CMU Course 90-784 : Geographic Information Systems

Click on one of the links above for Power Point lectures and miscellaneous course materials including course syllabus, and short instructional videos.

Instructor:

Kristen Kurland

204C Margaret Morrison

412-268-4512

412-371-6171 fax

e-mail : kurland@cmu.edu

Course WEB Site:

This course uses a Blackboard WEB site. Assignments, readings, correspondence, etc will be posted here.

Be sure to check this site regularly for updates.

URL to Course: http://www.cmu.edu/blackboard

Description:

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a system of hardware, software, and procedures designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of spatially referenced data for solving complex planning and management problems. GIS applications use both spatial information (maps) and databases to perform analytical studies.

This course covers underlying geographic concepts (world coordinate system and projections, vector map topology, tiled and layered maps, standard computer map file formats, urban applications, etc.) and provides computer lab tutorials and case studies on the leading GIS software, ArcView 9 from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI, Inc).

By the end of the course, students will have sufficient background so that with on-the-job experience they can become expert users of GIS in organizations - building, managing, and using GIS maps and data.

Some topics covered include City and Regional Planning, Community and Economic Planning and Development, Housing Studies, Transit and Transportation Issues, Land Use, Historic and Archeological Studies, Crime Analysis and Policing, Emergency Management and Public Works Utilities, Census and Demographic Studies, Public Health, Health Research, and Business uses including Marketing and Advertising.