The Virginia Community College Geospatial Institute

July 24 – 30, 2010

Agenda

Hosted by the VGEP and

The Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation at Virginia Tech

Cheatham Hall

Lodging Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center 201 Otey Street, Blacksburg, VA 24061 Phone: (540) 231-8636 Coordinates: 37° 13’ 42.31” N, 80° 25’ 02.51” W. Meals All meals are provided or will be reimbursed. Breakfasts are “on your own”. Lunches will be provided on site at the workshop. We will have a few “communal” dinners; otherwise, dinner will be on your own in small groups! Enjoy! Equipment Each participant can bring a laptop (optional) computer. They will need to bring a digital camera with a download cable and charged batteries to support some of the exercises and activities. Meeting Room / Computer Lab We will be meeting in the GIS Microlab in Cheatham Hall, room 216. The coordinates to the front door of Cheatham Hall: 37° 14’ 24.73” N, 89° 25’ 21.28” W. Parking Visitor passes can be picked up as you register at either the Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center, or at the workshop registration desk. The workshop registration desk is located outside of the meeting room in 216 Cheatham Hall. Note that you do not need a parking pass on weekends. Guest speakers can either pick up a parking pass at the workshop (in Cheatham) or at the VT Visitor’s Center on Southgate Drive. The coordinates to the Virginia Tech visitor center are: 37° 12' 58"N, 80° 25' 26"W. Once a visitor parking pass has been obtained, parking is available outside of Cheatham Hall, or behind Wallace Hall. The coordinates for the Wallace Hall Parking Lot are: 37° 13’ 23”N, 80° 25’ 31” W.

Accommodations

8:00 am - 12:00 Check in at the Donaldson Brown Graduate Life Center, Virginia Tech 11:00 - 12:30 Workshop Registration, VGEP, MICROLAB, Room 220, Cheatham Hall 1:00 Welcome, Introductions, Program Overview/Expectations; VGEP, MICROLAB, Room 220, Cheatham Hall 2:00 Overview of Geospatial Technologies: VGEP 2:30 Introduction to GIS; VGEP and R. Clayton

Background and history Applications of geospatial technology Importance of geospatial technology

3:00 - 4:00 Overview of GIS software VGEP

Freeware options; VGEP Overview of the ESRI software suite

o Overview of ArcInfo, ArcEditor, and ArcView o Overview of Extensions

---------------------------------------------------------------Break--------------------------------------------------------------- 4:15 - 5:30 Introduction to ArcGIS; VGEP

The ArcMap Interface o Topics

o Navigation o Toolbars o The Dataframe o Table of contents o Opening an existing project, and navigating around the ArcGIS Interface o Adding (existing) data to your project o Understanding Projections and Data Frame Properties o Working with layouts

---------------------------------------------------------------Break---------------------------------------------------------------

o Exercise: A Quick Tour of ArcMap; VGEP o Adding data to ArcMap o Working with symbology o Making a simple layout Exercise: Making a Map

Overview and Introduction to Geospatial Technologies | Saturday, July 24, 2010

The ArcCatalog Interface; R. Clayton o Overview

Exercise: Copying, deleting, and renaming data layers The ArcToolbox Interface; VGEP

o Overview

Recap and Evaluation; VGEP  5:30 - 6:30 Check in at the Donaldson Brown GLC 7:00 Dinner and Evening Social: Ceritano’s, 428 North Main Street (about a 10 minute walk from the

Donaldson Brown GLC 8:00 Getting started with ArcMap: Review, VGEP 9:00 Understanding GIS Data, VGEP

Accuracy issues Projections and mapping Vector Data

o Presentation: What’s in a layer? o Presentation: Attribute Data Tables o Exercise: Exploring layers

---------------------------------------------------------------Break--------------------------------------------------------------- 10:45 Presentation and Overview: Selecting Features

Overview: Using the Find Tool Exercise: Selecting options

o Select by location o Select by attribute o Spatial and attribute queries

---------------------------------------------------------Lunch at Dietrick------------------------------------------------------ 1:00 Raster data

Presentation: What’s in a Pixel? Raster data formats Exercise: Working with raster data: true color and NIR Presentation: Integrating remote sensing imagery to support natural resource and business

applications and careers 2:00 Exercise: Problem solving and thinking spatially, VGEP

--------------------------------------------------------------Break----------------------------------------------------------------

Overview and Introduction to Geospatial Technologies | Sunday, July 25, 2010

Overview and Introduction to Geospatial Technologies | Saturday Continued

3:30 Guest Presentation: ESRI's Approach to GIS, Bob Rike, ESRI

The ESRI Suite of Software The high education and pre-college statewide license agreement How are community colleges in other states approaching GIS education? What are local governments, state agencies, and federal agencies using geospatial tools? What are the roles of a GIS technician?

Guest Presentation: Overview of geospatial careers, Bob Rike, ESRI Where will GIS going to take us in the future?

Presentations Introduction to the Virginia Community College Geospatial Portal VGEP Overview of the Virginia Community College System Geospatial Portal R. Clayton

Exercise: Developing your profile and adding content on the VCCS Geospatial Portal, R. Clayton

Exercise: Making a map layout, VGEP Principles of Cartography, VGEP Generating Thematic Maps, VGEP Careers in GIS Overview, VGEP

MapPros! Other career sites

---------------------------------------------------------------Break--------------------------------------------------------------- 4:30 Spatial Analysis across the curriculum

Exercise #1: Earth Sciences, R. Clayton (MICRO Lab) Exercise #2: TBD (selected from existing workbooks), J. McGee (CEARS Lab) Exercise #3: TBD (selected from existing workbooks), J. McKee (CEARS Lab) Exercise #4: TBD (selected from existing workbooks), J. McGee (MICRO Lab) Exercise #5: Finding and downloading geospatial curriculum (as one group), (MICRO

Lab) 5:45– 6:00 Recap, VGEP

6:00 Dinner: Cookout (Weather Permitting)

Other handout items: Mapping Opportunities and The Web-Wide World

8:00 GPS Presentation Overview, VGEP

Introduction to GPS | Monday, July 26, 2010

Overview and Introduction to Geospatial Technologies | Sunday Continued

9:00 Exercise: Collecting Data with a GPS Receiver, VGEP Waypoints Tracks Routes Navigation Area / Perimeter estimations

Other features

10:30 Extending the capabilities of your GPS, VGEP Overview Exercise: Downloading GPS Data Exercise: Uploading GPS Data Exercise: Integrating GPS Data with Digital Photographs Exercise: Integrating GPS data with ArcGIS

o Exercise: Creating new shapefiles with GPS Data o Exercise: Integrating GPS Data with GoogleEarth

----------------------------------------------------------- Lunch ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1:00 Guest Speaker: Jason Shelton

GPS Applications in Facilities Management Career Opportunities with GPS

2:15 Geocaching

Introduction to geocaching.com Traditional geocaching Geocoins and trackable items The Virginia Geocoin Adventure STEM engagement lessons associated with geocashing

---------------------------------------------------------------Break---------------------------------------------------------------

3:30 Carlotta Eaton, Director, Game Technology Programs. New River Community College.

Overview of GPS related activities at NRCC Exercise and demonstration

6:00 Recap

8:00 Data and Data Sources: Overview 9:15 Data formats – review

Shapefiles Geodatabases Raster data formats Virginia Meta-lite

You’ve got data! | Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Introduction to GPS | Monday Continued

9:45 Mind Over Metadata

Understanding metadata Creating metadata Exercise: Generating Metadata

---------------------------------------------------------------Break--------------------------------------------------------------- 10:45 Existing Data Sources: Where to find data, and how to use it when you find it!

The “hard drive” option Exercise: Locating and downloading geospatial data

-----------------------------------------------------11:45 Lunch at Dietrich-------------------------------------------------- 12:45 Guest Presentation: Local Government GIS Career Perspectives; Katherine Smith, Town of Blacksburg Guest Presentation: The GIS Technician: A Private Sector Perspective Russell Minich, Timmons, Inc. 2:00- 4:00 The “streaming data” option

Exercise: Streaming data from The USDA AFPO and ArcGIS.com

Creating and editing spatial data Exercise: Editing spatial data

Creating and Add XY Joining tables Importing and joining an Excel spreadsheet

---------------------------------------------------------------Break--------------------------------------------------------------- 4:00- 5:00 Creating and editing attribute data

Exercise: Editing attribute data

Exercise: Generating statistics Online geocoders vs. the ArcGIS geocoding engine

Exercise: Geocoding 5:00- 6:00 Sharing and Leveraging Resources

Exercise: Editing attribute data

Exercise: Sharing Educational Resources via The Virginia Community College System Geospatial Portal

Arcgis.com

You’ve got data! | Tuesday Continued

8:00- 9:00 Guest Presentation: The National GeoTech Center – Ann Johnson Community College Training for the GIS Technician: Lessons from other states

‘The Ambassador Program’ 9:00- 11:00 Working with CAD Data in an ArcGIS Environment – David Webb

Exercise: Conversion of CAD drawings into Geospatial data and georeferencing drawings. Exercise will be for VWCC Campus and is adaptable to each college campus. (Note: Participants should bring drawing of their campus or a facility in their service region for mapping. At least three methods will be covered. A campus map will be created.)

11:00- 12:00 Guest Presentation: The Mega-DACUM and Geosptial Careers for the GIS

Technician – Ann Johnson

--------------------------------------------------------------12:00 Lunch ------------------------------------------ 1:00 Integrating Geospatial Tools at the Community College Level (Short presentation [15 minutes each] followed by and round table discussion / Q+A) Topics:

Certificate programs Articulation agreements Text books, exercises, and other approaches Student recruitment and awareness Dual enrollment opportunities Software / computer lab challenges Opportunities and resources for faculty Opportunities and resources for students

The Panel: Chris Carter, Virginia Space Grant Consortium Ann Johnson: Bare Mountain Consulting Bob Kolvoord: James Madison University Michael Krimmer: Northern Virginia Community College George McLeod: Tidewater Community College John Scrivani: Piedmont Virginia Community College Melanie Slayer: Mountain Empire Community College David Webb: Virginia Western Community College William Wyatt: John Tyler Community College

---------------------------------------------------------------Break---------------------------------------------------------------

4:30 Guest Presentation: The Virginia Geographic Information Network - John Scrivani 5:30 Presentation: Mobile applications and GIS

GIS Integration: In the Field and the Classroom | Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Presentation: Installation Options for ArcGIS and Tips for Managing a GIS Lab (McLeod) - Kathy Williams Geospatial educational resources fair (provided by ESRI and others) Recap ------------------------------------------------------Dinner (on your own)--------------------------------------------------- 8:00- 9:30 Guest Presentation: History of Remote Sensing - James Campbell 9:30 Remote sensing overview – George McLeod

What is RS and why do we use it? Exercise: Image Interpretation

RS Data overview Exercise: Working with different types of remote sensing imagery Exercise: Downloading and formatting remote sensing imagery using GLOVIS

10:30 Guest Presentation: The iGett Approach to Remote Sensing Education - Ann Johnson 11:00 Georeferencing images and scanned maps – George McLeod

Exercise: Scanning and Georeferencing images --------------------------------------------------------------12:00 Lunch ------------------------------------------

Exercise: Working with the raster calculator Introduction to Image Classification - Exercise: Image acquisition, formatting, and image classification with Spatial Analyst

Guest Presentation: Remote Sensing: An Overview of Applications, Careers, and Associated

Tasks Exercise: Estimating urban tree canopy using 4-band NAIP imagery. Can we do this with a spatial analyst? Basic image classification exercise, doesn't have to be tree canopy.

Remote Sensing Demo with ArcGIS 10, band combinations, clipping, mosaicing and more! ---------------------------------------------------------------Break---------------------------------------------------------------

Introduction to Remote Sensing | Thursday, July 29, 2010

GIS Integration: In the Field and the Classroom | Wednesday Continued

3:00 Guest Presentation: What is LIDAR? - Val Thomas Exercise: Using LIDAR data – Val Thomas

6:00 Recap

8:00 Making maps the Google Way - Led by George McLeod, TCC and ODU

Presentation and Overview Exercises:

KML’s and KMZ’s Google Sketchup GoogleEarth GoogleMaps – Editing and adding Content Linking Webpage content to GoogleMaps

Discuss procedures for reimbursements

11:00 Recap

Collect reimbursement forms What topics should we emphasize next year? How can we improve? Did we spend too much or too little time on exercises? Were the guest speakers effective? Were the exercises effective? Were the handouts effective? Were the instructors effective? Was the lodging sufficient? How was the food? Is the stipend sufficient?

Was the pre-workshop online course effective? What challenges do you anticipate having when implementing the software?

Catered lunch: Eat it here or on the road………….

Making Maps the Google Way | Friday, July 30, 2010

Introduction to Remote Sensing | Thursday Continued