Project Work in GIS and Remote Sensing

This advanced course builds on fundamentals learned in introductory geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) courses to explore a more in-depth investigation of a chosen GIS or RS topic, utilizing advanced techniques. Students design and execute a workflow in GIS and/or RS to solve an environmental or human-based problem with real-world applications. This course is project oriented and includes hands-on activities and readings of selected publications on advanced GIS and RS techniques. The course is especially suitable for students of GIS who wish to explore collection of environmental data and imagery from remote platforms and explore the basics of visual interpretation, digital analysis, and application of RS in industry and academia. Course topics include reviewing the core principles of GIS vector and raster data models, radiometric and geometric characteristics of remotely-sensed data, image processing systems, image restoration, enhancement techniques, thematic information extraction, spectral classification methods, classification accuracy assessment, and integration of GIS and RS. A final project is required that involves a real-world application of advanced GIS/RS analysis and derived image or analytical products. Students develop their own projects tailored to their own research interests and honed with input from the instructors.