SDI-01: Elements of Geographic Information Systems
This course is an overview of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In this course, we look at the various technologies that make Geoscience possible, including Ground-based Mapping, Global Positioning Systems, and Satellite and Aircraft-based Remote Sensing. We discuss the way these data are organized in GIS, and the various GIS packages that are available, including Commercial and Open Source options.
SDI-02: Management of Geographic Information
This course teaches strategies for successful GIS management and implementation. It will examine GIS from small-scale project-based GIS initiatives, through to large-scale enterprise GIS implementations. The consistent methodology of systematic user needs assessment, requirements specification, database design, application development, implementation, and operation and maintenance is carried through all levels of GIS implementation.
Students will develop skills in GIS project planning, design, management and documentation. All students will improve their ability to independently acquire, evaluate, and implement new GIS-based skills and understanding and to put these into a context of effective GIS use.
SDI-03: Standards, specifications and metadata for geographic information
Standards are one of the principle thrusts of a Spatial Data Infrastructure. This course is designed to provide a practical overview of the issues associated with developing and maintaining standards and metadata for geo-spatial data and services. It is targeted toward an audience of government personnel.
The first part of this course will focus on standardization in the field of digital geographic information. The second part of the course provides a learning approach to the creation of spatial metadata.
SDI-04: Applications of a spatial data infrastructure
In this course, we will examine the use of SDI in a number of different fields. Each module will focus on a particular class of applications. Specific, real-world examples will be discussed in detail for each application. This general discussion will be followed up by a discussion of the technologies used to make each application possible. Finally, students will get to experiment with the particular techniques that are key to making each application a reality.
SDI-05: Geographic DBMS
This course is an introduction to the structure and use of geodatabases. A foundation of general database theory is presented, along with instruction and practical exercises relating to Esri's geodatabase structure. Students will be introduced to ArcSDE and the use of versioning to control multi-user access to large spatial databases. SQL Server will be used as the enterprise database for this course, but students will also explore the personal geodatabase, coverage and shapefile structures.
SDI-06: Geodesy and Cartography for Needs of Spatial Data Infrastructure
This course is designed to provide with the fundamental principles of spatial data gathering and visualization for tasks related to spatial data infrastructure. The first part of this course will focus on principles and techniques of data capturing including ground and global surveying systems. The second part of the course will introduce with spatial reference systems, projections, topographic and thematic map production, symbolization and generalization.
SDI-07: Spatial Analysis and Modeling
This course will focus on techniques for the analysis and modeling of spatial data. The course will cover issues in characterizing spatial data, methods and problems in spatial data sampling, techniques for visualizing, exploring and modeling spatial data including techniques for point patterns, continuous data, areal data, and spatial interaction data. We will study local and neighbourhood level methods, regionalized variables, and the modifiable area unit problem.
SDI-08: Structure of Spatial Data Infrastructure
This course presents a detailed examination of the technologies that are required to build a national geographical information infrastructure. This course focuses on the storage, and distribution of geographic information, using information portals on the Internet. Security issues, such as backup and recovery, physical security, and Internet security will be discussed.
SDI-09: Web Programming for Spatial Data Infrastructure
This course examines the impact that the Internet has had on GIS and the directions in which Internet GIS is going. Lectures examine the different ways to display geographical information on the Internet, including Internet mapping systems such as Esri IMS, creating GIS-like web applications, producing animations of geographical data, web site design principles; using XML-based languages to transfer and display geographical data and customizing Internet mapping sites.
All of these techniques are taught in the context of web programming techniques and languages, including HTML, ArcXML, GML and Javascript. By the end of this course, students will be expected to be able to build and customize WMS websites of moderate complexity which incorporate the techniques that are discussed in the lectures.