CRP 386
Applied Geographic Information Systems

Instructor: Barbara Parmenter
Time and Place: Mondays 6:30-9:30p Sutton 2.110

Overview

In this course, we will be attempting to visualize the broad process of urban development in the Austin area over the last century and a half. The goal will be to create a GIS-based application that can provide users with a more comprehensive view of the Austin area and its history. To this end we will also explore how to incorporate photos, text, and other non-spatial data. In addition, we will experiment with animated and 3-D mapping as visualization tools. For background, we will examine other recent projects that use GIS to document and show urbanization and land use changes over time (Baltimore, Phoenix, San Francisco). These will provide templates for discussion and for database design. There is significant interest from a number of national, state, and local institutions to see a database/visualization application of this sort. The Austin project in this class will be a pilot for exploring, testing, and demonstrating the feasibility of such an application.

The project is exploratory and experimental. Some of our work will consist of discussion and conceptual design; some of it will require tracking down of historical maps and other data sources. Much of the work will be in the computer lab. It should appeal to students with interests in regional planning, GIS, history, environmental history, historical and regional geography, and computer visualization.

Tools and Technologies

GIS ­ ArcGIS 8.1
Databases ­ Microsoft Access
HTML and web-authoring techniques
Other visualization tools as appropriate

Grading

Students will divide up the project workload and will be responsible for reporting on and completing their assigned tasks. This will form the majority of the grade (70%). In addition, participation in classroom discussions will count towards %30 of the grade.

Prerequisites

Students enrolling in the course should have taken an introductory GIS course or have equivalent GIS or CAD experience. Students who have no GIS/CAD background, but who do have a strong interest in historical research or experience in visualization should talk to the instructor for permission to register. Students from all disciplines are welcome.