GIS Data Visualization
Geography 387
(Tentative) Syllabus for Fall 2012

NB. I/we need to rethink this to get up and going with Tracking Analyst sooner, so that we can move on with KML and Canvas with time to use them.

The table below lists this (a previous) semester's topics and assignments (approximately) by week. Readings are from an expanded collection this year, but nothing in the bookstore.

Week	Topic, Readings and Assignments
1	Introduction to GIS Visualization & Cartographic Method Read: Slocum ch 1, 2, & 3; Wikipedia: "Scientific Visualization" and "Geovisualization"; Brewer DBM ch 1; Robinson Forward, I, II
2	Getting started using a GIS Lab: ArcGIS Overview; Basic use of ArcGIS; Export map images. Make and export some maps.
3	GIS & Conceptual Data modelling Read: Slocum ch 4, 5, & 6 Lab: ArcGIS Overview; Basic use of ArcGIS; Export map images. Transforming models.
4	Maps for Web and Projection Presentation Read: Slocum ch 24, skim ch 6, 7, 8, 9 Lab: Can one design work on screen and projector? (link)
5	Symbology: Type Read: Robinson IV, V, VI; Brewer ch 2 & 3 Lab: Focus on Type. (link)
6	Symbology: Color in Choropleth and Dasymetric Maps Read: Slocum ch 14, 15; Brewer 4 & 5 Lab: Experimenting with color symbols. (link)
7	Interactivity (reconsidering GIS and Alice Through the Looking Glass?) Read: Slocum ch 22, 24 Lab: Basic Online Clickable Map.
8	Symbology: Time and Animation with tracking analyst Read: Slocum ch 21 Lab: buoys oil or critters moving. tracking analyst
9	Mid-term exam (around here)
10	Considering Google Earth: what is it? how does it work? can I bend it to my will? Read: Slocum ch 24, 25, 26; kml documentation; Sheppard and Cizek (2009) "The ethics of Google Earth: Crossing thresholds from spatial data to landscape visualisation", Journal of Environmental Management 90, 2102-2117. Lab: Post map image in Google earth
11	Google Earth, scene graphs, and vector data Term project idea due: 1 page outlining the question or problem, the data, and a sketch of the visualization(s) you intend to produce. Lab: Post vector map data in Google earth
12	Graphic Limits, the Web and Cartographic Design; How to Assess what we see? Read: McKendry & Machlis (2008) "Cartographic design and the quality of climate change maps", Climate Change , v. 95, n. 1&2, pp 219-230.
13	Sticky situations: Symbology: Multivariate situations (including uncertainty). What to make of them?. Read: Slocum ch 18, 23 Lab: How much is enough or too much. How much can you show?
14	Catching up with the future. Read: Slocum ch 25, 26
15	Student Presentations Read: t.b.a.
16	Student Presentations Read: t.b.a.
Final	As per university schedule.