GEOG 336 - Geospatial Field Methods
Spring 2013
Instructor: Joseph P. Hupy
This course will focus on the various means, tools, and resources geographers employ to gather data in the field. Rather than maintain the traditional lecture style format, the course will be taught in mainly a ‘hands on’ learning fashion, although some lecture will be needed to explain methods and principals related to field data collection. Students should expect to become familiarized, and proficient in some cases, with a variety of instruments that allow for data collection in a geospatial manner. Students will start out learning of pre-existing geographic data sets, and how these can help in setting up a field data collection scheme. They will also learn about projections and coordinate systems, and how this relates to both data collection and navigation in the field. The course will then move into actual data collection in the field, using both current and traditional forms of technology. Prior to data collection, the student will learn how best to prepare for a field outing in terms of what instrument and forms of data are best suited. Students will be evaluated based on participation in classroom discussions and written reports related to field data collection activities. Overall, the objective of this course is to instill the following skills:
- The ability to think of data collection in a geospatial manner
- The ability to critically think of what type of data is best suited for the given task/goal, and how best to collect that data.
- How to navigate using current GPS technology, as well as traditional compass based land navigation techniques
- How to survey points using current GPS technology, as well as using traditional distance/azimuth methods with compass and distance finder
- Construction of technical style reports in a web or blog based format
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