Syllabus for GISC 6379.

001 UTD Fall 2005

GISC 6379.001: GIS Pattern Analysis

Lecture and Labs: Thursdays 16:00- 18:45 in GR3.206

Instructor: Michael Tiefelsdorf, Ph.D.

Office: GR3.120
Office Hours: Wednesdays 16:00-18:00
or by appointment or drop-in when door is open
Phone: still a mystery
Email: tiefelsdorf@utdallas.edu
Course Website: to be announced
Data Link: \\utdgreen2k\data\tiefelsdorf

Policies:
1. Class attendance is expected. Do not arrive late or leave early.
2. Assigned readings are expected to be done prior to each lecture.
3. No make-up examinations, quizzes or labs will be given unless stated by
university policies or under exceptional circumstances.
4. Late assignments or take-home exams will not be accepted (under exceptional
circumstances late homework is graded on a discounted basis).
5. University policies on scholastic dishonesty, academic conduct and classroom
civility will be strictly enforced.
6. Unless otherwise stated, quizzes, examinations, and assignments must be done
individually
7. Students with disabilities and special needs that are recognized by the university
guidelines should meet with the instructor at the beginning of the semester.
Appropriate support in accordance with university policies will be sought to
accommodate their special needs during the lectures, assignments, quizzes, and
exams.

Course Description and Objectives

• Focus on the statistical analysis of spatially autocorrelated data.
• Course interfaces between an overview to spatial statistical pattern analysis and a
rigorous statistical derivation of the special spatial statistical methods.
• Methods of point pattern analysis, the statistical interpolation of geo-referenced
observations (Geo-statistics, i.e., Kriging), and the spatial autocorrelation analysis
of areal data are discussed
• The methods are embedded predominately within a vector GIS framework.
• The underlying assumptions of the statistical methods are introduced, the
underlying concepts of the methods are presented and careful interpretation and
refinement of the pattern models is exercised.
• GIS provides supporting tools to manage and retrieve the spatial information and
to visualize the analysis results.

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Syllabus for GISC 6379.001 UTD Fall 2005

• Special spatial analysis software is introduced (GeoDa for confirmatory and

exploratory areal data analysis, R-packages SPDEP and SPLANCE, as well as
special R-functions).
• Examples are taken from the social and environmental sciences (including spatial
epidemiology)

Course Requirements and Prerequisites

• Introduction to a vector-based GIS and spatial data handling
• Introduction to statistical inference
• Working knowledge of regression techniques
• Basic algebra and analysis

Grading Criteria
• The lab may be split into separate installments.
• The pop-quizzes are intended to ensure that the suggested readings are done prior
to the lecture.
• Participation is highly encourages but not graded. Engagement with the course
material will lead to participation and an indirect increase of the course grade. The
course will also run an online discussion list.
Requirements Percent
Mid-term Exam (open book) 20%
Final Exam (open book) 20 %
Group Take-Home Project (15%) with Proposal (5%) 20 %
Lab 1: Point Pattern Analysis 10 %
Lab 2: Spatial Interpolation 10 %
Lab 3: Analysis of Areal Data 10 %
5 Announced Pop-Quizzes @ 2 % (open book) 10 %

Texts
Additional study material will be made available online
Bailey, Trevor C. and Anthony C. Gatrell (1995). Interactive Spatial Data Analysis. New
York: John Wiley & Sons (U.S. ISBN 0-470-23502-0, U.K. ISBN 0-582-24493-5.
(Required text book)
Johnston, K., J.M. Ver Hoef, K. Krivoruchko, and N. Lucas (2001). Using ArcGIS
Geostatistical Analyst. Redlands: ESRI Press (Online available)
Fox, John (2002). An R and S-Plus Companion to Applied Regression. Thousand Oaks:
Sage Publications (Good applied introduction to R and programming in R)
Hamilton, Lawrence C. (1992). Regression with Graphics. A second course in applied
statistics. Belmont, CA: Duxbury Press (Good applied introduction to the
concepts of regression analysis and related linear models)
O’Sullivan, David and David J. Unwin (2003). Geographic Information Analysis. New
York: John Wiley & Sons. (More elementary than Bailey and Gatrell with
stronger GIS focus)

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Syllabus for GISC 6379.001 UTD Fall 2005

Haining, Robert (2003) Spatial Data Analysis. Theory and Practice. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press (Recent theoretical review on spatial data analysis
leading to more advanced subjects than those covered by Bailey and Gatrell)
John C. Davis (1973). Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology. New York: John Wiley &
Sons (Classical reference. Good refresher chapters on inferential statistics and
matrix algebra)
R-project online documentation at http://www.r-project.org/
GeoDa online documentation at http://www.csiss.org/clearinghouse/GeoDa/

Tentative Course Outline:

Note that the outline may be revised depending on the general progress of the class.
Date Topic Reading
Aug 18 Introduction / Entry Quiz Online Handouts
Aug 25 Discussion of Entry Quiz / Example Analysis Web-site and Online Handouts
GeoDa-Environment
Sep 01 Statistical Prerequisites / R-Environment B&G Chap 1 / Online Handouts
Sep 08 Point Pattern Analysis I B&G Chap 3 / Online Handouts
Sep 15 Point Pattern Analysis II B&G Chap 4 / Online Handouts
Sep 22 Spatial Interpolation I B&G Chap 5
Sep 29 Mid-Term / Regression Refresher I Online Handout
Oct 06 Spatial Interpolation II B&G Chap 5
Oct 13 Spatial Interpolation III B&G Chap 6
Oct 20 Regression Refresher II Online Handout
Oct 27 Analysis of Areal Data I B&G Chap 7
Nov 03 Analysis of Areal Data II B&G Chap 8
Nov 10 Final Exam / Special Topics Online Handout
Nov 17 Presentation of Project Proposals
Nov 24 Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec 01 Take-Home Exam due

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