NCSU GIS/MEA582:
Geospatial Modeling and Analysis

Geospatial Modeling – NCSU GIS/MEA 582

Course Description

Geospatial Modeling, a 3 credit course, explains digital representation and analysis of geospatial phenomena and provides foundations in methods and algorithms used in GIS analysis. Special focus is on terrain modeling, geomorphometry, watershed analysis and introductory GIS-based modeling of landscape processes (water, sediment). The course includes analysis from lidar data, coastal change assessment and 3D visualization.

See slides and video which introduce the course in more depth.

Course Syllabus

The official course syllabus is published through the NC State Class Search tool and posted in Moodle. It is the authoritative document for course goals, learning outcomes, grading, and required materials.

Instructor

Corey White, see C.T. White's CGA page Google Scholar
Office hours: by appointment, please email to ctwhite@ncsu.edu

Prerequisites

Knowledge of GIS principles at an introductory level or strong computational background is recommended.

Class structure and educational approach

This course consists of lectures, readings, hands-on exercises, homework assignments, and a major project.

GIS/MEA582-001 sections are on-campus, face-to-face class sessions.
GIS/MEA582-601 sections are asynchronous with materials available on-line.

Schedule and Learning materials

  • Course Schedule web page provides links to the weekly topics material (lectures, assignments) along with due dates and suggested project activities.
  • Moodle is used to access the recorded videos, upload your assignments, read our feedback, post your questions to forum and discuss your projects.
  • Course Policies and Logistics web page provides links to software (GRASS and ArcGIS Pro) and data used in the assignments and describes the structure of assignment papers.

Textbooks

No required textbook, on-line material is used. You may find the following titles helpful for some topics:

Topics

  • Geospatial Data Acquisition. Open Source GIS
    • mapping natural phenomena
    • coordinate reference system, projections, transformations
    • introduction to open source concepts
  • Geospatial Data Models and Visualization
    • concept of continuous fields and discrete sampling
    • raster and vector data representation, raster-vector conversions and resampling
    • geospatial formats, conversions, geospatial data abstraction library
    • display of continuous and discrete data, use of color to extract spatial patterns
    • 3D visualization: single and multiple surfaces
    • visualization for data analysis (lighting, zscaling, transparency, cutting planes, animations)
  • Geospatial Analysis
    • foundations for analysis of continuous and discrete phenomena
    • zonal and neighborhood operations
    • analysis and modeling with map algebra
    • proximity analysis and buffers
    • cost surfaces and least cost path
  • Spatial interpolation and approximation (gridding)
    • definitions, principles and applications of spatial interpolation
    • selected methods and their properties
    • smoothing spline interpolation
    • evaluating interpolation accuracy
    • trivariate interpolation of volumes and topo-climatology
  • Geomorphometry: Terrain Modeling and Analysis
    • terrain and bathymetry mapping
    • digital representations (point clouds, contour, raster, TIN)
    • DEM, DTM and DSM, working with multiple return lidar data
    • basic topographic analysis: slope, aspect and curvatures
    • mapping landforms and terrain features
    • time series of elevation data, analysis of coastal change
  • Viewsheds and solar irradiation
    • line of sight, viewshed and cumulative viewshed analysis
    • solar radiation: components and dynamics
    • solar irradiation in complex terrain, cast shadows
  • Flow Modeling and Watershed Analysis
    • methods for flow routing and flowaccumulation
    • extraction of stream networks and watershed boundaries from DTM
    • introduction to GIS-based modeling of geospatial processes
    • basic hydrologic and erosion modeling
  • Project

Course Policies

Grading, attendance, academic integrity, accommodations, and the use of large language models are covered in the official syllabus and expanded in Course Policies and Logistics.

For non-NCSU visitors

This course material is open and is often used by people outside NCSU. Note that although we are trying to have maximum of our resources open, some linked material like online library resources and virtual computing lab are accessible only to people at NCSU. However, GRASS and the dataset used in the assignments are available to anybody under and open license. The most useful page for an outside visitor is the list of GRASS assignments.