Instructor:  Dr. Amy Tetlow Smith
                 tetlow@udel.edu
                 831-2294  for messages only
    Office Hours: by appointment
 
Teaching Assistant:  Mary Lemcke
                                bigmar@udel.edu
    Office Hours:  Monday 10:00-11:30
                               Wednesday 4:00-5:30
                           Friday  TBA
                        and by appointment

Course Description:    This is an introductory course in geographic information systems (GIS).  The course assumes no prior GIS knowledge and only basic computer skills on the part of the student.  By the end of the course, the student will have a fundamental understanding of data sources, input and storage, map communication techniques and  analytical techniques using GIS.  The student will get hands-on experience with a basic GIS (ArcView).

Class Meetings:  G372 meets on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 9 pm in 203 Pearson.  As the semester progresses, we will move down to 116 Pearson for the latter part of class.  Attendance is mandatory.

Text:    Clarke, Keith C. 2001. Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems, 3rd ed.  Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.  This book includes a CD which will be needed for class and homework exercises.

Additional readings will be assigned during the semester.

Computing:    The hands-on portion of this class will use ArcView running on PCs under the Windows operating system.

Email:     You are required to have an active UD email account and use it.  All email from me and Mary will be sent to this account.  If you have another email address that you prefer to use, you are responsible for setting up your UD account to forward your mail.  Check your email regularly for you will receive class information and assignments in this form.

Grading:
                    Quizzes  and
                           In-class Exercises         25%
                    Homework  Exercises          25%
                    Midterm Exam                    25%            October 17th
                    Final Exam                         25%            Finals Week

Quizzes:  Short quizzes will be given periodically during the semester.  They may or may not be announced.  No make ups will be given.

In-class exercises:  Short, in-class, group exercises will be given periodically during the semester.  They will not be announced.  No make ups will be given.

Homework exercises:  Exercises will be assigned to be completed outside of class.  The due date will accompany the assignment.  Any assignments turned in after the due date will be assessed a late penalty.  No homework assignments will be accepted more than one week after the due date.

Exams:  The midterm and final exams will be comprehensive.  Make up exams will be given only in cases where the absence has been approved prior to the exam date or in cases of illness or family emergency.  Documentation may be required.  Expect any make up exam to be in a format different from that of the original exam.

Academic honesty is expected of all students at all times.  Dishonest acts such as copying assignments or cheating on exams will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted through the Student Judicial System.