Visualization Aids for Improving Undergraduate Student Learning of Geography Using ArcView

Paul Davis, Frank Lindsay, and Derek Thompson, University of Maryland

As ArcView functionality expands and geographic databases are more readily available uses of geographic information systems software become more rigorous, varied, and complex. In our case in teaching geography to undergraduate students who are both geographically naive and cartographically naive one pedagogic challenge is to provide guidance as to the appropriate choices of mapping techniques for different types of data and purpose. The guidance is provided by on-line tutorials primarily, so as to use precious class time primarily for instruction in the geography concepts not the practical visualization or spatial analysis skills. Consequently we are devising a series of learning aids, implemented in ArcView. Simplified and customized menus lead the students to choices about three main topics:

  1. Data preparations for mapping
  2. Different types of maps
  3. The creation of fine finished cartographic products
While we do offer guidance for the production of high cartographic quality products, the emphasis is on topics (1) and (2) as most important for the preparation of working maps that allow geographic analysis to be well supported, but without the requirement for the creation of a final map. The materials for different types of maps cover the range of the available visualization tools in ArcView, contain hints for how to make the maps, and examples of good practice. The first topic covers issues like scales of measurement, how to map count data, the use of histograms, and the like. The presentation will show the interface and examples of the various Avenue scripts. Some of the cartographic tutorial material will also be shown. Some preliminary assessment will be made of the costs of producing the materials, the involvement of undergraduate students in the process, and the student reactions.


Avenue on CD, A Multimedia Training Tool

Frank Yee, ACIM Co.

Avenue, the object oriented development language used with ArcView has had a computer based multimedia training system developed for it. This course on CD-ROM enables prospective users to benefit from the best educational experience using the Esri class outline and sample problems with commentary on nuances of the language from an authorized instructor, and, at the same time, repeat lessons in any order, view lessons from a TV is desired and do this in ones own time frame. Besides a better pedagogy, the CD-ROM course represents a considerable savings over sending students to a remote location for a class. This presentation will show the Avenue on CD-ROM Training Course and describe the programming and video processing necessary to develop the course. Shown and discussed will the VideoCD cassette which is an economical means to view the CD-ROMs on a regular home television, however, also being able to play your music CDs.


Geographical Information Center, CSU, Chico Experiential GIS Education

Chuck Nelson and Chris Crown, California State University, Chico The role of exposure assessment in investigating and understanding environmental health issues is to provide the linkage among environmental information and analyses, consequences of exposures to toxic substances, and human health effects. In the past, the inability to link spatial and temporal distributions of chemical concentrations in the environment to potentially exposed populations efficiently and accurately made comprehensive exposure assessment analyses difficult and time-consuming. The use of GIS makes it possible to manipulate multilayered, spatially distributed databases easily and to query topological attributes that may be unknown a priori to obtain spatial relationships of interest to environmental health scientists. An example is the relationship among environmental pollutant concentrations, socioeconomic and other demographic distributions, and the occurrence of adverse health effects for targeted populations. As part of its legislative mandate to implement the health-related portions of Superfund, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has embarked on a program to refine the quantification of past, present, and future exposures to toxic substances in populations living near hazardous waste sites. GIS enhances the application of environmental modeling tools developed for exposure assessment analyses by providing the ability to quantify the relationships between environmental and demographic distributions and the incidence of disease patterns. By integrating GIS, environmental modeling tools, and spatial analysis techniques, environmental health scientists can coanalyze health outcome and environmental data. The process allows them to estimate the influence of nearby sources of environmental pollution on the incidence of disease patterns in surrounding populations, thereby making public health implications from exposure assessments more reliable and timely for the targeted population.


GIS Training and Education Through Research: A Latin-American Experience

Nancy Aguirre Guti�rrez, Hugo Villota, Elena Possada, and Uriel Perez, Colombian National Geographic Institute

The Center of Remote Sensing and GIS research (CIAF), founded in 1967, is actually part of the Colombian National Geographic Institute "Agustin Codazzi" (IGAC); it has been a regional Center for training and research, and today is responsible for the development of GIS and remote sensing applications which supports the other technical areas of IGAC: Cartography, Geography, Cadaster and Agrology. Training, research, consulting and technological transfer are, both at national and regional level (Latin America and Caribbean regions), part of our current activities. Key aspects of the Center's research activities include digital mapping, image processing and GIS for land cover assessment, cadastral surveys, applied geomorphological and geological surveys, soil surveys, and basic geographic information analysis. During the last three decades, CIAF has trained more than 4000 professionals involved with the resource and environmental management from governmental and non governmental organizations in Latin American - Caribbean countries including Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, among others. The purpose of this paper is to lay out the GIS training experience in a Governmental Institute (IGAC) at regional level, its main achievements and constraints, and to show some GIS applications developed from a training - through research - experience.


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