Crop and Soil Sciences > Degree Programs and Courses > Soil Science Courses > Soils 450
Soils 450 - Environmental Geographic Information Systems
- Instructor: Dr. Rick Day
- Credits: 3
- Semesters Offered: Fall
- Texts:
- Prerequisite: SOILS 101 or equivalent.
- Syllabus: Link to PDF file.
Course Description
Use of geographic information systems (GIS) and digital spatial databases to characterize landscapes for environmental assessment and management.
Course Outline:
The overall goal of this course is to educate and prepare the student in the use of digital environmental spatial databases to characterize landscapes for environmental assessment and management.
Lectures will discuss the availability of and access to digital data products distributed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and other government agencies at hillslope to national scales. Each of these products will be examined critically to familiarize the students with techniques commonly employed for the construction of digital environmental databases and to provide guidance with respect to their applications.
In the laboratory protion of the course, emphasis is placed on the development of practical and problem-solving skills using GIS, global positioning systems (GPS), terrain analysis, and remote sensing technologies. By the end of the course, the student will have acquired valuable technical expertise, which is commonly sought by employers in natural resource management fields.
- Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Definition of GIS
- Components
- Basic Functions of a GIS
- Data Models
- Raster vs vector
- Quadtree data models
- TIN data model