An Introductory Geographic Information Systems Course with Transfer of GIS Applications and Techniques into Other Disciplines

Wallace Reed, Environmental Science

1996 TTI Fellow

Project website: http://cti.itc.virginia.edu/~wer/

Understanding the information that maps depict is critical to answering a wide range of scholarly, planning, and management questions such as: Where is it? When did it change? How much is available there? How do you get to it? What if we change it? Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide the most effective means for developing maps and answering such questions. GIS skills are essential in an increasing number of classroom and employment situations across a wide range of disciplines. Wallace Reed, Department of Environmental Sciences, is developing a University-wide undergraduate course entitled GIS Methods which will explore geographic concepts and theories and will offer training in the computer technology of GIS. Recognizing that the need to understand geographic information is interdisciplinary, Professor Reed is designing his course so that the concepts and their presentation can be easily adapted and incorporated into the course work of many departments as well as into the usage of Library resources. One challenge that Professor Reed is facing is to develop procedures that will integrate digitizing, scanning, image processing, file formatting and transfers, data manipulation and analysis with GIS software into user friendly operations. Students in this course will be able to use the full range of technologies in a nearly seamless process, and the processes that will be developed as a result of this TTI project will be relevant and transferable to GIS applications in a variety of departments or disciplines.

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