Rasters are the preferred GIS data model to represent continuous phenomena such as terrain, land cover, surface temperature, among others. This course will explore rasters’ modeling capabilities with emphasis on digital terrain analysis and on vector/raster data integration. Although the focus is on those two topics, the lessons learned in this course can be extended to other applications such as least cost path analysis, surface hydrology, and viewshed analysis. Hands-on experience will be provided through computer lab exercises using ArcGIS software.
Contents of the Course:
I: Introduction to Raster Data Model
- Integers vs. float rasters
- Projecting Rasters, Resampling
- “Tricks of the trade”when working with rasters
II: Raster manipulation
- Map algebra
- Conditional Function
- Euclidean Distance
III: Terrain Analysis
- DEM, slope, aspect, hillshade, curvature
- Other built in-functions: Euclidean distance
IV: Lab Exercise
- Integrate rasters and vectors to test a research hypothesis.