Geography 687: Design and Implementation of Geographical Information Systems

The Ohio State University

Spring 2004

Location: 1116 Derby Hall (DB)
Time: TR 12:30 - 1:48 PM (Lecture), T 2:30 - 4:18 PM (Lab)
Course URL: http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/Xiao/courses/687
schedule URL: http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/Xiao/courses/687/schedule.html
Lab URL: http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/Xiao/courses/687/labs/index.html

Instructor: Ningchuan Xiao
Office: 1132 Derby Hall
Phone: 292-4072
E-mail: xiao.37@osu.edu
Office Hours: Thursday 2:30-3:30 PM or by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Yongwan Chun
Office: Derby 1155
Phone: 292-2704
E-mail: chun.49@osu.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday 4:30 - 5:30 PM

This course concentrates on the design and implementation techniques that are widely used for developing today's geographical information systems and other computer tools for spatial analysis. Major topics of this class include project management, requirement analysis, spatial database design, object-oriented analysis and design, patterns and unified modeling language, system verification and validation (see the course schedule for details). Students will use a GIS programming environment to learn the skills of GIS development through weekly lab exercises and group projects that address "real-world" GIS application problems.

Goals

The topics covered in this course are selected to achieve the following goals:

Understanding the design and implementation issues in GIS
Understanding major processes of GIS development
Understanding spatial database design techniques
Mastering basic software development techniques, especially those using object-oriented approaches
Developing personal experience of GIS development through hands-on labs and projects

Texts

The following two books will be used for the lecture and labs:

J.E. Harmon and S.J. Anderson, 2003, The Design and Implementation of Geographic Information Systems, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
R. Burke, 2003, Getting to Know ArcObjects, Redland, CA: ESRI Press.

However, the lecture does not follow the textbook. Instead, I will use my own lecture notes, which will be available from the course schedule web site. Therefore, students who take Geog 687 are expected to attend each class. Further readings, when applicable, will be handed out during the class.

Prerequisites

Geography 685 or consent of instructor.

Credit Hours

This class is for 5 credits unless approved for less.

Evaluation

Student performance is assessed by the following four components:

Labs (30% of final grade). Hands-on approaches will be used. Weekly lab assignments are based on the book Getting to Know ArcObjects and supplementary materials. More details are described in the Lab Syllabus.
Examination (25% of final grade). A comprehensive examination will be given at the end of the quarter.
Group Project (25% of final grade). The students attending this class will be divided into several groups, each working on a project. For some of the projects, we will work with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on a specific GIS problem. For each group, several working teams will be created to fulfill a particular design and implementation goal of the project. Each group will receive one same grade as the project grade.
Participation (20% of final grade). In addition to attending the lecture, students should also play an active role in group studies. Several groups will be created during the second week. Each group will choose some "real-world" GIS applications and present them to the class (with focus placed on the design, implementation, and application issues). Each group will will receive one same grade as the participation grade

Important Issues

Information for students with disabilities and policy on plagiarism is available here.

Schedule

The schedule will be updated whenever new materials become available.

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