Earth 408 - Introduction to GIS in the Earth Sciences

Will be offered by Niemi in Winter 2020. This course will introduce students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with specific emphasis on applications to solving problems in the Earth Sciences. Topics to be covered include map projections, coordinate systems, and field data collection; spatial file formats, geodatabases, and data management; vector and raster data models; surface analysis of digital topography (hillshading, aspect and slope analysis, hydrologic analysis); spatial statistics (focal functions and neighborhood analysis); project management, map layout and digital cartography; 3D visualization of GIS data; tools for field collection of data. The course format will be tutorial-based, with an introductory lecture followed by an interactive laboratory session. The course grade will be based on laboratory assignments, quizzes, and a final project that makes use of GIS analysis on a topic of each student’s choice. The course will primarily make use of Google Earth and ArcGIS, but will teach skills that should be applicable to analysis in any GIS environment and will use GIS case studies related to structural geology, sedimentary geology, geochemistry, geomorphology, environmental science, and geophysics. This course is intended for earth science majors and graduate students, but is open to all who have an interest in GIS in the earth sciences.