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PA 541 Syllabus

Geographic Information Systems for Public Administration

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Fall, 2008
Time: W 6:00 - 8:50 p.m.
WN 133 (Winston Building Lab)
Midterm: 6:00 - 8:00 Wednesday, October 15
Final exam: 6:00 - 8:00 Wednesday, December 10

Office hours by appointment.

Prof. G. David Garson
Tel. 919-515-3067
E-mail: David_Garson@ncsu.edu
022 Winston Hall

PA 541 is an introduction to geographic information systems in public administration, covering map-based data presentation using ArcGIS, a powerful desktop GIS package which is a standard in the field. PA 541 teaches stand-alone skills, but is also a suitable introduction for public administration and social science students to more technical GIS courses taught in the School of Forestry at NCSU. Click on the "Related Courses" menu choice on the course home page for a listing of GIS and other information systems and methods courses suitable for PA and social science students.

Keeping Current. While the instructor has tried to be helpful by placing as much as possible online at the class website, http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa541/, the instructor may update some materials as the course progresses. Reading assignments for the current week and the following week will remain as on the "Assignments" pages or the website, but readings for weeks later on in the course may be updated, though most will remain the same. Likewise, if you printed this syllabus prior to the first day of the course, it is not official: go back and reprint the syllabus, which might also have updates.

Note: The weekly reading, homework, and test assignments are found by clicking on "Weekly Assignments" at the class website at http://www2.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/pa541/weekly.htm.

Prerequisites: All that is assumed is that the student will have general familiarity with or can quickly get him- or herself up to speed on such computer basics as: (1) use of Windows to perform functions like format disks, copy disks, copy files, work with directories; (2) general familiarity with the standard Windows program interface for such routine functions as File, Save As, or File, Print; and (3) use of Netscape or Internet Explorer to browse the web. In summary, PA 541 is an entry-level course with no specific prerequisites.

Class Discussion/Message List You will be joined by the instructor at the address you gave to the Registrar, but if you joined the class late (last day before class or later) you must join the class listserv yourself. Click here for more information.

Textbook Much of the material is at the course website.

• The ArcGIS component is Tim Ormsby et al. (2004). Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop, Second Edition. Redlands, CA: ESRI Press. ISBN: 1-58948-083-X (paperback). Note the second edition covers ArcGIS 9, which we will be using. Do not purchase the first edition!

• In addition, there are a number of GIS tutorials and other readings which are online, with links on the Weekly Assignments page.

Software. The Ormsby textbook comes with trial version of ArcView 9.0. The Social Science Computer Lab will have the current version of ArcGIS, which may have a few additional changes. Also, the lab will have the full version of ArcGIS 9 (including ArcInfo 9.2) not provided in the trial version. While all assignments from the Ormsby text may be done using the trial software, some additional procedures may require the full, current version of the software.

ArcGIS 9.2 has been licensed for all NCSU students and is available for download to all students, faculty and staff for use on personal and university owned computers. There is no charge. Go to http://www.ncsu.edu/software/download/arcgis.php for downloading. In the download process, ask for "Complete" (with extensions). The NCSU bookstore will no longer carry ArcGIS on CD.

More information is available through the GIS-Announce list. (You can subscribe to this list at: http://lists@ncsu.edu). For additional information, contact Bill Coker, Software Licensing Coordinator, Computing Services - Information Technology, North Carolina State University; bill_coker@ncsu.edu; 919-515-5419. In addition, you may want to periodically check the ITD "Software for NC State" web site: http://www.ncsu.edu/it/essentials/software_ncstate/ to view a list of available software and instructions for obtaining it. Also, ESRI offers short online courses on various topics, available under library license free via the NCSU library at http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/gis/virtcamp.html .

ESRI does also offer extended student licenses for ArcView 9. One year licenses are $100. Permanent licenses are $250. Call 1-800-447-9778. Note such extended licenses are not required for this course. This is for your information only and the download method above will be better and much cheaper.

Free remote access via RCN.. You can access ArcGIS by going to http://rcn.chass.ncsu.edu; enter your NCSU id and password to use the CHASS Remote Computer Network. To run ArcGIS and multitask at the same time, the usual Alt-Tab key does not work. Instead, turn the RCN screen from being full screen to being a window by clicking on the window icon in the RCN control bar at the top. Once out of full screen mode, your other programs will be available to you. To load from or save to your own computer (important!), in the open or save filelist, look for a drive that starts "C on ...." and refers to your location. You own printer should appear on the printer list: be careful not to print to a remote printer, as these will show also. Warning: there are only so many slots on RCN and they are not limited to this class or even to ArcGIS use. Do not count on RCN availability for homework or papers.

Installing the GTKArcGIS exercise disk: Install as per book directions. However, it probably installs the GTKArcGIS folder as "Read-Only", which will prevent you from doing some of the exercises. Therefore, once your GTKArcGIS folder has been installed on your C: drive, whether using the Textbook or the NCSU version of ArcGIS, do the following:

1. Run Windows Explorer (Click Start, then Programs or All Programs, Accessories, Window Explorer)
2. Click successive plus signs next to My Computer, then Local Disk C:  
3. Right-click on the GTKArcGIS folder. Select Properties from the context menu which appears.
4. In the GTKArcGIS Properties dialog box, click the General tab (probably already open).
5. At the bottom, uncheck the Read-Only box so it has neither a green check nor a green square in it. 
6. Click OK. 
7. In the next pop-up box, check the radio button for "Apply to this folder, subfolders, and files." 
8. Click OK again.
9. You should now no longer get error messages saying you do not have permission to edit your exercise files.

Grading. The grade is based on a midterm (30%), final exam (50%), and weekly homework assignments (20%).

Incompletes are not accepted except for medical reasons. Attendance is not graded. Makeup work, if any, must be arranged within two weeks of due date at the option of the instructor, prior to two weeks before the end of classes.

Course Evaluations Course evaluations are now done online at http://classeval.ncsu.edu/. Help on course evaluations is by email at classeval@ncsu.edu..

Academic Integrity Statement

Please note the existence of the University policy on academic integrity found in the Code of Student Conduct (found in Appendix L of the Handbook for Advising and Teaching). Academic misconduct will not be tolerated in this class. Academic misconduct may be defined as "any activity which tends to compromise the academic integrity of the institution, or subvert the educational process". I expect complete honesty in the completion of tests and assignments. It is my understanding that the student's signature on any test or assignment means that the student neither gave nor received unauthorized aid. Beyond cheating on quizzes or exams, academic misconduct also includes the submission of plagiarized work for an academic requirement. Plagiarism is "the representation of another's works or ideas as one's own; it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person's work, and/or the inappropriate unacknowledged use of another person's ideas". Thus each argument made in the research papers which is not completely the student's own, must be footnoted or otherwise referenced to indicate its source.

"Plagiarism, or presenting another's works or ideas as one's own, is a form of stealing. The instructor reserves the right to examine any source used by the student before giving a grade on a paper, and to give and "incomplete" in the course if necessary, to allow time to obtain sources. Students should be prepared to show source material to the instructor for the purpose of verifying information. Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated.

Academic dishonesty includes the following offenses:

1. Claiming as your own work a paper written by another student.
2. Turning in a paper that contains paraphrases of someone else's ideas but does not give proper credit to that person for those ideas.
3. Turning in a paper that is largely a restatement in your own words of a paper written by someone else, even if you give credit to that person for those ideas. The thesis and organizing principles of a paper must be your own.
4. Turning in a paper that uses the exact words of another author without using quotation marks, even if proper credit is given in a citation, or that changes the words only slightly and claims them to be paraphrases.
5. Turning in the same paper, even in a different version, for two different courses without the permission of both professors involved.
6. Using any external source (notes, books, other students, etc.) for assistance during an in-class exam, unless given permission to do so by the professor." ---- Source: Kendra Stewart et al., Columbia College

Further details on academic integrity are in NC State University's Code of Student Conduct (http://www.ncsu.edu/student_conduct).

The public administration faculty has agreed that violations of academic integrity must have consequences. Consequently, students who cheat (behaviors cited in point 1 and 6 or similar behavior) may receive at least an F in the course; other forms of dishonesty, similar to those covered in points 2 through 5 may result in at least a 0 for the assignment.

Statement Regarding Students with Disabilities

Every attempt is made in this course to conform to university policy on disabilities, as described at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/provost/info/hat/current/appendix/appen_k.html. If you have disability-related needs, please inform the instructor of them immediately.