Applied GIS Courses and Projects
The Spatial Informatics graduate programs within the School of Computing and Information Science at the University of Maine are focused on advancing the tools and techniques of geographic information science (GIScience) and developing the knowledge base for the advancement of next generation location technologies. However, there are many other academic areas on campus and across the UMS that are using GIS and related technologies applied to their own teaching and research (e.g. biology, forestry, marine studies, etc.)
Below we list the extent to which Geographic Information Systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), remote sensing and closely related tracking, mapping and navigation technologies are being used already within coursework and in research throughout various fields across the campus. Selected professors were asked to indicate (1) those courses they taught in which the instructor did any kind of teaching or training in GIS, GPS, mapping, remote sensing or closely related technologies or (b) if students used or applied any of these technologies in their research, course work or community service activities.
Further submissions and updates may be submitted to harlan.onsrud@maine.edu
| Courses involving GIS, GPS or closely related location, tracking or mapping technologies | |||
| Course Number | Course Title | Location technologies or software learned or used by students | Courses already taught by distance methods or readily could be so taught. |
| ERS 230 | Geomatics for Earth Sciences | GNSS; GIS, remote sensing | |
| ERS350 | Freshwater Flows | Google Earth, Web Soil Survey | |
| ERS588 | Freshwater Flows – graduate w/independent project | ArcGIS | |
| INT 527 | Integration of GIS and Remote Sensing in Natural Resources Applications | ERDAS Imagine, ArcMap | |
| SFR 205 | Forest Measurements | MapInfo | |
| SFR208 | Geomatics GPS and Coordinate Geometry | Trimble Pathfinder office, Trimble terrasync & MapInfo | |
| SFR211 | Introduction to Forest Operations Planning | Softree – Road EngGarmin GPS | |
| SFR300 | Field Practice in Forest Resources | Garmin GPS | |
| SFR400 | Applied Geographic Information Systems | ArcGis, MapInfo, Global Mapper, Trimble Pathfinder, Trimble terrasync, DNR Garmin | |
| SFR 402 | Advanced Forest Measurements | ArcGIS | |
| SFR 406 | Remote Sensing Image Interpretation & Forest Mapping | Nutting 254 | |
| SFR 609 | Remote Sensing Special Problems | Nutting 254 | |
| SIE 510 | GIS applications | ArcGIS | ✔ |
| SIE 512 | Spatial Analysis | R, Geoda | ✔ |
| SIE 515 | Human-Computer Interaction | GPS tracking, design and visualization of maps for navigation | ✔ |
| SIE 516 | Virtual Reality: Research and Applications | 3D modeling and rendering using Unity 3D suite, spatial interactions of 3D objects in VR, tracking of humans/objects in virtual worlds | |
| SMS 540 | Satellite Oceanography | Terascan, MATLAB | |
| SVT 331 | Photogrammetry | GPS, remote sensing | |
| SVT 352 | Practical Field Operations | GIS, GPS, remote sensing | |
| SVT 437 | Practical GPS | GIS, GPS | |
| SVT 490 | Surveying Capstone | GIS, GPS | |
| SVT 501 | Advanced Adjustment Computations | GPS, Remote Sensing | ✔ |
| SVT 511 | Geodetic Computations in the U.S. Public Land Survey System | GIS, GPS | ✔ |
| SVT 531 | Advanced Digital Photogrammetry | GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing | ✔ |
| SVT 532 | Survey Strategies in the Use of Lidar | GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing | ✔ |
| GIS-Related Academic Programs that are Offered in Entirety OnlineNote: All programs listed here are offered through the School of Computing and Information Science – http://umaine.edu/scis/ The interface for the school’s online courses is at http://umaine.edu/computingcoursematerials/ | ||
| Academic Program Offered Online | Further Information | Comments |
| Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems | http://spatial.umaine.edu/sie-graduate-info/#certificates | Offered both on campus and by distance. |
| Graduate Certificate in Information Systems | http://umaine.edu/msis/curriculum-and-degree-requirements/#certificate | Offered both on campus and by distance. Core courses taught by Spatial Informatics faculty that use many location based illustrations. |
| Master of Science in Information Systems | http://umaine.edu/msis/curriculum-and-degree-requirements/#master | Offered both on campus and by distance. Core courses taught by Spatial Informatics faculty that use many location based illustrations. |
| Master of Science in Spatial Informatics | http://spatial.umaine.edu/sie-graduate-info/#masters | An all course-work graduate degree to be available only through distance learning. The program is currently proceeding through the final steps of the formal approval process. |
| Illustrative Student and Faculty Projects using GIS, GPS or closely related location, tracking or mapping technologies | ||
| Descriptive title of project | Goal of project | Location technologies or software used |
| Watershed characteristics of EPA TIME lakes | Update 1980s data for EPA reporting | Arc GIS, GPS |
| EPA-LTM lakes – coring study | Determine how landscape characteristics affect chemistry of lakes | Arc GIS, GPS |
| Dragonfly mercury in national parks | Characterize watersheds of water bodies in parks across the US | Arc GIS |
| Map making for SFR452 interpretation class | Simple GPSing of waypoints and tracks to show interpretive features and trails | Whatever students know from prior classes, sometimes they combine with Morin’s GIS class project |
| Greenland and Antarctic outlet dynamics | Deploy networks of high-rate GPS receivers to understand transient flow behavior of large outlet glaciers, to better predict future rates of sea level rise | GNSS |
| Maine Futures Community Mapper | Land use modeling | RS/GIS/Netica |
| New England Sustainability Consortium | Characterize freshwater flows to estuaries | GPS of drainage features, watershed maps |
| Landscape Ecology of Bees | Assess the Maine landscape to predict bee diversity | Nutting Hall lab facilities |
| Mapping Forest Biomass | Use LiDAR to predict biomass | ArcGIS |
| Ocean variability in the California Current | Climate impacts on ocean patterns | Ocean satellite data, MATLAB, IDL |
| Assessment of vegetation succession and spatial dynamics in Okefenokee Swamp, GA | Develop vegetation map and spatial Bayesian Belief Network model of Okefenokee Swamp | ArcMap, Netica, R |
| Ecological Field Research | Climate Change Effects | GPS, mapping |
| Geographic Coordinate Data Base | Coordinates | GMM |
| 4-H Projects on GIS and GPS | Promote Geospatial science and career aspirations | Statewide in Maine |
| multiple projects all involving surveying water wells or other hydrologic monitoring equipment and display on maps | ||
| Informatics of indoor spaces (NSF grant) | To study behaviors of indoor human navigation and to develop new visualization techniques to improve indoor navigation using a portable device | 3D rendering using virtual reality, 3d Max / CAD, Android API, |
| Seafloor mapping in Sebasticook Lake | Map bathymetry of lake | Magellen GPS, ArcView |
| Climate interpolation and downscaling | Create 1km global climate layers | R/Python/GDAL |
| Climate change adaptation | Estimate land cover change | Erdas, ARCGIS |
| EPSCoR NEST | Identify human and physical factors influencing coastal bacterial events | ArcGIS, R |
| Greenland surface melting | Development and application of an algorithm for extracting liquid water volumes in multispectral satellite images | Remote Sensing |
| Resource Use in Alaska’s National Forests | ||
| Amphibian use of wetland-limited landscapes in Maine | Examine amphibian spatial use of wetland limited landscapes | ArcMap, R |
| E-911 Mapping | Map out the E-911 locations for the Town of Orrington | Trimble Terrasync, Pathfinder, MapInfo, ArcGIS |
| Taxbase Mapping town of Orrington | Georeference the paper tax base and convert it to digital form | pathfinder, Terrasync, MapInfo, ArcGIS, Vertical Mapper |
| Distributed hydrologic modeling in the Sebago Lake watershed | Determine factors influencing freshwater flow rates into Sebago Lake | ArcGIS, Total Station, GPS |
| Surface flow routing to tidal estuaries on Maine’s coast | Quantify drainage pathways, including hill slope | ArcGIS, Global Mapper, Total Station, GPS |