Return to Class Home Page...FOR/GGR 525: TOPIC Presentation Instructions
Dr. Samantha Arundel
Objectives:
1. Develop a thorough understanding of one GIS concept.
2. Gain practice in presenting research to peers.
3. Develop skills in applying GIS tools to solve problems.
Your assignment: Respond to one of the statements listed in the table below. Responses will be presented to the rest of the class during a half-hour block of time. The topic presentation is worth 300 pts. or 60% of the lecture grade.
In preparing your response,
follow these steps:
1. Evaluate the statement.
2. Clearly define the problem (you may
have to narrow the topic).
3. Collect background information so
that the problem can be understood
4. Develop a way to present the topic
that is both demonstrative and interesting
5. Present accurate information.
Include these elements in the
presentation:
1. Provide background information to
the audience so that the problem can be understood
2.
Explicitly demonstrate the topic with a real-world example via some sort of visual display. The more
engaging the presentation
the more points you will earn.
3. Identify the areas of GIS that are
affected by the problem (data accuracy, database management, map legibility,
etc.)
4. Offer valid recommendations for dealing
with the issue in the realm of GIS.
Evaluation Methods:
1. Concept - 100 pts, 25 each
a. understanding of the topic.
b. ability to answer the topic questions
correctly.
c. transfer of topic knowledge to
class members.
b. topic appropriately narrowed to
functional module.
2.
Presentation - 100 pts, 25 each
a. organization of the presentation.
b. clear and concise presentation of the topic.
c. engaging presentation of the material.
d. soliciting
questions.
3. Application of GIS - 100 pts, 25 each
a. explanation of topic relation
to GIS
b. graphics showing how a GIS manages
the topic
c. "live" use of GIS in demonstrating
topic
d. "live" use of GIS to show problems
arising if used improperly
Topic descriptions
The earth is round (shape).
1. What is the shape of the earth?
a. a spheroid?
b. an ellipsoid?
c. a geoid?
2. Why is each shape sometimes used to represent the earth?
3. Which is most commonly used in GIS and why?
The earth is big
(scale).
1. What is mapscale and in what ways can it be indicated on an analog map?
2. What is a big mapscale, and what is a small mapscale?
3. How do you determine the scale of a map in a GIS?
a. data in the GIS
b. data shown on the display
c. data printed on an analog map
Maps are flat
(projections).
1. What is a projection and why do we have to have them?
2. Why does the first-order error in geographic information occur during
projection?
3. What happens if the "wrong" projection is used when analyzing geographic
data?
Maps locate
positions
(coordinate systems).
1. How is a position (point) located in coordinate space?
2. How is the Cartesian coordinate system important to GIS?
3. Specifically, how are geographic data locations stored in a computer?
Maps are numbers I
(vector data
model ).
1. How does the vector data model represent geographic data?
a. building lines from points
b. building polys from lines
2. When should you use vector instead of raster?
3. How do scale and resolution affect the representation of vector data (points
or polys, lines or polys)?
Maps are numbers II
(raster data
model).
1. How does the raster data model represent geographic data?
2. When should you use raster instead of vector?
3. How do scale and resolution affect the representation of raster data (pixel
size, image size, discrete vs. continuous data)?
Computers store maps
(data conversion).
1. How are analog data converted to digital data?
2. What issues are involved in converting digital data in one format to digital
data in another format?
a. SDTS
b. dxf, dlg, text, etc.
c. images to GIS data
3. What validation techniques can be employed as data are converted?
Map errors are
unavoidable
(accuracy, precision, scale and resolution put together)
1. Where do errors come from?
2. What is the difference between accuracy and precision?
3. What is the difference between scale and resolution?
Tabular data enhance
maps (attribute
data models).
1. What attribute data model is used in GIS?
2. How can the RDBMS save disk space and how could using related tables increase
required disk space?
3. How are tabular data connected to feature data?
Maps impart
information
(queries).
1. What is a query (give an example)?
2. How do attribute queries differ from spatial queries?
3. How can attribute and spatial queries be combined (show an example)?
Maps illustrate
relationships I
(statistical analysis).
1. What statistical analyses can easily be performed using any GIS?
2. What statistical analyses are more difficult for the GIS to perform?
3. What statistical analyses can be performed on spatial data using a
statistical package?
Maps illustrate relationships II (spatial analysis).
1. What spatial analyses can easily be performed with a GIS?
2. Which of these spatial analyses would be quite difficult to perform without a
GIS?
3. Which of these spatial analyses would be easy to perform without a GIS?
Go to the list of group members for each topic.