This is the home page of Biol 2310, Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), at Northwest College, and is intended for use by students in John Campbell's class. This page is designed to enhance the information you might get in the lecture and laboratory sections of the class. It will point you to new and interesting information on the Internet. Take a look at some of this information, examine the wide range of data available, analyze the examples of GIS use and visit sites around the globe.

COURSE SYLLABUS Check the hard copy handed out in class.

LEARNING RESOURCES

• The ArcGis Tutorial from the University of Arkansas can give you an introduction to this newer version of ESRI's GIS software.

• U.S. Geological Survey gives a brief overview of what GIS is.

• The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis Core Curriculum provides an overview of the basic components of GIS that should be covered in an introductory course.

• Maps and Cartography is a nice overview of maps and their history from Cynthia Lanius at Rice University.

• Map Projections is an excellent discussion of map projections from the USGS. This is well worth reading and a valuable resource when choosing an appropriate projection for your map.

• Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) is the publisher of ArcView, ArcGis and Arc/Info software packages, the dominant GIS systems in use. They have a large amount of general GIS information available on their site and your time spent exploring here is very worthwhile.

• Spatial News provides many links to general GIS sources as well as providing current news about the field.

• Geocommunity provides articles and links to a great set of GIS information.

• The GIS Cookbook is an excellent collection of simple descriptions and illustrations of GIS methods written with minimal GIS jargon, from the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science. This is a fine resource when you can't remember how to complete a task in ArcGIS.

• GPS to GIS is a nice handbook from the San Juan national Forest.

• GPS Page of Links from the US Forest Service is a good entry into GPS information.

• Directions Magazine is an on-line source of information and solutions. Access to discussion groups, extensions and data sources are provided.

• Remote Sensing Resources from the American Museum of Natural History provides tutorials, access to data and tools to help promote the use of air photo and satellite imagery in GIS

• Remote Sensing Tutorial is an excellent overview from Natural Resources Canada

• Remote Sensing Tutorial is another excellent place to learn more about this process that is so important in GIS.

• Terraserver Instructions from the from the USGS provides instructions on accessing and importing imagery from the Terraserver into in GIS.

• Projections
from Datadepot presents a concise description of major projections and their attributes.
• Cartographic Links for Botanists has pointers to many excellent resources for mapmaking.

DATA RESOURCES

• National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse gives you the ability to search for regional and local spatial data from one spot.

• USGS Seamless Data Server Provides coverage to both US and International data sets. Patience is sometimes required for this site!

• International Geospatial and Attribute links is a guide to free and mostly free spatial and attribute data available on the Internet. This is a great spot to start looking for data.

• Colorado Geographic Information Portal is an entryway into Colorado data.

• Inside Idaho provides access to geospatial data for that state.

• North Dakota GIS Web Site provides access to geospatial data.

• Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area data from the National Park Service Data Store

• Wyoming GIS Resources Page is a good place to start searching for information. Both data sources and information sources are linked from here.

• Wyoming Spatial Data Clearinghouse provides access to many free sources of digital data on Wyoming. A good place to start your search. DRGs (digital raster graphics) of Wyoming topographic maps are available, DLGs (Digital Line Graphics) from these maps are downloadable, and DOQs (Digital Orthographic Quadrangles - air photos)are available in two formats

• Wyoming Natural Resources Data Clearinghouse is another good starting point for those of you looking for natural resource data on Wyoming. This is a service of the Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center.

• Montana Geographic Information Clearinghouse is an excellent resource for GIS data for Montana. Note that some of this data is presented in a Montana State Plane coordinate system based on NAD 83.

• National Parks GIS Data Store allows access to GIS data from National Parks across the country.

• Federal Government Air Photo links provide both current and historic air photos for the country. Typical of many government sites, this URL does not always work. But you can go to imgis.nps.gov and choose the photo site at the bottom of the left hand column and it will work.

• Yellowstone Spatial Analysis Center has downloadable data on soils, landforms, DEM's, habitat types, forest cover types, geology, roads, and the 1988 fires.

• Yellowstone National Park data from the National Park Service Data Store.

• USDA / NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway provides downloadable data on many topics. Included are DRGs, DRGes, DLGs, DOQs, but many are mosaics into huge files. Unfortunately, the site is often busy and will refuse your connection. Keep trying, especially at off-hours. The site also covers a large geographic area and thus the interface to reach your area of interest is awkward. Finally, the site requires your computer have Java virtual machine installed, so all computers on campus may not work with this site.

• USGS Geographic Names Information System allows you to enter a place name and get a coordinate location in return. Thus, it can find places you do not know the location of.

• Terraserver provides topo maps and aerial photos of the US and other places in the world. Use the intructions to download into GIS linked in the "Learning Resources" section above.

• Topo Map Index If you are unsure of what map you need, you can look up an index of all 1:100,000 and 1:250,000 topo maps in the US.

• Geocommunity offers many downloadable data sets and also provides links to a great set of GIS information.

• ESRI, the publisher of ArcView has downloadable data sets of several types and also links to other data providers.

• ESRI data sets descriptions. ArcView comes with a large number of data sets. These data are described in this white paper.

• Directions Magazine has on-line access to downloadable data of many types.

• Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas is a interesting Internet stop with links to many resources.

• Links to sites with GIS and Water Resources at the University of Texas can lead you to valuable data about water resources, precipitation resources and many other topics.

Help With Specific Topics

• Getting Spatial Data into ArcView provides brief and clear instructions on how to add x,y coordinate data and others into your map.

• Loading and Running an Avenue Script explains how to load these widely available extensions to ArcView.

• Lat. / Long. conversions and formulas or Converting latitude and longitude data will allow you to switch between degrees, minutes and seconds and decimal degrees. Both of these are interactive Internet sites that will convert one point at a time.