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Course Objectives: The purpose of this course is to teach you the fundamentals of Geographic Information System (GIS) analytical methods. Emphasis is given to applications in environmental science. Upon completing the course a student should be able to integrate GIS methods into a research or planning project. This is the hands-on portion of the Intro GIS curriculum. You will spend the semester on a computer learning to do GIS. NRS 409/509 is the second component of the curriculum in GIS. It covers concepts, history, theory, and applications of GIS. Both classes should be taken together for the best possible introduction to GIS.

Course Format: Laboratory sessions are held for three hours twice per week in room 6 Woodward Hall. In lab, students will learn to use ArcGIS (rev 9.3), a powerful GIS software system for spatial data analysis and mapping.

Text (optional): Price, Maribeth. 2008. Mastering ArcGIS. Third Edition. Available online at http://tinyurl.com/5cbmry. This is a very good overview of ArcGIS functionality. If you think you will be doing a lot of GIS, this is a useful reference.

Communications: All class communication, including quizzes, handouts, notices, assignments, and technical hints will be done electronically using the NRS410 web page (www.edc.uri.edu/nrs/classes/nrs410).

Supplies: You will need to be able to copy files and maps to a USB memory stick during the semester. Plan on using 300Mb of thumb drive space.

Lab Access: We will try to keep the lab open evenings during the week. A schedule of lab hours will be posted in the lab. The lab is used by many different courses in the College of The Environment and Life Sciences and there may be some competition among students for access to computers. The lab runs on a first come, first serve basis.

Lab Protocol: Do not turn off the computers. Do not bring drinks or food into the lab. Do not leave papers or scrap around workstations. ONLY use Drive D:\NRS410 to store information. Files written to the desktop or Drive C: will be deleted. Be sure to keep copies of important files or directories on your disk. Because so many students use the lab, it is impossible to guarantee that someone won't accidentally nuke a disk or trash your work area. Do not leave anything on the hard drive that you do not wish to recreate. Do not worry about backing-up datasets of Block Island data; we will do that for you. If a machine is acting funky, report it to your instructor or the lab monitor.

Lab Quizzes: We will give periodic unannounced quizzes to confirm that you are keeping up with the work. There will be NO make ups for quizzes.

Lab Assignments: You will be given structured mini-projects to do over the semester. These will be designed to test your competence with various GIS procedures.

Lab Projects : You will have a mid-semester and final lab project to do. The first project will test your skills in mapping. The second will focus on data entry. Click here for more details.

Special Needs Students: Any student with a documented disability is welcome to contact me as early in the semester as possible so that we may arrange reasonable accommodations. As part of this process, please be in touch with URI’s Office of Disability Services, located in Room 330 of the Memorial Union, 874-2098

Grades: Your final course grade will be calculated from the following:

Lab Projects -- 50 %

Lab Quizzes & Assignments -- 50 %

Lab projects will be written and/or task-oriented. Lab quizzes/assignments will be either written or task-oriented and may or may not be announced in advance.