GIS (Geographical Information Systems) at Reed
Events
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2008-09 Events
Creating a Digital Footprint in Google Earth (NITLE videoconference)Thursday, April 16, 2009.
Justin Grigg, GIS Specialist at Alfred University, and several undergraduate students from Alfred University presented their experiences with three-dimensional modeling and enhanced placemarks in Google Earth, with a special focus on tips and tricks for modeling three-dimensional structures using the Sketchup design package. Participants also discussed strategies for involving students in the process of replicating campus environments in Google Earth.
More details on the session from the NITLE website
Download a recording of the session (Note: Marratech videoconferencing software is required to watch the recording.)
Visualizing the Solid Earth Using Virtual Globes Such As Google Earth (NITLE videoconference)
Tuesday, March 17, 2009.
Declan de Paor of Old Dominion University discussed how he creates structural visualizations of the earth's subsurface using Google Earth in conjunction with SketchUp models that emerge from the subsurface. Participants also discussed techniques to create time-series animations and their impact on student learning.
More details on the session from the NITLE website
Download a recording of the session (Note: Marratech videoconferencing software is required to watch the recording.)
GIS Office Hours. Tuesday, March 3, 2009; Tuesday, March 31, 2009; Monday, April 13, 2009.
Getting Started with GIS. Thursday, February 26, 2009.
Creating Cartograms: Making Geographic Areas Speak Volumes (NITLE videoconference)
Thursday, February 26, 2009.
In this interactive videoconference, presenters discussed how to
make and evaluate cartograms, how cartograms are interpreted and
misinterpreted, and good and bad coordinate systems and projections to
use for cartograms.
More details on the session from the NITLE website
Download a recording of the session (Note: Marratech videoconferencing software is required to watch the recording.)
Getting Started with GIS. Wednesday, February 4, 2009.
Paideia class: "Mix, Mingle, and Mashup some Maps." Wednesday, January 21, 2009. In this informal workshop, we had a lot of fun developing personalized maps through the use of Google Earth and Google Maps, exploring open-source mapping data and software, using ArcGIS to generate some maps that we then exported to Google Earth, and experimenting with cartograms.
News
Resources
For the 2008-2009 academic year, Reed received an Instructional Innovation Fund grant from NITLE to provide GIS services, including consulting, training, and software, to students and faculty members interested in using GIS in their scholarly work. Read the grant proposal (.pdf)
In 2009-10, the consulting program is not available, but we continue to provide access to self-paced, online training through ESRI's Virtual Campus.
Consulting (2008-09)
Reed developed a partnership with a local GIS consulting firm, The Gartrell Group, to provide guidance and technical advice on research projects that involve GIS. Consultation on these projects took place in two stages: first, individual exploratory meetings that examined a specific question and develop a plan for integrating GIS analysis into the project, and second, focused project planning sessions during which the consultants helped student and faculty researchers to identify the data, resources and GIS techniques that are essential to their projects.
Training
A wide range of self-paced online training classes about various aspects of the ArcGIS spatial analysis software is available through ESRI's Virtual Campus. You can sign up for many of these classes, including the nine-hour Getting Started course, on your own; for some of the more specialized classes, you'll need some help from us to sign up. The classes require ArcGIS software, so you will probably need to take them on campus.
Software
ESRI's complex and powerful ArcGIS software, which allows you to perform sophisticated spatial and data analysis and produce high-quality interactive maps of your results, is installed on the dual-boot iMacs and Mac Pros in the Public Policy Workshop, in the mLab, and in IRCs 1 and 3 in the ETC. Google Earth is also available in most computer labs around campus.
Links
We'd love to hear your suggestions about other useful sites to add to this list!
GIS Data Depot (free and moderately priced geographic data)
Tiger Data (U.S. street files)
Google's LatLong blog (news about Google Earth and Google Maps)
GIS and Science
GIS Featured Websites (Stanford)
Index of free/open-source GIS resources
OpenLayers (Javascript library for web-based mapping applications)
MapServer (platform for publishing maps and data on the web)
Everyblock.com (local news aggregation)
ESRI (GIS and mapping software, including ArcGIS)
Contact
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about GIS at Reed, please contact Trina Marmarelli, Instructional Technologist.