INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Topics covered in this course include definitions of geographic information, GI technologies, GI systems and GI science. Geographic information is information about places on the Earth's surface; knowledge about where something is; knowledge about what is at a given location. It can be very detailed, for example: information about the locations of all buildings in a city, information about individual Oil Well or all the wells in an oil field, or a tree in a forest or trees in a forest. It can also be very coarse, for example: climate of a large region population density of an entire country. Digital geographic information is expressed in digital form. Three main types of Geographic information technologies are used for collecting data and interpreting information: Global Positioning System (GPS); Remote Sensing; and Geographic information system (GIS). Oil-field mapping and interpretation of superimposed topographic, Geologic and isopach maps from northwest and central Pennsylvania and southern Tier New York will be provided by the instructor for practical training.