INSTRUCTORS
Professor James W. Harrington serves as the lead instructor.  His office is 408 Smith Hall;  telephone 206-616-3821;  electronic mail jwh@u.washington.edu.  His website is http://faculty.washington.edu/jwh .
Jonathan Glick serves as the lab instructor.  His office is 422 Smith Hall;  electronic mail glick@u.washington.edu.  The website for the course labs is http://staff.washington.edu/glick/geog367.htm.

TIMES  AND  PLACES
The class meets as a whole from 2:30 - 3:50 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in 415 Smith Hall (the Geography Collaboratory).  Lab sections meet once a week (12:30 - 1:50) on Tuesdays (AA) or Thursdays (AB), in 401 Smith Hall (a.k.a. the Sherman Lab).
Professor Harrington's office hours (408 Smith Hall) are Fridays, 1:00 - 2:20 p.m. and by appointment:  e-mail jwh@u.washington.edu.
Mr. Glick's office hours (422 Smith Hall) are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:00 - 12:00.

OBJECTIVES  AND  REQUIREMENTS
Learning objectives.  We have organized this course with tenlearning objectives.  As you listen, read, and work on projects and cases, please try to:

1. see economic decisions as (partially) a function of one's economic goals, and geographic data and its analysis;
2. understand how to analyze transportation networks and routing;
3. become familiar with the basic components of a marketing plan, including the relevance of geographic variables in marketing;
4. understand basic approaches to assessing market or service areas for an outlet;
5. understand basic approaches to selecting retail or service-center locations;
6. identify key sources of geographic data, with the limitations of each;
7. increase your current knowledge of GIS as a means of data storage, manipulation, analysis, retrieval, and presentation;
8. increase your facility with a particular GIS software system;
9. increase your ability to identify a project, defend its utility, identify adequate data sources and their limitations, and divide these tasks among members of a small team;
10. improve your abililty and comfort in presenting a compelling case for the utility of a particular type of geographic analysis.

Readings.  We will be using an assortment of readings, accessible through a variety of means, and timed as noted below.  The  Getting to Know ArcView GIS and GIS Means Business books are available at University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE.  A reading packet is available at Rams Copy Center, 4144 University Way NE, 206-632-6630.

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, you will need to find 3-5 hours 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 project ideas by Monday 26 January, propose teams and their projects by Friday 20 February, and explain the division of activities among team members and identify likely data sources by Friday 27 February.  The last week of regular classes will be devoted to team presentations.  The project (worth 20 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, the research question, what data were available, what overall approach, what techniques, what findings); and individual self-assessments.
 

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. 

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 4:00 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 more than 7 or more days late will not be accepted.  Because of the deadlines for grading, the instructors cannot accept any material after 4:00 p.m. Friday 12 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

WEEK	OBJECTIVES	READING	LAB	ASSIGNMENTS
1/5-9	Mon:  course intro;  bases for utility of geog. info Wed: introduce marketing principles labs:  intro to ArcView	Boyles intro; Sherwood in packet; PowerPoint overview	ESRI tutorial	Due Wednesday (to Harrington): 250-word essay: which one or two of the possible economic uses of geographic information most interest you? Your interest could be professional, or just curiosity. Make use of the three readings.
1/12-16	network analysis realize how one does basic transport analysis;  how would one target markets, given a route through a service area?	Boyles Chs. 2,7,9,10; Chou in packet	Case 1	Tutorial deliverables due by 1/16(to Glick)
1/19-23 (only 1 lecture, 1/21)	introduce key concepts of retailing and market area analysis: trade area, analog method	Jones & Simmons in packet; Boyles Ch.1	Case 2
1/26-30	additional approaches to market area analysis; GIS in assistance of market area analysis	Thrall articles in packet; Boyles Ch.4	Case 2	Case 1 deliverables due by 1/26 (to Glick) Individuals’ project ideas due by 1/26(Glick)
2/2-6	Geodemographic and geo-lifestyles marketing (see brief pieces by andreas.com, Mitchell, Carroll, and Bickert)	Hughes in packet; Webber & Longley in packet; Birkin in packet	Case 3	Case 2 deliverables due by 2/2 (Glick)
2/9-13	Test basic concepts; GIS in urban planning and service provision		Case 3	Test on 2/11 (in class). Case 3 deliverables due by 2/17  (Glick)
2/16-20 (only 1 lecture, 2/18)	Geographic information in service of economic development; introduce “macro-ec geog” and why it matters	Boyles Ch.8 (Rancho C. site) & 11 (LA works site); Colgan & Becker in packet; ESRI article in packet	projects	Project teams should identify themselves and their projects by 2/20  (Glick)
2/23-27	learn how Geog alumni use geog info at work		projects
3/1-5	learn how Geog alumni use geog info at work;  test for ability to use concepts and methods		projects	Test on 3/3  ('take-home"; due 3/5)
3/8-12	Project presentations		projects	Projects due 3/12  (Glick)