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 Remote Sensing
Geographic Information Systems
COURSES |
FACILITIES |
PUBLICATIONS
GIS research and teaching at
MSU focus on both theory and application of GIS technology to the spatial analysis
of a variety of phenomena. Also, work in GIS is closely linked with research
emphases in Cartography and Remote Sensing. The use of GIS requires the digital
representation of geographic phenomena and a much more explicit understanding of the basic
issues of scale, data quality, and semantic classification than traditional
mapping and map analysis methods. To address these basic issues, faculty
have pursued research on the sensitivity of digital representations to
scale, the use of fuzzy sets to respresent classed variables that exhibit
non-discrete boundaries, and the identification of systematic error within
digital elevation data.
MSU faculty and graduate students
have undertaken research and application projects using GIS in a variety of different settings,
including: automated mapping of landforms and vegetation types, investigation
of archaeological site potential, management of county health department
data and facilities, investigation of potential surface and ground water
quality problems in the vicinity of the Kellogg Biological Station, database
development in support of regional land use/cover change analyses, and
digital terrain analysis for geomorphological and hydrological investigation.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING FACILITIES
The GIS teaching and research program
is supported by the Department's computing facilities. The
facilities include two primary teaching labs: a PC-based lab with 15 workstations and a
Sun-Ultra Unix lab with 10 workstations. Additional PC and Unix workstations are
dedicated to student and faculty research projects. The University has a campus site
license for ESRI (makers of Arc/Info) products. Other supported software includes
PCI Easi/Pace and Erdas Imagine for image processing.
GIS COURSES
A typical program for a graduate student in GIS might include the following
courses:
GEO886: Research Design in Geography (required),
GEO865: Advanced Quantitative Methods in Geography,
GEO826: Seminar in Cartography/Geoprocessing,
and one or more of the following electives:
GEO425: Geographic Information Systems
(normally a part of a specialization in GIS unless an equivalent course was taken elsewhere)
GEO423: Map Production and Design
GEO823: Map Automation
GEO825: Geoprocessing
GEO424: Advanced Remote Sensing
It is generally recommended that students
interested in concentrating on GIS consider a secondary concentration in another geographic
sub-field. For example, GIS students might take supporting courses in Physical Geography,
Regional Development, or Economic/Urban Geography. Students should also
have experience with and/or coursework on at least one programming language
(e.g., Fortran, C, C++, Visual Basic, AML, Avenue). If the student does
not have computer programming in their background they should include it
in their graduate program.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS, THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
Recent publications that typify the research undertaken by the unit include:
Brown,D.G., In press. Classification and boundary vagueness in mapping presettlement
forest types. International Journal of Geographical Information Science.
Brown, D.G., Lusch, D.P., and Duda, K.A., In press.
Supervised classification of glaciated landscape types using digital elevation data.
Geomorphology, 19.
Krist, F.J. and Brown, D.G. 1994. GIS modeling of Paleo-Indian period
caribou migrations and viewsheds in Northeastern Lower Michigan. Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60(9): 1129-1137.
Brown, D.G. and Bara, T.J. 1994. Recognition and reduction of systematic
error in elevation and derivative surfaces from 7-1/2 minute DEMs. Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing, 60(2): 189-194.
Brown, D.G., Bian, L., and Walsh, S.J. 1993. Response of a distributed
watershed erosion model to variations in input data aggregation levels.Computers
and Geosciences, 19(4): 499-509.
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