2018/2019

2018/2019

DM270

GEO/04 (PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY)

DEPARTMENT OF EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

NATURAL SCIENCES

PERCORSO COMUNE

1°

1st semester (01/10/2018 - 18/01/2019)

6

64 lesson hours

Italian

ORAL TEST

ZUCCA FRANCESCO - 6 ECTS

Basic computer skills: file and directory management: creation, copy-transfer-download, compaction-unpacking; use of office automation tools (spreadsheets) and text editing; Internet searches with keywords

Basic statistics: averages, variance, standard deviation, distribution concept and ability to display data (histograms, dispersion diagrams, boxplot)

Basic cartography: the concepts of cartographic projections, ability to read topographic and thematic cartography, measurements of plano-altimetric distances and extraction of topographic elements (profiles)

The objective of the course is to produce specialized knowledge in the field of GIS and spatial analysis applied to ecological and environmental issues, skills-oriented problem solving and to integrate knowledge from different fields of study course and then skills to manage the study of complex contexts.

Perception and cognition of geographic phenomena, geographic information domains and elements of geographic information.
Vector and raster models.
Topological relationships, spatial distributions, uncertainty models.
Recalls on the reference and projection systems.
Cartography and visualization.
Data abstraction: classification, selection and generalization.
Principles of cartographic design.
Techniques of graphic-spatial representation. Web mapping and visualization; display of the time component of geographic data and uncertainty.
Use of models to represent information and data. Models of data; DB design and modeling, conceptual models, logical and physical.
Operations on spatial data : transformations of representation: data model and format conversion, interpolation, conversion, generalization and aggregation and scales.
Classification and processing attributes.
Operation on spatial database: basic geometric and analytical measures, the point pattern and spatial cluster.
General analysis and morphological analysis of raster data.
GIS and GPS. The development of "capture" geographic data smart techniques.
GIS applications and tools for ecological issues (botanical and ecological): connectivity, corridor and habitat modeling.
GIS integration and modeling tools and programming languages ​​(R, Python ...)
DB-GIS development to environmental issues with OpenSource software.

Lectures
Exercises
Seminars on GIS and ecological issues

-Principles of Geographic Information Systems - An introductory textbook
Otto Huisman and Rolf A. de By eds. Publisher: ITC 2009, ISBN-13: 9789061642695 ((available from the teacher) -Spatial Thinking in Planning Practice: An Introduction to GIS. Yiping Fang, Vivek Shandas, and Eugenio Arriaga Cordero (disponibile al link
http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=pdxopen)
- Applied Spatial Data Analysis, 2013, Bivand, Pebesma and & Gómez-Rubio, UseR! Series, Springer, 2nd ed., xviii+405 pp., Softcover, ISBN: 978-1-4614-7617-7
- Geospatial Analysis - A comprehensive guide, a free web-based GIS resource - de Smith, Longley & Goodchild, 2013, 4th ed., (disponibile al link http://www.spatialanalysisonline.com/)
- Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective, Jensen, John R., 2007, 2nd Ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 592 pages (available from the teacher)
- Remote Sensing of Biomass - Principles and Applications, Fatoyinbo (editor), ISBN 978-953-51-0313-4, 334 pages, Publisher: InTech, Chapters published March 28, 2012 under CC BY 3.0 license DOI: 10.5772/696 ((available from http://www.intechopen.com/)

Students will be provided with materials, handouts and case studies in Italian and English.

The determination of the effective acquisition of learning outcomes will be verified through a ongoing written evaluation on the issues discussed during the lectures and exercises either through public presentations of short research papers carried out by students in working groups during the period of the course, to develop, also a capacity of self-assessment and comparison; aat the end of the course, it will see the creation and presentation of a personal research on topics defined in advance with the teacher and oral examination of parts of the program.

Non-attending students are required to contact the teacher to supplement their training with specific materials.