helper@mail.utexas.edu

University with graduate programs, including doctoral programs

15-30

This is a 3 credit hour, upper-division elective for geoscience majors usually taken in a student's senior year. The course has a required two-hour laboratory and a required two-day field trip. The class also enrolls geoscience and other graduate students who have not previously had a course in GIS/GPS techniques. The lab for the class is taught by a TA who is proficient with GIS software and GPS/GPS field hardware.

Students should be able to:
1) Select from and discriminate among different map projections, datums and coordinate systems;
2) Convert geographically referenced or unreferenced data to a coordinate system and datum of choice;
3) Identify, locate, and/or create metadata for geographic/geologic data sets;
4) Create geographically referenced vector and raster data from unreferenced extant data;
5) Design and create geographic databases for storage and analysis of field data;
6) Apply simple techniques of spatial analysis (e.g. suitability, least cost path, spatial density) to geoscience problem solving;
7) Obtain, store and organize geospatial data from internet resources;
8) Formulate a geospatial approach to test or constrain a geoscience hypothesis;
9) Use geostatical techniques (e.g. IDW, Spline, Kriging) for prediction and modeling;
10) Use the global positioning system in conjunction with GIS software and field hardware to gather field data, including that needed to construct geologic maps;
11) Critically evaluate the quality and differences among GPS data collection modes and schemes.

Goals are achieved by:
1) 3hrs. per week of well-illustrated lectures and participatory software demonstrations;
2) 2 hrs. of lab per weeks, with each lab focussed on different skills necessary for effective use of GIS and GPS software and GPS hardware;
3) ~20 hours of class/lab time (largely individual instruction) devoted to student semester projects;
4) A weekend field trip and 2 associated lab exercises devoted to collection and presentation GPS-constrained geological field data;

5) A "Maps of the Week" posting of the best maps submitted for lab each week.

Goals assessment is conducted via:
1) Weekly graded lab assignments;
2) Two, one-hour exams;
3) Final Exam;
4) Graded Semester Project with detailed feedback.

Syllabus for Univ. of Texas, Austin, GIS/GPS Applications in Earth Sciences course, Spring 2010 (Acrobat (PDF) 289kB May27 10)