Geospatial Technologies at Work - A Hands-on Introduction to GIS

This intensive three-day course introduces students to basic GIS concepts through the use of ArcGIS 9.3 software. It covers a wide range of topics and is designed for people with little or no experience with GIS; however, familiarity with PCs, file and folder management, and basic computing chores is required.

The course is organized into a series of topics that focus on specific GIS functions. Each topic is presented and discussed in a classroom setting and is followed by a hands-on lab exercise that uses the GIS tools discussed and demonstrates how the tools can be used to display, create, manage and analyze GIS data.

Course exercises are geared towards natural resource management and community planning and decision making and make extensive use of a "typical" municipal GIS database and Connecticut's public domain geospatial datasets. Topics covered include

• Introduction to ArcMap and ArcCatalog
• How to work with attribute data
• Displaying, symbolizing and classifying geospatial dataset
• How to perform attribute and spatial data queries
• How to perform spatial analyses
• On-screen digitizing of map data; importing coordinates
• Metadata - what it is and why you need to know about it and create it
  

Class size is limited to 16 students.

Course fee is $300.

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Do you want to learn how to use a GPS receiver?
Do you want to learn about free software that lets you make maps with your GPS data?
Do you want to learn how to link GPS data to digital photos on a PC?
Do you want to learn how to "publish" your GPS data and photos on Google Earth?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this is the course for you.

It covers a wide variety of topics from planning data collection activities to incorporation of GPS data into geographic information systems. A significant portion of the course is spent outside learning to use GPS receivers to collect points and tracks and to navigate to specific field locations. The course primarily uses two free software programs - DNRGarmin and AccuGlobe. DNRGarmin is used to transfer data to and from the GPS receivers and to convert the GPS data into a GIS (shapefile) format. AccuGlobe is a desktop GIS and is used to map and display GPS data along with other spatial datasets. (note: for students familiar with ArcMap, this software also is available and can be used in place of AccuGlobe.) The course also includes modules on 1) how to integrate GPS and digital photography to produce GIS maps with hyperlinks to field photographs, and 2) how to "publish" GPS data on Google Earth. The course is well suited for anyone interested in using GPS for recreational and/or mapping applications.

The class size is limited to 14 students. Each student will have a GPS receiver and computer to use during the training. For class logistics, click here.

• Extensive hands-on use of Garmin GPSMap76 receivers and demonstrations of a variety of other receivers.
• Extensive hands-on field activities to practice collecting geospatial field data - waypoints and tracks.
• Transferring data between the GPS receiver and a desktop computer.
• Using several software tools (DNRGarmin, AccuGlobe and/or ArcMap) to manage and display GPS data.
• Processing GPS data to use in desktop geographic information systems.
• How to "link" digital photographs to GPS locations.
• Information on how to organize and plan effective field data collection projects.

The course fee is $150.

For information about software used in this class, check out our GPS Resources page.

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Creating and Using Geospatial Models: An Introduction to ModelBuilder

This course introduces ArcGIS users to the capabilities and uses of ModelBuilder. The course is designed to explore how ModelBuilder works and how models can be created, edited and used to automate repetitive tasks or to run more complex analyses. While ModelBuilder is relatively simple to use, it can be a bit confusing when first getting started. Through a combination of brief classroom presentations and hands-on exercises students will learn how to:

• Use the ModelBuilder interface to create and edit simple models
• Add data and connect geoprocessing tasks to input/output datasets
• Automate geoprocessing workflows
• Establish model properties
• Control data parameters and variables in models
• Add models as tools to ArcToolbox
• Run models from the ModelBuilder interface or from ArcToolbox
• Create user documentation and help files
• Make models generic (transferable to other ArcGIS users)

Please note: a working knowledge of ArcGIS and geoprocessing tools is required. This is not a beginner's level course.

The course fee is $100.

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Developing Custom Geospatial Tools: An Introduction to Python Scripting

This one-day course introduces ArcGIS users to the capabilities and uses of scripts. Scripts are relatively easy-to-use programming languages and can combine the full capabilities of ArcGIS with the functionality of a scripting language. As a result, scripts have far greater functionality than models but have the expense of being more difficult to develop. The course will explore the use of Python to automate GIS tasks. Python is provided free with ArcGIS and is the scripting language supported by ESRI. The goal of the course is to provide students with the foundation and the resources necessary to develop proficiency with automating geoprocessing tasks with Python scripts. Through a combination of brief classroom presentations and hands-on exercises, students will learn how to:

• Work with basic Python objects: numbers, strings, variables, lists, dictionaries
• Create the geoprocessor to provide the script with access to ArcGIS functionality
• Run ArcToolbox tools within Python
• Use loops to run iterative tasks
• Set script parameters to be specified at runtime
• Import a script into ArcGIS to be run out of ArcToolbox
• Export a model as a Python script
• Find documentation and tutorials for working with ArcGIS in Python

Please note: This is an advanced course. Individuals registering for the course should be familiar with ArcGIS, ArcToolbox and with geoprocessing tools.

Class size is limited to 16 students.

The course fee is $100.

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Comments or Suggestions? Email us at cary.chadwick@uconn.edu.

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