ALGONQUIN COLLEGE
School of
TECHNOLOGY and TRADES

Survey/Graphics/General Department

Objectives:

An introduction to raster GIS, primarily using IDRISI, with an emphasis on geographic analysis. Students will become familiar with raster file formats and data structures, and explore the range of analyses which raster GIS makes possible. The concepts of local, focal, zonal, and global/neighborhood operations will be introduced. Students will learn to link raster maps to external databases. Students will learn file import/export and conversion. Creating graphical and report output will be explored. A range of raster GIS application areas will be covered through lectures and tutorials. Students will reinforce their knowledge of raster GIS by undertaking a project.

Course content:

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

1. Understand and discuss the terms and principles of raster GIS technology.
2. Apply various raster display and interactive query techniques.
3. Understand and describe various file formats and data structures used in association with a raster GIS.
4. Perform various types of thematic map analysis using raster GIS.
5. Display and analyse 2.5 dimensional data and representations of surfaces.
6. Perform various spatial analysis and distributed analysis techniques.
7. Input data into a raster GIS using digitizing, scanning and file conversion.
8. Produce graphic and report output from a raster GIS.
9. Understand the application of raster GIS in various fields of research.

Department Policy on Late Assignments

All assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day specified by the instructor. Late assignments turned in no later than one week after the due date will be assess as normal, but a 20% penalty will be subtracted from the assessed mark. Assignments turned in after the one week period will automatically receive an F grade. Falure to hand in an assignment will result in a ) for that component of the total mark.

METHODOLOGY:

Much of the course time will be hands-on lab work, with each exercise session preceeded by limited lecture on raster GIS concepts. The course will start with the fundimentals of raster file structures, data types and basic display, then examine the concepts of local, zonal, neighborhood whole file operations with examples. The latter half of the course will incorporate a project, guided by the instructor, in which the students will learn how a raster GIS project works.

EVALUATION:

Students are expected to understand the concepts behind various techniques as presented in class, to be able to perform those techniques in the lab, and to organise the results of an analysis project. Therefore, evaluation will be based on a combination of assignments that test students' technique, two tests that evaluate students' understanding of the techniques, and a term project. The term project will be lead by the instructor, and the students will be responsible for presenting the results in an organised fashion.

RAS8746 – Raster GIS Applications Winter 1998

Lecture, Assignment and Test Schedule

Grading system:

BIBLIOGRAPHY/RESOURCES:

Recommended texts only ( no required text ):

Idrisi for Windows Student Manual : System Basics (some used copies may be available from 3rd year students)

Idrisi Users Guide & Technical Manual (comes with software, a good deal)

Tomlin, Dana, Geographic Information Systems and Cartographic Modelling., 1990.

Burrough, Peter A., Principle of GIS for Land Resources Assessment, 1986

Bonham-Carter, Graham, Geographic Information Systems for Geoscientists: Modelling With GIS (Computer Methods in the Geosciences), 1994.

Other references

viljoen@gis.nrcan.gc.ca 03/02/98