Download The Pedagogical Experience in Teaching Cartography and GIS

The Pedagogical Experience in
Teaching Cartography and GIS
Using Public Data and Software
Maria Cecília Bonato Brandalize
Alzir Felippe Buffara Antunes
International Cartography Conference 2009
15 - 21 November, Ciudad de Santiago
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Overview
• Description of a GIS & Cartography learning-teaching Experience
applied to Environmental Engineering students of UFPR
• Intention → Apply Cartography’s fundamentals to GIS effective
understanding
• Use of Free Public Data of the Brazilian territory
• Use of Free Public Software as an option to the standard commercial
ones
• The actual Policy of the federal government and its migration
campaign towards the Open Source Software in the Public
Administration
• Implications → Complexity of practical classes’ preparation
• Final considerations about Free Software Dissemination among
students and the Availability of Geospatial Data in Brazil
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Introduction
FIRST INITIATIVES
2002  Brazilian Federal Administration Policy
Focused in the use of Free Software in the Public Institutions
2003  Brazilian Technical Committee to Implement Free Software
PRIORITIES
• the implementation of solutions, programs and services based on free
open source software (FOSS);
• the gradual migration from proprietary systems;
• and the acquisition of hardware compatible with free platforms.
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Introduction
Brazilian Technical Committee to Implement Free Software
MAIN ACTIVITIES
• distribution of free software systems (collaborative & spontaneous)
• strengthening of sharing actions between governmental
organizations and society
UFPR
As a public institution has been, since 2005, connected with the
goals of the public state administration and has developed, in
conjunction with local state agencies, strategies for the migration
to free software
Such experience has not yet reached the graduation classes in a
satisfactory measure, leading to the development of new
strategies for the teaching process
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
GIS Data and Software Distribution
Among several institutions and organizations, it is worth to
mention:
BRAZILIAN INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS (IBGE)
• Cartographic Field: topographic mapping and mapping of territorial
units
• Geodetic Field: Brazilian geodetic system, Brazilian network for
continuous GPS monitoring, permanent geodetic tide gauge network
and geocentric reference system for the Americas
• Geographic Field: regional distribution, special areas (like border strip
and coastal zone), atlases and cities influence areas
• Environmental Field: publications about sustainable development
indicators, environmental studies, fauna and flora, land use and
hydrographic resources
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
GIS Data and Software Distribution
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
GIS Data and Software Distribution
NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SPATIAL RESEARCH (INPE)
• Promote and carry on studies, scientific researches, technological
development, and human resources capacitation in the fields of Space
and Atmosphere Sciences, Space Applications, Meteorology, and Space
Engineering and Technology
• Prepare and Implement a plan to expand the divulgation efforts and the
diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge for the popularization of
space science and technology
• Are responsible for the CBERS project, a provider of multispectral
images of the world in different spatial resolutions with free distribution
• Develop and distribute to the community free software (public
domain & open source) in the following categories: state-of-the-art GIS,
GIS classes and functions library, remote sensing image processing and
web applications
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
GIS Data and Software Distribution
SPRING
SPRING WEB
TERRAVIEW
TERRALIB
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Practical Lessons
USE OF FREE PUBLIC DATA & SOFTWARE
Environmental Engineering → Discipline “GIS Applied to Environment
Issues” (90 h / 1st semester)
Significance of GIS & Cartography are assessed in a sort of workshop
since the students have no experience related to the cartographic
sciences
Significant theoretical themes are selected in order to give the students
a general notion of basic cartography, GIS data collection, GIS
fundamentals and basic remote sensing concepts
Methodology of practical classes follows: distribution of different
portions of the Brazilian territory to each student; download, from IBGE
homepage, of corresponding topographic maps (1:50.000 scale and file
format chosen by the student); and print of the proposed material
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Practical Lessons
USE OF FREE PUBLIC DATA & SOFTWARE
Methodology of practical classes also includes: access and download
of free image data and software from the INPE homepage, where
images are corresponding to the portions proposed before
Note: Students have an extensive use of the analogical map before they
experience the tools and functions of the chosen software (SPRING)
SPRING provides a comprehensive set of functions, including tools for Satellite
Image Processing, Digital Terrain Modeling, Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics,
Spatial Statistics, Spatial Databases and Map Management
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Practical Lessons Diagram
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Final Considerations
Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS
software with the environmental engineering students
of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because:
- Once this graduation course is focused in environmental modeling,
cartographic concepts are generally neglected in the first years of the
students professional education
- Nevertheless, students have a very strong mathematical background,
which facilitates the teaching/learning process of cartography and
remote sensing exercises
- The bottle neck is to perform a great deal of practical and sequential
exercises in a short period of time
- The students have presented the most significant difficulties in the
final phase of the learning process (use of software)  data edition
and importation (lack of logical consistency)
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Final Considerations
Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS
software with the environmental engineering students
of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because:
- Access to free public spatial data and free GIS software capable of
dealing with these data demand from the educator other
responsibilities: practical classes preparation is much more complex
once the data available are in a variety of formats and scales and not
always compatible with the software which is intended to be used
- Another issue for the educator may be the considerable preparation of
data import, export and edition tutorials along with the adaptation of
pre-existing free software tutorials according to the discipline needs
- The experience of using SPRING as a learning tool for GIS technology
in the environmental area has shown that it is important for the student
to have the opportunity of working with other technologies than the
proprietary ones
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Final Considerations
Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS
software with the environmental engineering students
of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because:
- Its is important to notice that the information about the availability of
national free public spatial data and software does not reach the
majority of graduation students in Brazil → Educator’s Role
- The experience has proven that graduation students are capable of
understanding the importance of free software dissemination as an
element of digital inclusion and also that the availability of free public
data represents an enormous contribution to the students’ spatial and
descriptive knowledge of the nation’s territory, which significantly
increases their spatial analysis capability
More Demanding Users & Propagate the GIS Culture
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática
Thank You for Your Attention!!!
Maria Cecília Bonato Brandalize
[email protected]
Alzir Felippe Bufara Antunes
[email protected]
UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática