IMPROVING GIS AND CARTOGRAPHY TOPIC INTEGRATION AND ASSIMILATION

Transcription

1 IMPROVING GIS AND CARTOGRAPHY TOPIC INTEGRATION AND ASSIMILATION Environmental Systems Research Institute Educational User Conference By Curtis B. Edson United States Military Academy, West Point Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering 16 June 2004

2 ABSTRACT Traditional college level GIS and Cartography instruction involves lectures presented by permanent faculty and graduate student led laboratories. This model is often not well suited for topic integration and assimilation. This paper explores teaching methodology and curriculum development for introductory level GIS and cartography courses. The discussion addresses lecture to laboratory integration and class size as a way to better propagate the learning process for students with little or no GIS/cartography background. Traditional lecture methods are compared with active learning models, which instigate and promote the learning process for a subject matter that initially may be difficult to grasp. Finally curriculum development and lesson plans are evaluated for determining what capabilities a student should leave an introductory level application based GIS and cartography course with. INTRODUCTION To the student new to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the science can appear to be very convoluted. In many cases the student does not start to grasp the essence of an introductory course until mid-way through a semester, with some not grasping the subject until the end of the course. Others may not come to terms with the science until their first capstone project. This can be frustrating at best and disastrous to a grade point average at worst. The student taking GIS for the first time often feels bombarded with an entirely new vocabulary, and an overwhelmingly broad spectrum of entirely new information unrelated to any previous course work. This can be daunting to both the student and instructor struggling with the education process. Having received a bachelor s degree at a polytechnic university, a master s degree from a research focused university, and having taught at one of our nations military academies, I have a unique perspective on both giving and receiving education, specifically in the field of geospatial information. In this paper I will review my educational experience in geospatial information sciences specifically targeting GIS and Cartography to address problem areas and in some cases suggest ways of improving how the discipline is presented at the baccalaureate level. Because more and more disciplines are discovering the utility of GIS, the discussion often considers the fact that many students taking introductory level geospatial information sciences are not specifically geospatial information science majors. The utility courses in geospatial information, namely GIS, Remote Sensing and Cartography, are taken by students in a broad range of majors from Natural Resource Management to Economics and Marketing. This broad category of students often only take one or two courses in the discipline, thus the depth of information presented in each course should be considered. 2

3 Topic Integration and Assimilation Presenting the Lecture During the previous semester a fellow instructor and I experimented with presenting both lecture and laboratory GIS instruction in the computer lab. At the United States Military Academy class sizes are small. The most students allowed per class section are eighteen, thus class size was not affected by the number of computers. We have eighteen. For many universities, this is problematic, as many lectures are delivered to thirty and upwards of one hundred students packed into a large lecture hall. This would require either more instructors, or the same instructor delivering each class more than once. However, just as it has been found at the elementary school level, smaller class enrollments are more functional at the university level. Reception of the lecture in a laboratory was mixed by both student and instructor. One instructor liked giving the lecture in the computer lab, as it allowed him to move from power point, to chalk board to instructor led practical exercises using the GIS program. Another instructor did not, understandably, appreciate the computer distraction of students surfing the web, or using some other program, or even working on other GIS course work while in lecture. We also found that time can be wasted with students not following the pace of the instructor, and getting lost in the computer/instructor interface. Student s opinions were split as well. Some enjoyed the exercises because they were practical and helped to immediately reinforce the lecture, while some were annoyed and distracted by others not doing the right thing by paying attention to the instruction. A potential solution is to have an instructor computer set up in the lecture with the GIS program loaded and ready to reinforce the lecture. Although the designated laboratory period is designed to reinforce the lecture and teach the application, reinforcement is sometimes warranted within the lecture itself, and in many cases makes the goal of instruction easier. Enabling Assimilation It is difficult for many new students learning introductory GIS theory to understand how this intricate topic all fits together. Consider a moment what a typical introductory GIS syllabus looks like. We may start with geographic data representation and in a few short lessons move from the nature of geographical information, to coordinate systems, to topology, to data models. To the GIS veteran, we can see how this all of this relates. However, the new student may easily get lost in how this all fits together in the broad topic of data representation, let alone put it all together in a system related to geographic information. Before getting into the core of what a GIS is, the student should understand that we are modeling our real world through the process of abstraction. On the surface, the student often finds it simple to grasp the generalization process of abstracting earth s infinite details into a useable form. But cartographic abstraction is often lost in the minutia of other seemingly more important GIS discussion. Since abstraction is such a fundamental piece of what we are doing in a GIS, it should be revisited from 3

4 time to time to demonstrate how this system all fits together. Figure 1 is a graphic attempt at displaying how cartographic abstraction fundamentally relates to GIS. If the new student grasps what is contained in this figure, he/she is ready to begin assimilating the four GIS subsystems. Figure 1. Cartographic Abstraction As mentioned above, the theory of GIS may seem very complicated and disjointed. We introduce the student to topics many have never seen before and each topic introduces a brand new set of vocabulary. Some students must feel like they are on a star ship at warp speed and the topics and vocabulary are like stars whizzing by. The objective of the student is to grab and hold on to each star. This can be a rather overwhelming feat. Many students do not begin to grasp the theory until midway through the course for some and as late as the last few lessons for others. After the student is enlightened by cartographic abstraction, the student is then prepared for the GIS subsystem barrage. A crucial part in aiding the student to grasp how each part of the system of geographic information fits together is a unifying graphic that displays each subsystem and the main parts of each. Figure 2 is an attempt to display the GIS subsystems and their related components. The intent for the graphic is for the instructor to relate each lesson s main topic to the figure during every lesson. The results are that the student may readily identify: 1) the four subsystems; 2) how the four subsystems relate to each other in each phase, with the size of the box representing the importance weighting involved for the particular phase; 3) what the main components of each subsystem are through color coding; 4) where the lesson fits in the overall system; and finally 5) that there is some overlap between 4

5 components in some cases a key subsystem component topic may be important to each of the GIS subsystems, e.g. GIS Data Models. Figure 2 GIS Subsystems Capitalizing on Requisite Knowledge One of the most important pieces of advice the new instructor may receive is that he should avoid trying to teach too much in a single lesson. In other words one of the most difficult skills to acquire is to limit the information taught in a lesson, by determining the main points of the topic and focusing on the them only. With so many key subsystem components to a GIS, and each having so much new vocabulary, one of the obvious ways to narrow the focus of a GIS course is by making a cartography course a prerequisite to or concurrent with GIS. An understanding of cartographic representation is a critical component to GIS. It may be argued that a GIS course should precede cartography. For cartographic design this is an acceptable solution, but cartographic representation should be left to discussion in a cartography class where it may receive the requisite level of attention and detail. In six of the top universities offering degrees in either GIS or Geodesy (each of which offers courses in GIS), one required either cartography or environmental science as a prerequisite and the other recommended a basic mapping course prior to taking GIS. The remaining four either did not require or all 5

6 together did not offer a course in cartography. In both the storage and output subsystems we deal with cartographic representation. Based on how much course material there is to cover in GIS, it is an injustice to the student and the topic to attempt to cover the level of detail required to understand cartographic representation in any less than four hours of instruction. To provide a solid foundation in cartographic representation a course should cover geodesy, projections, and coordinate systems. The time required to do the subject and student justice would take valuable time best reserved for the other myriad of GIS details. With this said, it does not hurt to have a review lesson on the subject. Some might argue that knowledge in cartographic design is not necessary at all. After teaching both GIS and Cartography I strongly disagree with that argument. If someone has any art background, I might be swayed by this argument. However with the current generation of college students being forced away from the arts by budget cuts in the school systems, we are faced with a generation of students lacking in any artistic training above the elementary level. This is obvious when observing maps created by students with hideous use of color, and no clue of how to create visual hierarchy and figure ground with color and patterns. It is a mistake to graduate with a GIS degree with no cartographic training. Further discussion of what should be included in a cartography course is discussed later on in the paper. Integrating Laboratory Instruction Each university system has a different focus of either education or research, and each has their advantages and disadvantages. The student attending an education focused institution like a polytechnic university has the advantage of receiving a technical education where the student is the focus. The instructor s primary focus is on educating the student. A potential disadvantage is not receiving the most up to date information from a potentially stagnant faculty. Faculty members in this system sometimes rely on syllabus and notes created many years dated. The student attending the research focused institution has the advantage of receiving the most current information in their field, but may lose the focus of the instructor s priority. Often a faculty member s number one priority mandated by the university is research, and the education of the student by the instructor falls short. In the field of geospatial information sciences this issue surfaces is in the laboratory. A common problem among students seeing GIS for the first time is assimilating the theory with the application. In the education focused university often the course instructor lectures and instructs the laboratory. This method facilitates continuity between the information being delivered in lecture with the application in the laboratory. The same individual delivers the information. The model the research focused university often uses for instruction is the professor lectures and a graduate student runs and presents the laboratory instruction. The assumption here is that because the graduate student laboratory instructor is required to sit in the lecture, this provides the continuity between theory and application. It is also obvious, sometimes painfully, that in this model the professor is out of 6

7 touch with exactly what is being taught in the lab. This method can be weak or even fail if not properly monitored. The best solution is to have the same professor teach in lecture and laboratory for the same course. An alternative is to have the professor truly direct the course by creating the lesson plan for both the lecture and the lab, and teach a minimum of one lab section, which would allow for continual course verification. Finally if the above two methods are not feasible, the professor must sit down with the graduate student and verify the lab lesson plan, and periodically (a few times during the course duration) sit in on, and monitor the lab. This provides two functions: 1) It allows the professor to verify what is being taught in the lab for his course, 2) It allows the professor to evaluate the graduate student s instruction ability and teach him to be a better instructor. It is interesting in this country that we require the kindergarten through twelfth grade teacher to be certified to instruct, but at he college level a PhD or sometimes even a master s degree will suffice. A graduate degree does not an instructor make, and further certification should be required if an individual intends to teach at the college level. Cartography Course Content With the premise that an introductory course in GIS should be preceded by an introductory cartography course, the cartography course content should also be discussed. If as a student you had an idea what cartography was all about, then consider what knowledge you would have liked to leave a Cartography course with. If on the other hand you only knew that a cartography course discussed maps, consider what you now know, and what you feel you should have finished the course knowing. Table 1 is an excerpt of a syllabus for an introductory computer cartography course. In this example lesson periods for examinations and final projects have been removed. There are many lessons for which the merits of including in the example are obvious. Let us discuss the not so obvious lessons where further justification may be necessary. In many cases, the History of Cartography is not discussed in the classroom. The current generation of instructors in the field of geospatial information is at a key crossroad between older analog methods and today s modern digital methods. To lose sight of cartographic history is to lose the understanding of why and how things are done in the digital world. From the simple discussion of where the terms upper and lower case letters come from to how contour lines were derived versus how they are now created, are both examples showing the importance of grasping the art and science of cartography. With respect to old technology, it is almost criminal that so many institutions have gone as far as physically throwing away old analog geospatial equipment. Consider the value added in using this equipment to better understand today s technology. Digitizing is an important topic for both cartography and GIS. Although digitizing should be taught in a GIS course, it is often either on screen (heads up), or via table or tablet, but often not both. Especially if there is a final project in a cartography course, the methods for getting both raster and vector data into 7

8 the database should be understood by the student. On a side note, some would argue that with today s scanning technology, digitizing tables are obsolete and should no longer be taught in school. Even if one believes that we have all maps available in digital form throughout the world and digitizing tables are no longer needed, consider the value added to learning how to create a layer from hard copy using the digitizing table or tablet. To talk about GIS input from projections and editing to entities and attributes without creating a layer from scratch is a disservice to the student. Table 1. Sample Cartography Syllabus Lesson/Lab Lesson Title Lesson/Lab Lesson Title Lsn 1 Introduction to Cartography Lsn 11 Choropleth Mapping Lab 1 Manual Reference Map Lab 5 Quantitative Mapping (Choropleth, Dot, Isarithmic) Lsn 2 History of Cartography Lsn 12 Basic Geodesy Lsn 3 Cartographic Design Lab 6 Working with Projections Lab 2 Visual Variables Lsn 13 Projections Lsn 4 Color Theory Lsn 14 Coordinate Systems Lsn 5 Color Application Lsn 15 Digitizing Lsn 6 Generalization Lab 7 Digitizing Lab 3 Generalization and Figure Ground Lsn 16 Data Models Lsn 7 Typography and Lettering Lsn 17 Surveying and Remote Sensing Lsn 8 The Nature of Cartographic Data Lab 8 Mapping from Tabular Data Lab 4 Creating a Base Map Lsn 18 Terrain Visualization Lsn 9 Discrete Symbolization Lsn 19 Digital Databases (Data Sources) Lsn 10 Isarithmic Mapping Lab 9 Terrain Visualization Consider figure 3 for the remainder of the discussion as an example for what should be presented in an introductory cartography course. The figure displays a map created as an improvement over a 1/50,000 topographic map originally created by the Defense Mapping Agency (now NGA). The map revision was created by a student who had taken an intro level course in GIS, cartography and a cartographic design class. Fortunately for the student, he had taken a remote sensing course and had performed a classification. The base map is created from an image classification, however the student had never been shown how to create a shaded relief map. Fortunately, using a digital elevation model (DEM), he was able to figure out on his own how to drape the image and create the shaded relief. The contour lines on the other hand were all hand digitized from an underlying map. To create the contour lines using the same DEM above would have been far less time consuming, however this method had not been taught in the aforementioned classes, nor had heads up digitizing. Again the student figured out how to do this on his own. Finally, the grid was also digitized from an underlying map instead of using available software to do it. 8

9 Now this may seem extreme, and stupid in some cases, but we should remember that what may seem obvious to the instructor, professor, or course director, is often not so obvious to the student. This argument and example both justify why heads up digitizing, data models, surveying, remote sensing mapping from tabular data and terrain visualization theory and application should all be taught in an introductory level course. Students want to learn these techniques. Figure 3 Student Map CONCLUSIONS As a final thought, educating autonomously does not make a program better. For the benefit of the student, leave egos and counter-productive pride off campus. If you are unaware of what other departments/colleges have to offer, find out. Quite possibly another discipline will have a course the supplements another quite well. For example, a civil engineering program may offer a GIS course for civil engineering that augments a GIS degree from a geography department. A college education is usually interdisciplinary. At the undergraduate level, most universities require an interdisciplinary general education in many fields prior to, or in conjunction with the student s major courses. The GIS field is interdisciplinary. Encourage the GIS education to be the same. 9

10 GIS is a unique and sometimes very difficult discipline to understand for the new student. As educators, we should continually strive to improve our courses, with the primary goal of education. Some ways to accomplish this is through a blend of well integrated lectures and labs that coalesce the broad range topics into a more easily understood discipline we call geographic information systems. This may be accomplished through varied teaching methods, which are interactive and unified by the instructor. It is important for the instructor to weed out only the essential information required for the established student performance objectives, and discard any superfluous detail. With such varied, yet essential information in a GIS course, the student should start the course with good background knowledge in cartographic representation. The best method for accomplishment is by requiring a course in cartography as a prerequisite to an introductory GIS course. That course in cartography should prepare the student to create maps for varied applications using many of the basic tools available in today s modern computer cartography, while understanding cartographic design at the basic level. CURTIS B. Edson MAJ, EN Instructor United States Military Academy Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering West Point, NY (845) fax: (845) bc8341@usma.edu 10