UWB css590- ANALYSIS
OF DATA IN GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS.
Spring 2013
Instructors: Mohamed Ali,
Ph.D.
Location: UW1-110
Class sessions:
Mon/Wed 8:00- 10:00 pm
Office Hours: By appointment (email:
mhali@u.washington.edu)
Class website:
This course is an
advanced level computer science elective in the areas of Geographic
Information Systems (GIS). The course addresses spatial databases, in
general, and focuses on their applications in GIS, in particular. While
traditional information systems deal with objects that are of numeric or
alphanumeric data types, a wide set of applications deal with objects
that have spatial extent (e.g., points, lines and polygons) or that are
geographic in nature (i.e., representable on a map). "Are spatial data
types special?" YES and NO! This course addresses how to represent,
store, index, and process spatial objects and focuses on their
application in the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
With the growing
interest in spatial databases (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server Spatial
Library, IBM Spatial Solutions, Oracle Spatial ), with the ability to
access a wealth of digitized maps
(e.g., Google maps, Bing maps, Navteq), with the availability of
rich Geographic Information Systems (e.g., ESRI ArcGis), and with the
advances in GPS devices (e.g., Garmin, TomTom) and smart phones(e.g.,
iPhones, Androids, and Windows Phones), geospatial data management and
location based services have been crucial to industry at all scales.
This course provides a good
stretch to the students in the GIS field starting from theoretical basic
concepts and ramping up quickly to provide a hands-on experience with
various commercial GIS systems. The course is intended to motivate the
next generation of geospatial researchers and, meanwhile, is geared up
to plant the seed of an engineer who leads a career in Geographic
Information Systems.
Prerequisites:
CSS 343 DATA STRUCTURES and algorithms. We
also recommend that all students have prior experience with programming
languages such as C/C++/C#/Java. Students with no programming experience
should not take this course.
The class mainly adopts the following
textbook:
“Spatial Databases: With Application to GIS.
(The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) by Philippe
Rigaux, Michel Scholl, and Agnes Voisard (Jun 1, 2001)
Project list:
1.
Class Attendance:
Attendance is expected. We will not take
attendance each day but since the class size is relatively small
absences will not be hard to miss. Early departures will not be counted
as attending. Each student may miss up to one class with no penalty.
Class Etiquettes:
Come prepared to the class in the following
manner: Read the assigned reading several days prior to the session on
that topic. Each student will be expected to come to class with a review
for the reading material (detailed later in this document).
During the instructor led session or a guest
lecture, the session will begin with a short talk on the topic. Enough
time will be given for Q&A and discussion. During the student led
session, the student will first give a short 30 minute talk on the topic
under review. The rest of the time we will engage in class discussion
and Q & A.
During the project demo days, you will each
come prepared with your presentation. The presentations must be on the
PowerPoint template and must be uploaded at least 24 hours prior to the
session so that the instructor can review them and combine them into one
deck to facilitate smooth churn of presentations. Failure to use the
template or timely uploads will result in automatic penalty resulting in
a loss of that component of the grade.
Guest lectures will be invited. If you have
suggestions for guest lecturers you can email the instructor about them.
Maintain a sense of decorum and respect for the guest speaker. They are
providing a valuable volunteer service by giving us the benefit of their
expertise. We can make their visit meaningful for them only if we have
read about the topic and come prepared to hear them. We can demonstrate
our preparedness by asking meaningful questions that advance their
research interests. Hence, be extra careful in designing your questions
for these days. Give these papers extra attention.
All assignments are to be uploaded on the due
date. Unless otherwise specified, you should also upload your
submissions to appropriate slots to facilitate grade recording. Failure
to upload assignments prior to start of class will result in automatic
denial of grade for that work. To keep the grading process on time,
extensions are not available and should not be requested.
Class presentations:
As part of this course you will present few
topics in the class for about 30 minutes each. Unless otherwise
specified, you will have one minute to set up, five-seven minutes to
introduce your topic, ten minutes to explain the contributions of the
paper or the value of the topic and 3-5 minutes to talk about related
work and results. At the end of the presentation, we will begin the
discussion. You must use illustrations, related articles, and make
Microsoft PowerPoint slides for your presentation.
Grading Scheme:
I reserve the right to make small adjustments
to grade weights, or to add small assignments as the need arises.
|
Item |
% of final grade |
Due date |
|
Reading Assignments |
20% |
Each class |
|
Class Presentation |
30% |
As scheduled |
|
Project |
30% |
As scheduled |
|
In-class discussions and participation |
20% |
Each class |
Grading will not be on a curve. It’s a
challenging course and you will get an A if you perform well on the
presentation, the project and the weekly readings, be active in
discussions and think like a GIS researcher and developer!
Grading Policy Details:
Reading Assignments: In each class, we will cover a set of topics. Each topic will be
covered in a section of our text book or by a research paper. Each
student is expected to read all topics and to write a review for “one”
topic. The review should include (a) summary of the topic, (b) the
impact of the topic with practical use cases (c) three strong points
about the material you read (d) three weak points that you did not like
(please be critical and objective in your review)
Here is a description of roughly what each
numeric score means for your reading assignment question sheets. The
instructor will look for the following:
Each review is to be uploaded no later than
the start of class on the specified due date. Late uploads
will not be accepted. It is
recommended that you turn in something rather than nothing, even
if it is incomplete. With due cause, exceptions to this policy will need
to be negotiated with the instructor; emergency documentation may be
required and/or late penalties may be given, depending upon the
circumstances.
Project Grading:
For each topic, one or more students will be
assigned to present a demo of their project. The demo should motivate
the demo by a real world scenario, develop the demo using a commercial
database system, and design/implement the right UI to convey the message
to the class. The UI should provide the necessary transparency for the
class to understand the purpose of the demo, the problem the demo is
addressing and how the solution is working.
100 points: All requirements are met on time.
Results validate the thesis. Implementation is submitted. Appropriate
instructions to run the project are included in the README files.
Associated comments are provided. Appropriate datasets are included.
80 points: All the above except a few deliverables/results are
missing.
50 points: Several deliverables are missing. Project documentation
and results are partial but submitted.
0 points: Failed to submit.
Class Presentation:
Each student is expected to present several topics in class.
4 points: Clearly explained concepts. Adequately pitched. Examples
and figures are accurate and relevant. Started on time and ended on
time. Slides made available on time to the class.
3 points: Some mistakes. Inadequate depth/rigor.
2 points: Major flaws in understanding and explaining the concept.
No relevant examples/figures.
1 point: unclear communication, lack of depth/effort, no attempt to
explain the concepts.
0 points: Failure to present.
In-class discussion and participation:
Please notify the instructor if you have a reasonable excuse to
miss the class.
The following items are counted toward your in-class participation
grade:
-
Preparation and sharing Meaningful questions during class.
-
Participation and initiation of interesting in-class discussions.
-
Participation in online discussion forums.