Active Course List

Concepts and theories concerning global and national social problems and the significance of geographic analytic methods for social research. Study of factors related to variations in regional standards of living.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Four major sets of ideas will be covered: (1) Introduction to Spatial Organization, (2) Network Analysis, (3) Allocation Methods, and (4) Urban Transportation. The emphasis is on these approaches to understanding the geography of transport by description, explanation, and normative or optimal methods.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

Various excursions to study physical and cultural landscapes inside and outside Minnesota.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Regional geography covering the ecological and human environment of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Students can pick specific topics to study in detail. The geographic relations between the USA and Latin America are also covered.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Students will develop a knowledge of the environmental, cultural, historical, and economic geographies of Canada. Readings of best-selling fiction and scholarly works written by Canadians will provide a Canadian perspective on the nation's past, present, and future.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Cultural, environmental, and economic background of Europe west of the former USSR Following a general geographic survey, the course will cover major regions and countries.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Examines the physical and human enviornments of eastern Asia, mainly China, Korea, and Japan. The class will be assisted by visual soursces and hands-on use of primary documents.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

An applied course tailored to meet practical needs of a teacher, related to curriculum development and earth science lab equipment and supplies.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

This course will cover basic strategies for conducting field surveys and gathering from the real world data appropriate to mapping the earth's surface. Emphasis will be upon simple but reliable techniques, ranging from compass-and-pacing to global positioning systems (GPS).

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

Comprehensive examination of GIS for manipulation and analysis of spatially-referenced data, including data structure and organization, input and output problems, data management, and strategies for analytical work.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

This is an introductory course on theories and techniques of remote sensing. Focus will be placed on providing students with a general overview of the application of remote sensing to practical problems, and hands-on experiencee for image processing and analysis.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

This course will introduce students to the fundamental knowledge and techniques of open-source GIS and geospatial data analysis. Students will learn the basic and advanced GIS functions in QGIS, a popular open-source GIS with advanced capabilities. The major topics that will be covered include open-source GIS data standards; working with projections and available GIS data; making maps in QGIS; spatial and attribute data query, editing, and manipulation; multi-criteria overlay analysis; raster image styling and analysis; 3D and terrain analysis; spatial pattern analysis; spatial interpolation; automating map creation and complex workflows using processing models; customize and extend QGIS.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

Descriptive statistics, probability, hypothesis testing, introduction to non-parametric statistics, correlation, introduction to regression analysis, spatial statistics and principles of data representation in graphs, tables and statistical results.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Ethnic and Multi-Cultural Studies (MS) | Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

This offering will include a variety of selected technical topics in geography, including (but not limited to) manual cartographic drafting and negative scribing, photomechanical techniques in production cartography, aerial photo interpretation, and advanced coverage of digital analysis of satellite-derived remote sensor data and global positioning systems.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Modeling and Simulation (GC)

Survey of theoretical frameworks for spatial analysis and geographic quantitative methods. Includes basic and advanced spatial analysis principles and methods for studying and examining spatial patterns. Designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for carrying our research projects that demand spatial point pattern analysis and analysis of areal units.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

This offering will include supervised project work in raster-based and/or vector-based GIS, using problems and data drawn from local or regional agencies or other professional-level organizations with whom the Geography Department maintains a relationship. Students must have completed one of the prerequisite courses, or professional-level experience.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS) | Modeling and Simulation (GC)

Topics vary in physical, cultural, economic, political, and historical geography, as well as environmental conservation and geographic techniques.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Modeling and Simulation (GC)

This course teaches students to reconstruct past landscapes and identify environmental hazards related to historical land use using GIS and remote sensing software. Applications include the identification of hazardous waste sites, wetland drainage, bluff erosion and other environmental hazards relevant to local history research, environmental consulting, archaeology, resource management, real estate, planning and civil engineering. Students will learn to use and interpret historical air photos and maps, digital imagery and LiDAR in problem-solving contexts and to report research findings in effective written, graphic and verbal presentation formats used by government agencies and private consulting firms.

Prerequisites:

GEOG 373 and GEOG 673

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS)

This course provides students as well as natural resource professionals the opportunity to develop knowledge of natural resources management based on GIS science. Detailed examples and discussions of GIS operations and analyses associated with managing natural resources are provided. Weekly labs and the final project will focus on various GIS applications in this field. For example, integrating GIS and remote sensing techniques for sustainable land development, conservation biology, forest, water, wetland, wildlife, and agriculture management. Students will also learn how to combine GIS concepts with GIS software skills and apply them to real-world natural resources management tasks.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS)

In this course, instruction is provided on foundational knowledge related to cloud mapping and visualization of geographical data. In addition, primarily through ArcGIS Online cloud platform, students will be introduced to the concepts of Hosted Layers, Web Maps, Predominance Maps, Web Apps, Story Maps, Web AppBuilder, Widgets, Geodata Visualization, ArcGIS Arcade Expressions, Custom Pop-ups, 3D Mapping and Visualization, ArcGIS Scene Viewer, Visualize Temporal Change, Real-time Mapping, Mapping Internet of Things, Landsat Explorer, and Business Analyst. Cloud mapping and visualization theories and techniques are introduced through a combination of lectures, hands-on exercises, reading materials, and individual or team projects.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS)

Foundational knowledge related to mapping and analysis of geospatial data using both open source and enterprise level Web Mapping and Web GIS platforms. Students will learn how to use HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Google Maps API, ArcGIS Online, and ArcGIS API for JavaScript to store, retrieve, manage, analyze, and display geographical information. Students will be introduced to the concepts of mobile GIS technologies and Web based 3D mapping.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS)

This is an introductory course of GIS programming. It consists of lecture and laboratory components covering fundamentals of GIS programming concepts and techniques, as well as hands-on practice with Model builder and Python supported by ESRI'S ArcGIS platforms.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (GC) | Geographic Information Science (MS)

An applied work and learning experience. The student will provide a written internship report on professional practicum and the work supervisor will be consulted on how much the student has accomplished.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

The instructor will develop a specific course on a geographic topic (land forms, soils, waters, natural resources, cities, agriculture, or any other topic of a geographic nature.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Discussion and analysis of contemporary issues in the field of physical geography. Designed to allow in-depth focus on current problems/issues that geographers will encounter in their professional practice. Topics vary according to instructor.

Areas of Interest:

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Programs:

Geographic Information Science (MS)