GIS Education Center

GIS Quick Start

Details: Saturday, 06 August 2011 18:59 GISEC Staff Hits: 13420

Course #: GIS-110 1 2 3 4 5 ( 42 Votes )
Dates: July 5, 12, 19, 26, Aug. 2
Time: Thursday evening 6:00pm-9:00pm
Instructor: Mōno Simeone
Level: Beginner. No previous GIS experience needed
Cost: Early Reg. $180 \| Full $210 (Early registration fee is available up to one week before the start of class)
Location: Mission Campus Bldg.B R475 1125 Valencia St. San Francisco Ca 94110

Class Examples:

Students explore how Avian Flu may spread using GIS.
It's possible to analyze drive time distances using GIS.
Understanding cartography and publishing a map to PDF.
Learning how to join census data tables and produce a graduated color map.
Importing aerial images, basemaps, and other data types.
Using terrain models to visualize landslides and liquifaction zones.

Overview

The introduction workshop is designed for students with little or no GIS skills interested in understanding basic concepts of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and gaining skills to work with GIS on their own. The workshop will demonstrate the fundamentals of creating maps, editing data, and performing analysis. Students will gain confidence in these fundamentals through various exercises, group work, and assignments. Using Esri's ArcGIS Desktop 10, students will be exposed to the most powerful and widely used desktop GIS software package.

Students will learn how to use the applications to solve questions such as:
• Find all sex offenders within 2000 feet of schools
• Where is the best location to open a new store?
• Identify census tracks with high income and high home ownership
• Display the number of accidents at each intersection by direction
• Where might disease spread too?

The five week workshop will focus on the following:
• Understanding the setup of a GIS project
• Understanding GIS file formats
• spatial queries
• symbology
• Basic editing techniques
• Creating new datasets

At completion of this workshop a student should expect to be able to work comfortably with GIS project files, join tabular/spreadsheet data with spatial layers, create new spatial layers using queries and geoprocessing tools, symbolize map features, and publish a map. These skills may be applicable for entry-level GIS positions or internships.

Prereqs & Organization

Prerequisites
(1) This workshop requires no previous GIS skills.

(2) Students need to possess an intermediate-level knowledge of the Windows XP operating system. This includes creating new files and folders, copy and paste, transferring data between computers using a flash drive, and other basic desktop functionality. Familiarity with creating and managing new worksheets in Excel and working with a wide range of file types (e.g. TXT, CSV, XLS) is helpful but not required.

(3) Additional skills expected: storing, copying and management of multiple data types; managing multiple windows and applications; and the discipline to save work frequently.

(4) A strong motivation to learn, explore and have fun with computer applications is essential. This workshop will require a significant amount of independent work and relies heavily on student initiative.

(5) An openness to working with other students in the class as a shared learning experience in order to complete assignments, build contacts in the professional GIS world and to support relatively new GIS learners.

Organization
The structure of each class will generally consist of a short lecture followed by 2 - 2.5 hours of hands-on lab time and a short break halfway through the class period. Homework, quizzes, and readings are assigned in order to reinforce GIS concepts and techniques.

Textbook & Materials

Flash Drive
Not all lab/exercise data are available online as GIS files can be large. It is recommended you bring a 1GB or greater flash drive. If you plan on taking additional GISEC workshops we recommend at minimum 2GB flash drive though encourage 4GB.

Textbook
No textbook is required for this workshop. However, it is recommended students purchase 'Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop'. The book should be used as a self-study resource for reviewing fundamental ArcGIS concepts and tools. The textbook provides an excellent foundation and is also recommended in many of our other GIS workshops. This book is not available in our Campus bookstore.

Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop, For ArcGIS 10
By Robert Burke
Available through: Amazon | Borders

Make sure your copy comes with an evaluation CD. (Note: be wary when ordering from online retailers as evaluation CD's may be faulty or not included).

FAQs

I already have GIS experience do I need to take this class in order to take the 200 level workshops?

It depends. GIS II - Vector & Raster Analysis and other 200 level workshops are designed with the understanding students already possess basic fundamental GIS skills. If you haven't used GIS in over a year it may be a good idea to take the GIS Quick Start as a refresher. However, if you're currently engaged with GIS or confident you've retained the basic GIS skills, which are taught in GIS Quick Start, then consider enrolling in the 200 level courses. Contact the instructor to discuss your situation.

Why is this class five weeks long? And why not taught over a weekend?

The answer is simply this: learning the basics of a desktop GIS software package, terminology, and concepts isn't feasible, in our honest opinion, over two or three days. Feedback from students has been clear in that they felt more time was needed to digest the material and feel comfortable working with the desktop GIS application. We believe our model best suits students who want to learn and retain GIS skills without feeling lost after a weekend crash course and don't desire a semester long course.

How much time outside of class will I need to work on GIS assignments?

The average student should expect to spend 2-3 hours per week outside of class finishing assignments.

Do you demonstrate how to use census data with GIS files?

Yes. The course material uses quite a bit of census data for various examples. In addition, students must learn how to join tabular census data with existing GIS files; therefore, a lab exercise is specifically designed to show you how to do this.

Do I really need to bring a storage device like a flash drive?

Yes. You will want to take your data with you. Even if you don't have a computer at home you may want practice at work or in the open lab.

Some web-based services such as YouSendIt.com and TransferBigFiles.com provide free transfer of single files up to a certain size, usually 1 GB. Multiple data files can be consolidated into a single ZIP file prior to transfer. Notification of successful transfers arrive via email.

There is no server space provided to store your work.

Can I bring my own personal computer to class?

Students are welcome to bring their personal computers into class to work on assignments. You will need a USB flash drive for saving files and transferring them to the personal computer. In addition, students should install the following software:

Required Software
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint

Mac users
ArcGIS is not distributed for Mac's, you must have: BootCamp, SWSoft's Parallels, VMware Fusion, or VirtualBox installed.

Please note CCSF does not provide Wi-Fi service at this time.