FW 4034

FW 4034 – Assignments

Assignments:

1/16 Write a definition of GIS (hint: check links below)

Follow the link for spatial data for AR and go through the ArcView tutorial found there.

Visit the terraserver web site--are these maps or pictures? What is the difference?

Find and download a quadrangle of your hometown (see Spatial data...)

Links: What is GIS?

Netscape Tutorial

Spatial data for Arkansas

CAST

ESRI

Map Projections Overview

Terraserver

USGS

Link to ESRI site for info on data conversion, use of 3-d analyst and links to data sources

Final Project Guidelines (GIS)

Topics: You should contact me regarding the scope and nature of your final project. The following list contains skills we have learned this semester. You should use at least 5 of the skills listed below in your final project.

Scanning and georeferenceing
Digitizing
Collecting feature data with the GPS
Modeling change (manipulating tabular data)
Prescribing a plan of action based on geographical information
Creating surfaces from point data
Deriving statistics (ie. Mean, sums etc.) from a map
Creating/editing/merging/splitting polygon data
Finding suitable locations based on multiple map layers
Downloading and using data from the internet
Changing projections or datums
Using landscape metrics
Use of grids to create contours, hillshades etc

Final projects may be done as a group (max. 3 persons). Once your final project is complete you will be required to present your results to the class in the form of a slide show or powerpoint presentation (layouts, charts, and views can be exported in ArcView (using the export command in the file menu) to a .wmf or .bmp file which can in turn be inserted into a powerpoint slide). I will also expect you to turn in a written summary describing the rationale for the project, the general methods used, and a breakdown of duties by group member. I would like to start presentations during the last week of school and conclude during the final exam period.

Study Guide for final (updated 5/7/01)

*Note: The final exam is comprehensive so be sure to study your previous test.

I. New test material will be based on lecture, lab, and student presentation experiences.

1. Data sources for GIS (be sure to recognize the following acronyms and the types of data they are associated with). Check out the handout from the EPS guys on internet data sources.

a. USGS--DLG, DEM, DOQ

b. Census bureau--TIGER/DIME

c. What is a potential problem with accessing GIS data from these or other sources?

2. Use of Landscape metrics in GIS

a. What are some reasons for looking at landscape metrics?

b. What are the five general metric types?

c. What are the three basic components of a landscape that are used to describe landscape pattern (which is one of the five in b.)

d. Be sure to understand the basic function of fragmentation indices like nearest neighbor, proximity, and shape metrics like fractal dimension.

e. What is the 59% rule?

f. How can you get all of these landscape metrics without writing code in ArcView or ARC/INFO?

3. Scanning and Digitizing

a. What is a puck?

b. Digitizing involves tracing lines. A point where a line changes directions is called a ; and the lines between these are called .

c. Overshooting a polygon end results in a ; while undershooting results in an .

d. What is RMS (root mean square error) and what does it have to do with digitizing or scanning?

e. What are a couple of the image formats you can use in ArcView?

4. Remote sensing and GIS

a. Know some examples of passive and active remote sensing data.

b. What is the electromagnetic spectrum and what does it have to do with passive remote sensing data?

c. An aerial photo is not a map. How do we assign a coordinate system to an aerial photo? What is this process called?

d. What in the world is a world file?

e. What are two remote sensing satellite systems? What is the resolution of data collected from satellite imagery?

f. What are bands?

g. How do you find satellite imagery?

5. Miscellaneous

a. Somewhat recently something happened that may increase the accuracy of GPS locations. What happened?

b. We can personalize our GPS data collection by using program Pathfinder to create a .....

c. We can collect three types of feature data with a GPS unit. What are they?

d. What is the GAP Analysis program? What is the usefulness of data collected in the Arkansas GAP analysis?

e. What are some examples of ArcView extensions?

f. A program written in ArcView's programming language is called a

g. The process of combining the information of one table with information from another is called when there there is a one to one relationship between the tables while is when you join two tables based on a one to many relationship.

h. What are a couple of ways we can get a subset of a larger theme as a new theme?

i. Understand the difficulties in working with source data in different projections, coordinate systems and datums.

6. ArcView terms.

Project, View, Theme, Chart, Script, Layout, Table, Spatial Analyst, Image Analyst, Legend Editor, Menus, Buttons, Tools, Shapefile, Grid, Coverage, Image, View properties, Select by Theme, Convert to shapefile/grid.

7. Information on ArcView Extensions

a. Spatial Analyst: allows you to work with themes. What are some uses of DEM's in spatial analyst?

b. Image Analyst: allows you to work with and create themes. You can use the Image Analyst extension to perform map to map .

c. 3-D Analyst: What is a source of data to use?

*If you have more questions regarding material covered on the exam, call or email me. The contents of this page are subject to change.