Introduction to GIS

Lecture 1

Introduction• What is this class about?• Lectures: T and Th only. • Labs: When and who provides help?• Assignments: Due every Friday at 5:00 PM

– Instructions, book and handouts?– Answers: the web. – Where to drop them? – Keep good notes. – Do not just follow the steps in the book

• Projects and Guest Speakers– Example of student projects: the 605 corridor: wetlands,

landslide, and habitat streams crossed?

Examples of GIS products: Safeco Field

3D Model of Seattle

•Office Hours: see syllabus next slide

•TA: see syllabus

•Website: Courses.washington.edu/cee424

•Grading and final exam: syllabus next slide

Syllabus

Definitions of GIS• Digital GIS started in the 60’s and grown

dramatically in the 80’s• There is no agreement on a single definition

of GIS. One definition is:

An organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information.

Homework 1• Homework 1, includes the first two chapters.

– When asked to print a layout, include as much as you can of the following: a view, a north arrow, a legend, your name, the class title, and a scale bar.

• Do not save work in labs. First copy the original data to the desktop,

• Please read the FAQ section on the web before asking questions. In many cases, you are working with data that you cannot overwrite.

• Problem printing? Print a copy of the screen.

• Demo• ArcGIS

– About GIS: WHAT IS GIS? 2 minutes– What is desktop GIS? 2 minutes

• Desktop GIS Primer– Desktop GIS Primer

• GIS:what is it? 6 minutes• This is how it works • Ask questions get answers 10 minutes