• Offered by Fenner School of Environment and Society
  • ANU College ANU Joint Colleges of Science
  • Classification Advanced
  • Course subject Environmental Science
  • Areas of interest Geography, Interdisciplinary Studies - Sustainability, Population Studies, Information Technology
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr Bruce Doran
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Second Semester 2022
    See Future Offerings

In Sem 2 2022, this course is on campus with remote adjustments only for participants with unavoidable travel restrictions/visa delays.

This course provides an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and is based around a hypothetical, but realistic Environmental Impact Study in a small regional catchment. GIS are widely used by government agencies and research organisations in the environmental sciences and to assist with resource and environmental management decision making, in part due to the rapid growth in the availability of high quality digital spatial data.


This course aims to develop both a solid theoretical understanding and a comprehensive practical grounding through the construction and integration of a range of spatial models. On the satisfactory completion of this course, students will have completed realistic hydrological, erosion, conservation, wildlife habitat, forest, agriculture, fire and economic models within the GIS. The integration of these sub-models to inform decision makers about recommended landuse options will be based on Multi-criteria Evaluation and Multiple Objective Land Use Allocation frameworks.


Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduate students but are assessed separately.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. explain the theoretical and practical considerations required for conducting a GIS-based landuse planning analysis for decision support in a professional manner
  2. prepare, manipulate, display and analyse spatial data
  3. use Global Positioning System (GPS) data to assist in conducting field checking of satellite imagery
  4. synthesise and present high quality GIS-based outputs in a report format
  5. critically assess research papers

Other Information

Regular attendance and participation in class work is required. Any students who fail to participate in practical sessions on a regular basis but still submit practical work may be invited to demonstrate that it is their own work.

If you do not meet the requisites for this course, it may be possible to receive a permission code. If you are prompted for a permission code on ISIS, please request one online via the following form

Indicative Assessment

  1. Project based on lab work (45) [LO 1,2,3,4]
  2. Vegetation journal (10) [LO 2,3,4]
  3. Final test (25) [LO 1]
  4. Critical review paper (20) [LO 1,5]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:

  • Face-to face component which may consist of 2 x 1 hour lectures plus 1 x 2 hour computer lab per week
  • Approximately 82 hours of self directed study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.


Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions.

Inherent Requirements

To be determined

Requisite and Incompatibility

Incompatible with ENVS2015.

Prescribed Texts

Not applicable.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
2
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $4740
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $6000
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
6984 25 Jul 2022 01 Aug 2022 31 Aug 2022 28 Oct 2022 In Person View

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