ESPM 4295W
A Practicum in Applied GIS
Meeting time and location: MW, 10:40 - 12:20, 35 Skok Hall, St. Paul Campus
Instructors: Paul Bolstad (left), Andy Jenks (right)
ContactEmail: pbolstad@umn.edu, ajenks@umn.edu
About this course
This is a practicum course in the application of GIS methods, integrated across a semester-long project. This is a second or third course in GIS, introducing workflows in spatial data development and analysis.
Course schedule, timelines, instructions, and materials will be distributed primarily through the page https://giscourses.cfans.umn.edu/espm4295
Canvas will be used primarily to turn in assignments and to access User Forums regarding class material. We've created assignment inboxes each week, into which you'll submit various assignment files.
We'll use a CFANS resource drive and a student shared drive specific to the course. We've included instructions on how to access the drives via VPN from off campus in the General 4295 Course Page, linked above. We'll show how to access them when you're in the lab. The resource drive will contain instructions, data, and copies of the assignments. The shared drive will be a place for you to store and share large data sets. You should also use a portable disk drive to create backups of your work each time you are in the lab. There are scheduled backups for the shared drives, and recovery procedures, but always best to have your own backups as well.
Course modules
- Introduction
- Week 1, starting Tue. Sept. 4 - Introduction
- Week 2, Initiate digitizing
- Week 3, Database and topology
- Week 4, Cleaning and soils
- Week 5, Fix Topology
- Week 6, Final data development
- Week 7, Watersheds
- Week 8, Project planning, flowcharting, review Arc tools union, dissolve, select by attributes
- Week 9, tools for initial processing; raster/vector conversion, reclassify, raster calculator
- Week 10. more tools: aggregate across watersheds, buffer, clip; layer modifications & calculations
- Week 11, Modifying layers for rainfall mitigation, 5 cm runoff, optional Model Builder exercise
- Week 12, Example modifications
- Week 13, Third Draft
- Week 14, Project work and consultation
- Week 15, Project work and consultation