Course Outline for AGSC 140
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN PRECISION FARMING II
Spring 2002
WebCT Access of Course Material On-line (for students enrolled in the course)
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Walid H. Shayya |
Instructor Contact Information
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GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION:
AGSC 140 is the second of two courses in the laptop curriculum of the Agricultural Science curriculum involving the application of selective computer software in site-specific crop management. The course will expand on introduction to site-specific crop management and precision farming which was briefly covered in AGSC 130. The course will also build on the basic knowledge acquired by the student in AGSC 130 on global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS). Students enrolled in AGSC 140 will focus more on the use of hands-on application of ArcView GIS software and field applications of GPS where students will work either individually or in groups of 2 to 3.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
OFFICE HOURS:
The instructor has the following designated office hours per week:
- Tuesdays: 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
- Wednesdays: 10:00 to 12:00 a.m.
- Fridays: 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
If necessary, students are also encouraged to make appointments to see the instructor at other times. Students with disabilities who require accommodations to fully-participate in the course activities are requested to contact the instructor within the first two weeks of the semester.
CONTACT HOURS AND CLASS SCHEDULE:
AGSC 140 is a one-credit hour course. The class is scheduled on Friday, 2:00 to 2:50 p.m., Room 102, Marshall Hall. Given that the class will involve extensive use of ArcView GIS software, several of the lectures will also meet in the GIS/GPS computer laboratory in 204 Charlton.
TEXTBOOK(S):
A course manual is available from the campus bookstore. It includes the instructors PowerPoint presentations (printed in handout format), pertinent reading material, and several class exercises. Other material is available on-line and may be accessible either through the course's web page or using the listed URLs in the course manual. Numerous resources are available on-line on the course's main topics that include precision farming (www.precisionag.org), geographic information systems (GIS.COM, USGS), and global positioning systems (Trimble). Students are encouraged to be actively involved in acquiring some pertinent knowledge from these and other on-line resources available on the web. The following publications may serve as references:
ESRI. 1986-2000. Using ArcView GIS. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, California.
ESRI. 1997. Getting to Know ArcView GIS. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, California.
Hurn, J. 1989. GPS: A Guide to the Next Utility. Trimble Navigation, Sunnyvale, California.
Shayya, W.H. 2000. An Introduction to ArcView GIS (web tutorial).
CLASS POLICIES:
GRADE COMPOSITION:
Exercise Number | PDF File |
1 | GISEx1.PDF |
2 | GISEx2.PDF |
3 | GISEx3.PDF |
4 | GISEx4.PDF |
5 | GISEx5.PDF |
6 | GISEx6.PDF |
7 | GPSEx1.PDF |
8 | DGPSEx.PDF |
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GRADING SCHEME:
The distribution of grades in this course will be based on the A-F University grading scheme. The letter grades correspond to the following percentage scale: A (90-100%), A- (87-89.9%), B+ (83-86.9%), B (80-82.9%), B- (77-79.9%), C+ (73-76.9%), C (70-72.9%), C- (67-69.9%), D+ (63-66.9%), D (60-62.9%), and F (<60%).
OUTLINE OF TOPICS:
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1 | Introduction to AGSC140 |
2 | Precision Farming: An Overview (102 Marshall) |
3 | Measuring, Monitoring, and Mapping Crop Yield (102 Marshall) |
4 | Soil Sampling and Analysis (102 Marshall) |
5 |
Variable Rate Technology (102 Marshall) Aerial Photography and Remote Sensing |
Week 6 - Break 1 - No Classes | |
7 | Progress Examination 1 (First Exam Study Guide) (102 Marshall) |
8 | GIS Taped Lecture and Overview of ArcView GIS Software (GIS.COM, USGS) (102 Marshall) |
9 | Getting Data into ArcView GIS (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
10 | Querying, Classifying, Displaying, and Labeling Themes in ArcView GIS (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
11 | Measuring Distances and Areas and Managing Scale in ArcView (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
Week 12 - Break 2 - No Classes | |
13 | Presenting Information Using Charts and Map Layouts (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
14 | Digitizing Maps and Creating Shapefiles from Coordinate Files (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
15 | Creating and Analyzing Surfaces and Contours (GPS/GIS Laboratory - 204 Charlton) |
16 | GPS Demonstration and Practice |
17 | GreenStar Precision Farming System and Wrap-up Lecture (Final Exam Study Guide) |
*The topics
and corresponding dates listed in the tables above are tentative and may be
subject to change during the semester.