University of Washington
GEOGRAPHY  367:  Economic Uses of Geographic Information
Winter 2000
Contents:
Overview
Instructors
Meeting Times and Places
Requirements
Grading
Schedule

OVERVIEW
This course introduces students to the uses of spatial data and the geographic information systems (GISs) that handle them in routing, marketing, service-area assessment, and site location.  In the process, students will gain familiarity with key economic-geography concepts, marketing approaches, data availability, and GIS.  The course assumes basic familiarity with computer mapping and GIS (as from UW’s Geography 360), and a willingness to work intensively in a “hands-on” context.  A background in economic geography (as from UW’s Geography 207) is helpful but not required.


INSTRUCTORS
Professor James W. Harrington serves as the lead instructor.  His office is 303D Smith Hall;  telephone 206-616-3821;  electronic mail jwh@u.washington.edu.  His website is http://faculty.washington.edu/jwh .


TIMES  AND  PLACES
The class meets as a whole from 1:00 - 2:20 on Mondays and Fridays in 415 Smith Hall (the Geography Collaboratory).  Lab sections meet once a week (12:30 - 1:50 on Wednesdays, or 11:30 - 12:50 on Thursdays), in 401 Smith Hall (a.k.a. the Sherman Lab).
Professor Harrington's office hours (303D Smith Hall) are 2:30 - 4:00 on Mondays, and by appointment.
Mr. Dent's office hours are 2:30 - 3:20 on Mondays and Wednesdays in 401 Smith Hall, and 11:30 - noon on Mondays in 417 Smith Hall.


REQUIREMENTS
Class meetings and labs.  The class will meet as a whole in the Collaboratory.  The instructors (and occasional guests) will present material, ask questions, answer questions, and lead discussions.  These sessions will focus on concepts and principles, primarily (though not exclusively) in support of the lab assignments.

Readings.  We will be using an assortment of readings, accessible through a variety of means:

The instructors do not insist that you buy anything;  the issue is your gaining access to the required readings.  Whether or not you need to purchase the Clarke book depends in part on how familiar you are already with that material (an introduction to mapping, computer mapping, geographic data, and GIS).  Whether or not you should purchase some of the other books depends on your particular interests and reasons for taking the course:  which readings will be good reference materials for you in the future?


Lab assignments.  The course is organized into five units:  an introduction to the subject matter and the software,  three hands-on cases, and student-led (team) projects.  The lab sections will focus on these assignments, which will require additional student work (outside of classes and labs) on computers that are fitted with ArcView and the relevant extensions.  (In other words, most of you will need to find time each week to come to the Geography department labs).  Each of the cases will have a set of “deliverables”:  screen shots, answers to specific questions, and (much more importantly) a well-written report to your hypothetical supervisor or client (what was the problem at hand, how did you approach it, what did you find, and what concerns do you have about your findings).

Tests.  There will be two in-class tests (each with short-answer and short-essay components) on concepts, principles, and lab experiences.

Project.  Students should form teams of 3-4 to develop and produce a project, using data on the City of Seattle to develop a case similar to any of the three lab cases.  We will discuss this assignment in class and section;  students should individually propose projects by Friday 4 February, and propose team assignments (and identify likely data sources) by Friday 18 February.  The time that the University has scheduled for a final exam (plus 30 mintes:  2:30 - 5:00 p.m. Monday 13 March) will be devoted to team presentations.  The project (worth 15 of the 100 points for the course) will be graded on the basis of:  the group presentation; a team-written report (what was the case scenario, what data were available, what overall approach, what techniques, what findings); and individual self-assessments.
 

See the project assignment page, including the guide to presentations.


GRADING
Grades on tests and assignments.  Each test and assignment will be graded on a percentage basis.  Content, clarity, and format all count in the grading of the assignments.  Be especially careful about plagiarism:  more than three words in the order you read them somewhere else (including on the WWW, including the instructors' lecture notes) must be set off in quotation marks and given a full citation.

Final grades.  The final grade for the course will be calculated as follows.  Each graded item (participation, three tests and three assignments) can contribute up to a specified number of points toward the quarter’s total that can equal up to 100 points.  Each student’s final grade reflects the number of these 100 points the student has earned during the quarter.
  

3 cases, 10 points each
30 points
2 tests, 20 points each
40 points
small lab assignments and lab participation
10 points
participation in class meetings
5 points
student project
15 points
TOTAL
100 points
Total scores (on a scale of 0 - 100) will translate into final grades (on a scale of 0.0 - 4.0) approximately according to the  scale below:  the instructor will be no more strict than this.
 
TOTAL  SCORE
FINAL  GRADE
85 - 100 points
3.6 - 4.0
70 - 84   points
2.5 - 3.5
55 - 74   points
1.5 - 2.4
45 - 55   points
0.7 - 1.4
0 - 44     points
0.0

Late assignments.  Tests must be taken on the scheduled day, except by prior arrangement with the instructor or ex post written communication with the instructor based on illness (in this latter circumstance, the instructor will need documentation of your illness or that of someone in your care;  this will be handled on a case-by-case basis).  Assignments received after 5:00 on the due date will be penalized by 20 percentage points (e.g., a two-day-late assignment that is judged to be 85% successful would receive 65% credit);  assignments 7 or more days after the due date will be penalized by 40 percentage points.  Because of the deadlines for grading, the instructors cannot accept any material after 5:00 p.m. Thursday 16 March.

Incomplete work.  [From the University Registrar's website]  A grade of “I” (Incomplete) is given only when the student has been in attendance and has done satisfactory work until within two weeks of the end of the quarter and has furnished proof satisfactory to the instructor that the work cannot be completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond the student's control. To obtain credit for the course, an undergraduate student must convert an Incomplete into a passing grade no later than the last day of the next quarter. The student should never reregister for the course as a means of removing the Incomplete. An Incomplete grade not made up by the end of the next quarter is converted to the grade of 0.0 by the Registrar unless the instructor has indicated, when assigning the Incomplete grade, that a grade other than 0.0 should be recorded if the incomplete work is not completed. The original Incomplete grade is not removed from the permanent record.


SCHEDULE

3-7 January:  Introduction

10-28 January:  Network Analysis and Customer Prospecting 31 January - 11 February:  Geodemographic Marketing and Retail Site Selection 14 February - 3 March:   Public Service Facilities 6 - 13 March:  Student-led projects
copyright James W. Harrington, Jr.
revised 27 March 2000