A Geographic Information System enables you to gather, store, manipulate, analyze, and display geographically-referenced data. 

Hunter Library has books about GIS.  We also have many online tutorials that are available through WCU’s site license with ESRI.  If you would like to take any of these online classes outlined below, contact Sue Grider (sgrider@email.wcu.edu) to register. 

Learning ArcGIS Desktop

ArcGIS Desktop software is an integrated system that includes all the tools needed to get the most out of a GIS. This course introduces fundamental concepts of GIS and the major functionality contained within ArcGIS Desktop software. In course exercises, students follow the GIS analytical process and work with a variety of tools to solve realistic problems. This course emphasizes practical GIS skills.

Those who complete this course will be able to

• Understand basic GIS concepts.
• Describe the range of ArcGIS Desktop software capabilities and tools.
• Symbolize data for different types of maps.
• Add labels to a map.
• Create and edit geographic data.
• Perform spatial analysis using queries, geoprocessing tools, and models.
• Create reports.
• Design presentation-quality maps.

The 15-minute Map: Creating a Basic Map in ArcMap

Creating presentation-quality maps does not have to be time-consuming. The map templates included with ArcMap provide attractive default layouts for fundamental map elements such as geographic data, titles, scale bars, and company logos. Using a template is an efficient way to reduce the time spent creating a map. This focused course teaches how to use ArcMap templates to streamline map creation. Students learn how to identify map element properties and defaults, how to modify elements while maintaining proper cartographic design principles, and how to add elements to layouts to create custom ArcMap templates.

Those completing this course will be able to

• Access and preview map templates.
• Modify map elements such as titles, data frames, legends, scale bars, and graticules.
• Draw a graphic on a map.
• Add text to a map.
• Save a map as a custom template.
• Prepare a map for printing.

Working with Map Projections and Coordinate Systems in ArcGIS

Many times, datasets do not spatially align properly. This problem can be caused by missing or incorrect coordinate system metadata. You must get the data to align properly to make it usable for display and analysis. In this seminar, the presenter discusses geographic and projected coordinate systems, how to determine the coordinate system for a dataset, and how to apply a geographic (datum) transformation.

Students learn how to identify coordinate system problems when datasets do not spatially align properly and the steps to correct the problems.

The presenter will discuss:

• Geographic and projected coordinate systems
• How a datum differs from a geographic coordinate system
• Checking a dataset’s coordinate system
• Identifying an unknown coordinate system of a dataset
• Handling geographic (datum) transformations