A Practicum in Applied GIS

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Meeting time and location: MW, 10:40 - 12:20, 35 Skok Hall, St. Paul Campus

Instructors: Paul Bolstad (left), Andy Jenks (right)

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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