Geographical Information Systems

Course manual 2023/2024

Course content

The goal of the course is to provide students with the fundamental skills needed to understand Geographical Information Systems and carry out a wide variety of spatial analyses that have wide applicability across both natural and social sciences. As part of the social sciences ‘gamma-track’ of the program, the applications discussed in the lab will, however, draw from examples in the social sciences, such as from the fields of human geography, urban planning, or development studies.

In the first part of the course, vector GIS will be used. In this type of GIS, the geographic features are represented by discrete objects defined by one or more coordinate pairs, specifically point, line, or area features. In the second part of the course, we will turn our attention to raster-oriented GIS-procedures. In a raster GIS, a raster image, or grid, is laid over the entire study area. Each raster cell contains information on the area it covers, such as the number of inhabitants or the prevalent land-use type.

From this year (2023-24), the software used in this course is ESRI's ArcGIS Pro. Over the course of 11 GIS lab sessions, students practice their GIS skills with guidance from the instructors. Students are also expected to work independently outside of contact hours to keep up with the exercises and assigned reading.

Study materials

Literature

• The required readings are available on Canvas and consist of key chapters from the following book: Heywood Ian, Sarah Cornelius & Steve Carver (2011), An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems, 4th edition, Harlow (U.K), Pearson Education Ltd.

   

  The required chapters are:

  1. What is GIS?
  2. Spatial data
  3. Spatial data modelling
  4. Data analysis

Syllabus

• We will also use two practical readers – one on Vector GIS and one on Raster GIS . The readers can be downloaded via Canvas. For ease of use during the lab, it is recommended (but not required) that students print out these documents.

Software

• The software used in this course is ESRI's ArcGIS Pro. Students will receive a license code (valid for one year) to install and use this software on their laptop. Information on how to set up your computer will be made available via Canvas before the start of the course.

   

  IMPORTANT: The classes are ‘laptop classes’ and everyone must have their own computer to work with. These laptops must be capable of running the ArcGIS and you must  be prepared with the software installed and operational on your laptop before the lab sessions.  As a general rule, Apple computers do not support ArcGIS (see additional information on Canvas).

Objectives

• Understand the structure and possibilities offered by Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for geographical and spatial analysis.
• Demonstrate familiarity with the basic principles of cartography.
• Demonstrate familiarity with both vector-oriented and raster-oriented GIS procedures.
• Execute simple geographical and spatial analyses with the help of GIS, and interpret the results.

Teaching methods

• Computer lab session/practical training
• Self-study
• Lecture

The course consists of 11 computer labs, each lasting three hours.

The class is structured in the first hour with a presentation of the topic and explanation of the work, following with the practical work will be carried out on the computers and completion of the exercise and ending with the assigned exercise completed.

Any questions about  the GIS topic or exersacies can be asked in the same class to the assistant..

Sometimes, it may not be possible to complete all exercises of a session before the end of each class.
But you are required to complete all tasks of a session on your own time and have them completed before the beginning of the following session.

Learning activities

Attendance

Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):

• Participation in fieldwork is compulsory and cannot be replaced by assignments or other courses.
• In case of practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least of 90% of the sessions and to prepare himself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely.
• In case of tutorials/seminars with assignments, the student is obliged to attend at least 7 out of 8 seminars and to prepare thoroughly for these meetings, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. If the course has more than 8 seminars, the student can miss up to 1 extra meeting for every (part of) 8 tutorials/seminars. If the students attends less than the mandatory tutorials/seminars, the course cannot be completed.

Additional requirements for this course:

• Students may be absent from 1 out of 11 seminars.
• In case of absence, students need to complete the exercises for the missed lab session in their own time, and before the following lab. If that isn't possible, e.g. in the case of extended illness, students should contact their instructor to make alternative arrangements.

Assessment

Lab Checkpoints

Each of the 11 sessions includes two 'checkpoints', i.e. exercises for which you need to show the results to the lecturer.

• If you are not able to complete the exercises within the scheduled session, or if you are absent, you have to complete the checkpoints in your own time and show them to the lecturer at the beginning of the following
• For checkpoint validation, you must show your screen with ArcGIS open (not a screenshot). Only for the last session, if not completed during lab, its completed checkpoints can be emailed to your session’s instructor within two days following the session with a screenshot (make sure you include the full screen so we can see the program open with the result and the computer clock)
• The maximum grade in this section is 10, equivalent to 22 points. For each checkpoint completed on time, you'll be given one point. For each checkpoint handed in late, you'll be given 0.5 points. Note: vector checkpoints cannot be handed in once the raster section of the course has started.
• To pass the course, you need to complete a minimum of 17 checkpoints.

Take-home Assignment

The assignment requires you to work in pairs, and solve a research problem through a GIS analysis. Further details will be provided via Canvas.

• The assignment is due on the 18th March, by 12:00 (noon/midday) and should be submitted via Canvas.
• The deadline is strict. For every day of delay 1-point (out of 10) will be deducted from the grade. If the assignment is more than three-days late, its contents will not be taken into account and it will be graded as 1.0.
• There is no possibility of a retake of this assignment.

Final Exam

The final exam consists of multiple-choice and/or open questions related to the readings and lab sessions.

• The tentative data for the exam is Tuesday, 26th March, from 9.00-11.00, in room IWO 4.04A (Rood), in Amsterdam Zuidoost. Check rooster for updates and make sure you are there in plenty of time.
• The exam will take place in a computer room with secured, non-internet-connected computers. No documents are permitted during the exam.
• The grade of the exam will be made public within 15 working days after the exam.
• There is a possibility of a re-sit the exam on the Friday, the 7th June (date TBC).
• In the case that you participate in the re-sit, the grade of the re-sit counts for the final grade, even if that new grade is lower than the old one.

Assessment diagram

The final grade of the course is a weighted average of the lab checkpoints (20%), (take-home) GIS assignment (30%) and final exam (50%). To pass the exam you need:

• A passing grade for the checkpoint component of the course
• A grade of 5.5 or higher on the final exam
• An overall grade of 5.5 or higher

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

please contact your teacher 

Inspection of assessed work

For both the take-home assignment and final exam, students wishing to inspect their work and/or receive additional feedback can contact the course coordinator within two weeks of receiving their grade.

Assignments

Checkpoints: students can collaborate to solve the exercises during the lab sessions, but each needs to show the checkpoints individually, on their laptop. Feedback is given orally and on a rolling basis.

Take-home assignment: students work in groups to solve a spatial problem using GIS and write a short report about their analysis. The results are graded (1-10); written feedback will also be provided.

Exam: students need to answer a series of questions (multiple-choice and/or open) regarding the course readings and GIS lab contents.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Additional information

We vinden het belangrijk dat je je op de UvA en bij Future Planet Studies veilig voelt. Krijg je onverhoopt te maken met ongewenst gedrag of voel je je onveilig, dan kun je terecht bij verschillende personen. Je melding wordt altijd vertrouwelijk behandeld. Kijk op onze website voor meer informatie over waar en bij wie je terecht kunt.

It is important that everyone feels safe at the UvA and Future Planet Studies. We are committed to provide social safety and we offer various forms of support for people experiencing inappropriate or unsafe situations. Consult the UvA website or Future Planet Studies Canvas page for more information and contact info.

Last year's student feedback

In order to provide students some insight how we use the feedback of student evaluations to enhance the quality of education, we decided to include the table below in all course guides.

Contact information

Coordinator

• C.M. Uberhuaga Candia

Staff

• Jelle Bulens MSc
• Jeroen de Nobel MSc
• Marcel Heemskerk

Staff

• J. Bulens MSc
• Marcel Heemskerk
• Jeroen de Nobel