation of knowledge in spatial information systems and logic based programming as a tool for fast prototyping and design of geographic systems. Key topics discussed are methods for formalizing interactions of geographic objects; characteristics of various information models including entity-relation, relational and object-oriented; overview of database management systems and their suitability for spatial data; the transaction concept; and the design of database scheme for geographic applications. Lecture concepts will be reinforced through a set of design exercises.
Grades will be based on a judgment of overall performance. As a guide, lab exercises, design exercises, and exams will contribute to your grade approximately as follows:
Product delivered
Practical Exercises 50%
Final Exam 30%
Class Participation 10%
There are a series of practical exercises to compliment the lectures and familiarize you with database design and engineering. All practical exercises are to be typed or printed on some word processing configuration. Diagram may be neatly drafted or produced using a CAD, or graphics package such as Visio..
The practical exercises will be graded on promptness (by 8:45 AM of the due date), accuracy, completeness, and tidiness. Five points will be deducted for every day an assignment is late. A new day starts at 8:46 AM.
Text: The Design of
Spatial Information Systems by Andrew U. Frank, Max J. Egenhofer, and Douglas L. Hudson. Available as two PDF files: Part 1 and Part 2
Strongly Recommended:
R. Elmasri and S. B. Navathe
(2000) Fundamentals of Database Systems. Third Edition Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc., Reading,
Massachusetts.
Outline
of Lecture Topics
Part 1
– Formal Models of Information Systems
Information Systems
Formal Systems
Formal
Languages
Formal
Theories
Models
Part 2
– Knowledge Representation
Data Models and Database
Schemata
Designing Information
Systems
Including
and Excluding
Elementary
Representation
Databases
as Formal Models
Organization
of Information
Structural Components of
Information Systems
Entities,
Relations, Properties, Values
Advanced Features
Relations
between Relations
Combinations
of Relations
Implementations
of Relations
Abstraction Methods
Modeling Behavior
Introduction to the
Universal Modeling Language (UML)
Part 3
– Data Models
File-Based Data Model
Network Data Model
Relational Data Model
Object – Oriented Data
Model
Part 4
– Data Consistency vs. Correctness
Consistency Constraints
Transactions
Avoiding Data Loss