| GEOL-2460 | APPLIED REMOTE SENSING & GPS TECHNIQUES | Spring, 2006 |
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Instructor: Dr. Michael Ramsey
Office: SRCC, room 509/511 Office Phone: 624-8772 Email: ramsey@ivis.eps.pitt.edu Office Hours: Tu/Th, 10:00am - 12:00pm |
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1. Objective: This course is intended primarily for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, and is designed as a logical follow on to the Introduction to Remote Sensing class. There is strong emphasis on field-oriented problems, data collection, and validation. The ultimate goal will be to explore the connection between remotely-gathered images and the real world factors which influence those data. In the process, students should come away with an appreciation of current remote sensing issues, understand the geologic and human processes that impact remotely-gathered data, and how those processes can be observed and measured with remote sensing and GPS.
2. Required Text:
"Introductory Digital Image Processing" by J.R. Jensen (Prentice Hall Publishing, 1996, ISBN: 0-13-205840-5)
3. Supplementary Texts:
The text books below provide excellent resources if you have not had a remote sensing course prior to this one. They also contain very good sections on specific topics, which I will use for certain lectures. They will be available on 2-hour loan from me.
4. Lecture Time:
W from 6:00pm - 8:50pm in SRCC 207. The class meetings will be divided into lectures and seminar-style discussion of assigned papers and image processing. Seminar discussions will be student-driven and count for a portion of the final grade. Attendance is required at all scheduled class meetings and field trips. In addition, I may be away on research-related travel for times during the term. This may necessitate changes in the scheduled meeting times and/or guest-lecturers.
5. Field Trips:
Field trips will take place on selected weekends (see schedule). There will be at least one major trip that requires overnight camping. Each trip will involve image/GPS processing prior to the trip, field measurements and data collection during the trip, and a 5-page write-up after each trip is complete. There will be a fee required for the trips, but I will discuss those details later in the class.
6. Course Requirements:
Exam:
There will be one mid-term and no final examination. The exam may include essay questions and quantitative problem solving. Exam questions will be based on material covered in the lectures and assigned reading. Most of you know the style of my exams!
Project:
The term project will be a chance for you to perform a research study using the techniques that have been presented in this course. The focus of the project is up to you (subject to my approval) and can either concentrate on data from the class or on another project in which you are currently involved. The work should be independent and constitute new research of a quality that potentially could lead to a scientific publication. It will form a significant portion of your final grade and therefore should be given a serious effort. Oral project presentations will be made in PowerPoint (or a non-Microsoft product of your choice) during the last week of class, with a 10-page written report due the following week. I will discuss this in greater detail in the coming weeks.
7. Grading:
Grading will be based on seminar participation, the exam, field trip preparation/reports and the final project. The exact breakdown will be:
8. Web Site:
The site is located at http://ivis.eps.pitt.edu/courses/ars/
and will contain the syllabus, announcements and assignments for the class. Please check there for the most current class information.
9. Cheating:
This is not even worth bringing up in a graduate-level class, but if you are caught cheating during a test or on your projects you will receive no credit for that exam/project. No exceptions/no excuses.
10. Other Links:
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