NCSU GIS/MEA582:
Geospatial Modeling and Analysis

Schedule and links to the course material

GIS/MEA582-001 (in-person section) meets on Tuesdays 11:45 am - 2:30 pm.

Schedule will be adjusted as needed during the semester. Assignments, which are due at the same date, should be delivered in a single report.

Week Lecture/Assignment Topic and Project Tasks Assignment due date
August 17 Course Overview
1. Geospatial Data Introduction, Getting Started with Open Source GIS		 August 26
August 24 2 Geospatial Data: Models and Visualization September 2
August 31 3.A Geospatial Analysis: Global, zonal and focal operations, map algebra September 16
September 7 3.B Geospatial Analysis: Buffers, cost surfaces, least cost path
Labor Day – no classes Monday, classes resume Tuesday, September 8
Read Project proposal instructions, project resources, think about your topic 		September 16
September 14 4.A Spatial interpolation: methods
Project proposal (2 pages), submit on Moodle in the Project Proposal section (PDF file named LastnameFirstname_Proposal.pdf.Post project title on Project Forum. 		Proposal:
September 30,
Assignment:
October 7
September 21 4.B Spatial interpolation: splines
Work on the project: acquire data (see data providers), process into a consistent data set 		October 7
September 29 Wellness Day – no classes
Explore Project resources
September 28 5.A Geomorphometry: Terrain modeling
Work on the project: analyze and visualize data, start developing workflow 		October 28
October 5 5.B Geomorphometry: Spatial and temporal terrain analysis
Work on the project: Test preliminary workflow for your analysis/modeling, identify missing data or tools 		October 28
October 12 Work on the project: refine your workflow, catch up on assignments
October 19-20 Fall Break – no classes, classes resume Wednesday, October 21
October 26 6. Viewshed, solar energy potential analysis
Work on the project: post a brief project progress report on the Project Discussion Forum by November 2 		November 11
November 2 7.A Flow routing, watershed analysis
Project: Complete preliminary results, evaluate what is missing or causing problems
Fall 2026 project titles 		November 24
November 9 7.B Introduction to GIS-based Modeling of Geospatial Processes, Hydrologic and Erosion modeling
Project: Work on results, visualization, statistical summaries, graphical output 		November 24
November 16 TBD.
Work on your project, prepare presentation
November 23 Work on project presentations and paper
  • Fall 2026 project titles – final
  • Project presentation and paper requirements
  • To record your presentation, use Zoom, MS Powerpoint, or any other software with similar recording functionality. Do NOT submit recordings in SWF format!
  • Post the presentation on Moodle. Keep the presentation to 10 minutes and name your file LastnameFirstname_Presentation.mp4, (or whatever format you use).
Presentation: December 2

Paper: December 8
November 25-27 Thanksgiving Break
November 30 Post Project presentations, finish and submit project paper Last day to submit a project paper:
December 8

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