Geographic Information Systems

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

Theoretical issues are explained in oral lessons complemented with computer projected presentations and are fully covered by the syllabus items. Practical lessons are computer-based lessons, where the students develop example projects in GIS areas using ArcGIS software. The assessment process includes 2 components: Development of a GIS group project (1, 2 or 3 students working together), corresponding to a 14 values grade, and addressing a simplified (but realistic) real world application. Project main theme may be proposed by students or suggested by teachers; an individual computer test with ArcGIS™ (learned in practical lessons), corresponding to a 6 values grade. The computer test may be done during practical lessons or in the examination day. This test may be substituted by a theoretical/practical writing examination in first or recurring call days.

Partial grades are preserved between calls of the same year.

Learning Outcomes

Discipline main objective is to provide to students the necessary skills to develop a GIS (Geographic Information System) project addressing the management of information with strong spatial components, vital to almost all of the real world organizations. At courses end is expected that students master different GIS related task like layers organization (according to spatial information classification) and the exploration of spatial analytical tools to produce spatial and tabular results, to be presented to users in the more adequate intuitive graphical forms permitted by GIS software.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1.  Geographic Information Systems: Definition, Characteristics, Components and main Concepts and Applications Addressed.

2.  GIS spatial and one-dimensional data structures

2.1  Discrete and Continuous Objects

2.2  Data Models

2.3  Operations

2.4  Database access.

3.  ESRI software ArcGIS (v9) - ArcMap and ArcCatalog.

3.1  File Type Organization

3.2  Information Models and Entities

3.3  Data edition (alphanumeric, graphic and geographic)

3.4  tabular and geographic result production, labels and symbols.

4.  ArcToolbox exploration: 3D Analyst, Network Analyst and Spatial Analyst.

5.  Case Study development.

Head Lecturer(s)

Luís Miguel Alçada Tomás de Almeida

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Individual test: 50.0%
Project: 50.0%

Bibliography

MATOS, João Luís de - Fundamentos de informação geográfica. 5ª ed. act. e aument. Lisboa: Lidel, 2008. [BP 519.6 MAT]

MILLER, Fred L. - GIS tutorial for marketing [em linha]. Redlands: ESRI Press, 2007. [BP 658.8 MIL] Disponível na www.gis.esri.com/esripress/display/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&websiteID=120&moduleID=1

 

Other sources of information (provided by the teacher).