GIS MODELING AND APPLICATION ISSUES

“GIS Modeling is technical Oz. You’re hit with a tornado of new concepts, then come back to yourself a short time later wondering what on earth all those crazy things meant”

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION — This intermediate level workshop presents basic concepts, procedures and applications of GIS modeling emphasizing natural resources and environmental management applications. The concepts presented are reinforced through several practical exercises. The first portion of the workshop establishes the concept of “maps as data” by introducing basic data structure issues impacting spatial analysis capabilities. The discussion focuses on individual operations, such as, map comparison, effective distance, optimal paths, visual exposure, roving windows and shape/pattern indices that are used in modeling spatial relationships. The next portion of the workshop discuses issues surrounding spatial interpolation of point data and spatial data mining techniques to discover relationships within and among maps. These concepts are presented within practical contexts for a basic understanding of the procedures and their utility. The final portion describes the concepts, procedures and considerations of a generalized GIS modeling framework required for sound application models, as well as providing a glimpse of trends and future directions in GIS technology. (Detailed description, Word .doc file)

Note: the workshop usually is presented in eight contact hours (one-day) with instructor demonstrating the exercises. Workshops involving hands-on experience of participants are presented in twelve contact hours (day and a half).

PowerPoint Slide Sets – The more than 100 slides introduces grid-based map analysis concepts, procedures and considerations. Many of the slides have embedded links to the companion Map Analysis book, exercises and other materials for further reference. (Example slides, PowerPoint .ppt file)

Note: example slides are best viewed at full resolution. When viewed in the Internet Explorer browser, click on pop-up in lower-right corner of an image to switch to full resolution.

Hands-on Exercises – There are 10 exercises designed for hands-on experience with the concepts presented in the lecture slides and linked readings. (Example exercises, Word .doc file)

Background Readings – Direct links are made to the appropriate topics in the Map Analysis e-book accompanying the MapCalc Learner software. (Online Map Analysis book)