Digital Earth

Owner	Bachelor Future Planet Studies
Coordinator	dr. W.M. de Boer
Part of	Exchange Programme Faculty of Science, specialisation BSc Future Planet Studies / Sustainability, year 1Minor Global Water Challenges, year 1Bachelor Bèta-gamma, major Aardwetenschappen, year 2Bachelor Future Planet Studies, major Future Earth, year 2
Links	Visible Learning Trajectories

Course manual 2025/2026

Course content

This course prepares for the field course 'Desertification' (51329DEL6Y, Semester 2, period 5) with a fieldwork in Southeast Spain (Murcia) near Lorca, in April. During the Digital Earth (DE) course students collect, organize, process, analyze and visualize environmental datasets which will be used in the ‘Desertification’ course.

The topics to be covered in DE include:

• Preparation of a geodatabase in ArcGIS Pro.
• Digitalization and classification of Land Use / Land Cover (LULC), through analysis of high resolution satellite-, ortho-photo and drone imagery.
• Calculating a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from a contour line dataset and extracting selected Land Surface Parameters such as slope gradient and aspect and creating related maps.
• Application of geospatial analysis techniques to find relations between environmental information layers.
• Apply cartographic design / (3D) visualization and printing of maps for use during the Spain fieldwork.
• Writing a technical GIS report in which the geodatabase design, the geospatial datasets, the methods used and the output results are presented.
• Prepare print-ready pdf field maps in the correct scale and layout.
  3 maps without digitizing, but with correct scale, clipping to the correct extent (3 strips) and correct cartographic layout: Topographic Map, Geological Map and Soil Map.
  3 maps made with the help of digitizing objects (points, lines, polygons): Geomorphological Map, Land Use Map and Hydrological Map.

Study materials

Software

• ESRI ArcGIS Pro 3.5 or higher on WINDOWS laptop or WINDOWS computer, NOT on Apple devices

• ESRI Field Maps (on smartphone)

• Google Earth (on laptop or computer)

Other

• GIS related apps on smartphone such as digital compass, offline maps, etc. might come in handy

Objectives

• The student can prepare geospatial information layers relevant for fieldwork by integrating existing thematic information and newly prepared data layers into a GIS geodatabase and into Google Earth Pro.
• The student can digitize concept geomorphological, land use and hydrological maps and add relevant attribute information based on remote sensing imagery and surface pattern analyse.
• The student uses remote sensing & geospatial analysis tools and theory and can analyze remote sensing imagery, with emphasis on the Spain fieldwork area.
• The student can create a technical GIS-report in which the workflow used, the geospatial metadata, the used methods, and the deliverables of the fieldwork area are presented and described.

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Computer lab session/practical training
• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis

One introduction lecture. Five practical self-tuition assignments with a theoretical introduction at the beginning. In total ten laptop practicals, of which the last 5 are targeted on the Spain geodatabase project, done in small groups of 4 students. Writing a GIS project report with the group members. Prepare pdf maps in this course and print them in next course, before going on fieldwork to Spain.

Learning activities

Attendance

Some course components require compulsory attendance. If compulsory attendance applies, this will be indicated in the Course Catalogue which can be consulted via the UvA-website. The rationale for and implementation of this compulsory attendance may vary per course and, if applicable, is included in the Course Manual.

Additional requirements for this course:

In case of the 10 laptop practical sessions, the student is obliged to attend at least 90% of the first 8 sessions and to prepare him/herself adequately, unless indicated otherwise in the course manual. In case the student attends less than 90%, the practical sessions should be redone entirely. In other words: a student is allowed to miss at most 1 out of the first 8  laptop practicals. The 2 laptop practicals in the last week of the course (week 10, 2026) are not obligatory and may be missed (you are supposed to work on the assignments until they are done), but you are invited to join and get assistence on the spot. 

The first lecture/werkcollege (de Boer) at Science Park, on Monday, February 2rd 2026, is obligatory!
Each lecture prepares for the theme of that week. The first and the second laptop practical in each week in the first 4 weeks of the course form a thematical unit. Most of these laptop practical will start with a theoretical introduction, which are are NOT recorded, as they prepare for the laptop practicals of that week, not for an examination. So you have to be present in the practical room at Science Park in person.

For tutorials ('practicals') there is a strict attendance rule: The first 8 laptopcolleges are mandatory (see above). Of those 8 you are allowed to miss 1. After that, the 2 laptop practicals in the last week of the course (week 10, 2026) are not mandatory.

If you’re attendance at practicals is not substantial (if you miss more than allowed) your course will be graded with NAV. This results in a NAV for the whole course.

Absence needs to be communicated in advance to the course coordinator.

The designated mandatory practical sessions play a crucial role in achieving the course objectives and are essential for your overall progress. In addition, GIS skills and Remote Sensing skills are crucial for follow-up courses in your curriculum.

For this course, an attendance requirement applies to the laptop practicals as officially scheduled. During the laptop practicals, the following learning objectives are addressed in the Assessment Diagram; see elsewhere in this course manual. The guidance and exercises during laptop practicals ensure that the learning objectives can be achieved. These are tested in the project phase, during which a technical report and a digital workpackage are created.

By registering for this course, you are complying with the rules regarding attendance and agreeing to actively prepare for and participate in the mandatory activities.

In Datanose the whole cohort in this course is in one group.

Assessment

Item and weight	Details
Final grade

During the Digital Earth course the following deliverables must be handed in that together account to your final mark.

All deliverables and answers to the Quiz questions can and must be handed in via Canvas.

In the table below all deliverables have been listed, together with the hand-in-date and the weighing factor that applies for each deliverable.

Practical session number	Topic	Date of practical 2026	Deadline answers on Canvas or deliverables	Counts for this percentage to your final mark
LC1/M1	Module 1 - Basic Skills ArcGIS Pro	Tuesday February 3rd	Friday February 6th, 23:59 h.	8%
LC2/M2	Module 2 - Basic Skills Google Earth (End of week 1 course)	Friday February 6th	Tuesday February 10th, 23:59 h.	8%
LC3/M3	Module 3 - Virtual Fieldwork Geology	Tuesday February 10th	Tuesday February 17th, 23:59 h.	8%
LC4	Laptop Practical on ready to print PDFs Topogr. Maps, Geology and Soils (End of week 2 course)	Friday February 13th	Friday, February 20th, 23:59 h.	0%
LC5/M4	Module 4 - Virtual Fieldwork Geomorphology, Land Use and Vegetation	Tuesday February 17th	Tuesday February 24th, 23:59 h.	8%
LC6	Laptop Practical on Digitizing Land Use and Geomorphology (End of week 3 course)	Friday, February 20th	Workflows on Canvas (no quiz)	0%
LC7/M5	Module 5 - Hydrology Toolset	Tuesday February 24th	Friday, February 27th, 23:59 h.	8%
LC8	Laptop Practical on Digitizing Hydrology (End of week 4 course)	Friday, February 27th	Workflows on Canvas (no quiz)	0%
LC1 - LC10	All Ready-to-print .pdf files (A3 format)		deadlines of the Modules they belong to.	part of the Canvas Quizzes
LC6, LC8–LC10	The results of your Spain GIS project - datasets		Thursday March 12th, 23:59 h.	30%
LC6, LC8–LC10	The results of your Spain GIS project - the technical GIS report		Friday March 13th, 23:59 h.	30%

Note: All Ready-to-print .pdf files (A3 format, apart from the topographical map all on scale 1:10,000 (= 1 cm on the map = 100 meters in the field)), are part of the Canvas Quizzes and have the deadlines of the Modules they belong to.

Your mark for the Modules 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 on Canvas must be 5.5 or higher.

A second attempt for each of the 5 modules is possible during the course, if your score is below 5.5, but only a few days AFTER the due date of the last of the 5 modules, that is Module 5 (Hydrology), on Tuesday, February 24th, 2026, when grading of this last module has finished. The maximum score for this second attempt (which will be the new grade for that module) is the grade 6.0.

If deadlines are exceeded without substantial demonstrable reason, re-examination is possible at the re-examination date.
Re-examination date will be set by the course coordinator in cooperation with the FPS curriculum coordinator.

Your mark for the Technical Report must be 5.5 or higher. Your mark for the GIS Dataset (Project Package) must be 5.5 or higher.
If your mark for the Technical Report and/or GIS Dataset (Project Package) is below 5.5, a second attempt is possible.
Maximum score for this second attempt (which will be the new grade for the Technical Report and/or GIS Dataset) is the grade 6.0.

Your final mark for the whole course must be 5.5 or higher.

N.B. If there are special reasons why you are not able to complete a specific obligatory component in the course, contact the study advisors studieadviseur-iis@uva.nl before the examination date (or deadline when it concerns a Canvas Module). In the case of special circumstances, the study advisor, student and course coordinator can search for alternative solutions.

Assessment diagram

Leerdoel:	Toetsonderdeel:
#1. The student can prepare geospatial information layers relevant for fieldwork by integrating existing thematic information and newly prepared data layers into a GIS geodatabase and into Google Earth Pro.	Canvas Online Quizzes 1 - 5
#2. The student can digitize concept geomorphological, land use and hydrological maps and add relevant attribute information based on remote sensing imagery and surface pattern analyse.	Canvas Online Quizzes 3 - 5 and Group Assignments
#3. The student uses remote sensing & geospatial analysis tools and theory and can analyze remote sensing imagery, with emphasis on the Spain fieldwork area.	Canvas Online Quizzes 1 - 5 and Group Assignments
#4. The student can create a technical GIS-report in which the workflow used, the geospatial metadata, the used methods, and the deliverables of the fieldwork area are presented and described.	Group Assignments

Students that were enrolled in the course in previous years

There are no exemptions for resit students for this course.

Inspection of assessed work

Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection.

Up to 30 days after the announcement of the result students have the right of inspection of their work (all forms of assessment). Please come to the course coordinator for inspection of your work, assessments and grades on Canvas. Please note: you lose the right of feedback from the examiner when you don’t react within 30 days from the end of the course (Friday, March 13th 2026).

Assignments

LC1 Practical 1 with laptops (to be made individually): Module 1 - Basic Skills in ArcGIS Pro.

A Canvas Quiz with texts, data and questions in which basic techniques and procedures will be illustrated from the fieldwork area and surroundings. Basic skills in ArcGIS Pro 3.x to be addressed in this module:

1. Build two geodatabases: Personal (default geodatabase) and PROJECT (final deliverables)
2. Produce an ArcGIS ‘Map’ package (.ppkxfile) for your strip (+ neighboring strips)
3. Import data from Canvas to your Personal geodatabase
4. Clip large rasters and vector datasets to the shape of your strip (+neighboring strips)
5. If necessary, mosaic, georeferenced data and transform coordinate system or projections.
6. Extract a countour map from a digital elevation model (DEM)
7. Inform yourself on Land Surface Parameters. At least construct a slope map ('hellingkaart'), hill shade and aspect map ('hellingsrichtingkaart'), plus two other Land Surface Parameters that will help you analyse and interpreted the landscape.
8. Add metadata to your self-made maps.
9. Set up a Scene, and present orthophotos in 3D based on your DEM.

Test & answers individually directly via Canvas, similar to the tests on Canvas of the course Remote Sensing.

LC2  Practical 2 with laptops (to be made individually): Module 2 - Basic Skills in Google Earth Pro.

• A Canvas Quiz with texts, data and questions in which basic techniques and procedures in Google Earth Pro will be illustrated from the fieldwork area and surroundings. Basic skills to be addressed in this module:
  

  1. build a new kml/kmz file (with the extension .kmz or .kml) in Google Earth (GE) to be able to handle the requirements for the coming weeks,

  2. You will start with a prepaired file that can be downloaded from Canvas.

  Test & answers individually directly via Canvas, similar to the tests of the course Remote Sensing.

LC3 Practical 3 with laptops (to be made individually): Module 3: Virtual Fieldwork Geology.

• A Canvas Quiz with texts, data and questions on air-photo interpretation, geological data extraction and landscape interpretation of the fieldwork area in Spain (Murcia, La Parroquia), by using recent (from 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) drone photos in combination with recent imagery on Google Earth. Module 4: Land use (change) is another issue.
  The goal of this assignment is to practice online the recognition of geological features in the field.

  Test & answers individually directly via Canvas, similar to the tests of the course Remote Sensing.

LC4 Practical 4 with laptops (to be made in a group): creation of ready-to-print-PDFs of topographical, geological and soil maps.

• A  practical session on the creation of ready-to-print PDFs.
  Workflows on Canvas (no quiz).

LC5 Practical 5 with laptops (to be made individually): Module 4:  Geomophology, Land Use and Vegetation Virtual Fieldwork.

• A practical session on air-photo interpretation, geomorphological data extraction and landscape interpretation of the fieldwork area in Spain (Murcia, La Parroquia), by using recent (from 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) drone photos in combination with recent imagery on Google Earth. Land use (change) and Vegetation (development) are other issues.

LC6 Practical 6 with laptops (to be made in a group): Digitizing Land Use and Geomorphology in ArcGIS Pro.

• A  practical session on the creation of polygons in ArcGIS Pro reflecting Land Use and Geomorphology.
  Start of the Spain Project. Workflows on Canvas (no quiz).

LC7 Practical 7 with laptops (to be made individually): Module 5 - Hydrology Toolset in ArcGIS Pro.

• A basic dataset for hydrological modeling is a digital elevation model (DEM). Delineation of watersheds and sub-catchments and extraction of the hydrological stream network is necessary before modeling can start. Based on a hydrological network, various hydrological parameters can be calculated and flow tracing can be carried out. You will:

  1. Extract the stream network using a DEM,
  2. Delineate a watershed and divide it into different polygons and
  3. Calculate the drainage density of the watershed.
  
  The Hydrology Toolset is part of ArcGIS Pro 3.x and need no additional installation.
  Test & answers individually directly via Canvas, similar to the tests of the course Remote Sensing.

LC8 Practical 8 with laptops (to be made in a group): Digitizing Hydrology in ArcGIS Pro.

• Digitizing Hydrological features in ArcGIS Pro.
  Workflows on Canvas (no quiz).

LC9 and LC10 Practicals 9 and 10 with laptops (to be made in a group): finishing Spain Project

• Continuation of the team project and individual project - you have time to further analyze your GIS data, add metadata and write a technical GIS-report.

Each group member in a group of 4 students will be made responsible for one of these deliverables:

1) Geomorphological Map,

2) Land Use Map,

3) Hydrological Map or

4) Geodatabase\GIS datasets. The Technical GIS Report stays a common responsibility.

Please see to it, that everyone is doing her, his, its or their share!

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

Remote Sensing (5132RESE3Y) or a comparable GIS / Remote Sensing course is mandatory. In case of doubt, the coordinator will decide on participation.

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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.

 

Course Name: Digital Earth (3 EC)
Strengths Overall assessment was fairly good;  more than three quarters of the students is '(very) satisfied' with the practical application Practical work with ArcGIS, variety of assignments, good assistance, introduction to fieldwork. Clear course design, high academic challenge, student-activating teaching, high level, good study material.	Notes for improvement The requirements set for the report were not clear to everybody. More clarity on what deliverables are expected. Make clear to students that this course is first of all about learning GIS skills, by 'learning by doing'. Not everything has to be perfect or will succeed at once, because of practical issues. Students would like to be able to assess their peers on the basis of their contribution to the project. Results e.g. answers to the questions in the 5 core Canvas Quizzes should be available after one week or so. Workflows, now spread over the 5 modules should also be available in one central document (pdf) as a lookup source for repeating workflows.
Response lecturer: Last year, the course Digital Earth was running smooth, because a lot of issues are resolved in the past few years. For instance dataset delivery (now via Canvas), projection (1 unified projection), working with the 64 bit application ArcGIS Pro (more stable) and project package files. The spread in grades last year was good; there were almost no insufficients. Last three years, much of the previous 'Project Spain' assignments are integrated into the Canvas Modules 1 - 5 and into Canvas Workflows. So there is more step-by-step teaching and the Project Spain starts earlier with more time for digitizing. In the Canvas Quizzes the deliverables are explained much better and uploads of them are more facilitated. The concept of 'Virtual Fieldwork' (introduced online in the corona years) is integrated much more in the course last three years. New drone images (made in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025) of the fieldwork area in Spain make this possible.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. W.M. de Boer

Staff

• dr. W.M. (Thijs) de Boer (coordinator and lectures)
• dr. R.F. (Richard) Ott (lectures)
• Rosa Rougoor MSc (teacher D4)
• Daniël Kooij MSc (teacher D4)
• Eleanna Analyti (student assistant)