Course Overview
GIS technology provides the tools that permit us to better manage natural resources and more objectively tackle environmental issues, by helping us assess future scenarios, explore alternatives, and resolve conflicting requirements. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to use GIS applications to solve environmental issues.
This class comprises five units, each employing unique GIS applications for solving environmental issues. Graduates of this course will be able to clarify where and how GIS can solve issues. You will also be able to apply GIS technology to provide solutions.
At the end of this course, you will have the skills to apply spatial analysis and mapping to wildlife biology questions, employ map algebra to determine potential stream flow in hydrological modeling, and subsequently resolve conflicting demands in land-use planning. You will also be able to assess the level of landscape fragmentation, and how to interpret the results.
Graduates of this course will be able to interpret biodiversity using remote sensing data and process the data to classify the landscape. You will also be able to simulate the growth of a forest of hundreds of years in mere minutes to assess how much of it could be harvested sustainably, and be able to describe techniques that are frequently crucial to assessing environmental issues, but are often misused.