Course Description
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods and techniques to solve management problems faced by forestry professionals. Focus on the collection, organization, and analysis of spatial and tabular information with an emphasis on big data (FIA, RPA, census, Landsat) and their use in the decision-making process.
Athena Title
Applied GIS For Res Mgmt
Prerequisite
(FANR 3800 and FANR 3800L) or (FANR 4201/6201 and FANR 4201L/6201L)
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students will develop a functional knowledge of the spatial analysis tools forest managers use to evaluate the landscape. Students will apply their newly acquired skills to address topics related to the: a. assessment of the current state of the land base in terms of area, composition, and regulation compliance, the b. spatial nature of proposed management practices and regimes and their probable outcomes, and the c. delivery of that information in both hard and soft copy formats and through web-based systems (Google Earth, ArcGIS Online). Topics will be drawn primarily from forestry related operations such as BMP planning and compliance audits, FIA reporting and mapping, and due diligence mapping of forestland property for real estate transactions. Self-paced online training modules developed by ESRI will be used as a means to quickly orient the student to the ArcGIS environment and to introduce upcoming topics. The student will be expected to complete these tutorials outside of class meeting times. Students who successfully complete this course will: a. have a basic understanding of the underlying geographic concepts related to GIS and mapping (i.e., coordinate systems and data models), and will be able assess the impact of their implementation, b. know how to assemble projects consisting of both public and proprietary information, and when it is unavailable, they will know how to generate the needed data themselves, c. understand how to apply geospatial techniques and methods commonly used to address real-world natural resource management issues, and will d. be able to employ the various spatial reporting and summary techniques, and map output and information delivery tools.
Topical Outline
a. Introduction to GIS and spatially referenced information b. Introduction to ArcGIS I: (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox) c. Project planning and data management d. Tabular data collection, management, and analysis e. Map production and report generation in ArcGIS f. Data acquisition and mapping I: digitizing g. Data acquisition and mapping II: GPS h. Data acquisition, mapping and reporting III: public data sources (big data) i. Vector analysis I: overlays, extraction, and proximity j. Vector analysis II: spatial summaries, statistics, and reporting k. Raster analysis techniques l. Satellite remote sensing I: sources, acquisition, and import m. Satellite remote sensing II: image classification, zonal summaries and statistics n. Online mapping and information dissemination tools (Google Earth, ArcGIS Online)
Syllabus
Public CV