FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE, GEOG 3813, GIS, Ziehr, NSU, Fall 2005

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE: Fall 2005

GEOG 3813, Geographic Inforamation Systems

Chuck Ziehr, Northeastern State University

Careful study of the conceptual and technical material from the assigned portions of the textbook (Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop), lecture notes, handouts, and web-based materials regarding the following questions/capabilities will provide significant preparation for the exam. However, this collection of questions is NOT intended to be all-inclusive of the exact form or content that questions may take on the exam. The final exam will refer to all material covered since the mid-term exam.

Be sure to study carefully the following:

Chapters 5 (pages 115-125), 8-10, 12, 14-19 in the Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop book
Online Readings for using GPS with GIS

Trimble - All About GPS (tutorial) http://www.trimble.com/gps/ [Another overview is "How GPS Receivers Work" from howstuffworks.com at http://www.howstuffworks.com/gps1.htm ]
GPS Questions & Answers (from USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center) http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/gps/gps_questions_and_answers.html
GPS to GIS (from USGS Rocky Mountain Mapping Center) http://rockyweb.cr.usgs.gov/public/outreach/gps/gps2gis.html
Methods for Creating Spatial Databases http://gislounge.com/features/aa092700.shtml
Orthophotos and GIS http://gislounge.com/features/aa031300.shtml

Concepts and techniques covered in Homework Exercises 3, 4, & 5
Online tutorials
- Obtaining U.S. Census Data via American FactFinder and Manipulating It in Microsoft Excel for Use in ArcGIS http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~ziehr/courses/geog4813/Data_via_American_FactFinder.html
- Building Your Own Geodatabase Using ArcGIS: Part 1 & 2 http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~ziehr/courses/geog4813/Building_Your_Own_Geodatabase_Using_ArcGIS-Part1.html and http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~ziehr/courses/geog4813/Building_Your_Own_Geodatabase_Using_ArcGIS-Part2.html

The final exam will include some conceptual and technical questions which will each require a paragraph or two to answer. There will also be one or two tasks to accomplish using ArcGIS. Be sure to bring a diskette to save your work onto so you can turn it in. You will be allowed to use the Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop textbook and the online ArcGIS "Help" during the exam, but NOT your notes or the WWW. However, be careful; this will NOT substitute for studying in advance. If you have to look up the details for every answer, you will run out of time and not be able to finish the exam. As noted in the syllabus, the final exam is Friday, December 16, 11:00 a.m.-12:50 p.m. You should probably expect to spend the entire period for the exam.

Know meaning of the following terms and acronyms and be familiar with the concepts involved in using each in a GIS context:

DOQ
DOQQ
DEM
DRG
GPS
DGPS
NAD 27
NAD 83
WGS 84

Explain how many GPS satellites must be used to obtain a horizontal location measurement, and why is this number of satellites necessary?
What are UTM coordinates, and how are they measured?

All of the following questions relate to ArcGIS software concepts and functionalities:
What are "pyramids" in the context of a raster data set in ArcGIS, and what purpose do they serve?
By building a query be able to select spatial features based on the features' values for more than one attribute.
What is required to join a table of attributes to an existing layer's attribute table? Be able to perform this task using ArcGIS.
How does relating tables differ from joining tables?
Be able to use location queries to select spatial features. Know when each of the following spatial relationships would be appropriate to use in a location query: intersect, are within a distance of, completely contain, contain, have their center in, share a line segment with, and are crossed by the outline of.
Be able to perform spatial analyses using buffers and overlays (both unions and intersects) appropriately.
What is a personal geodatabase and how does it differ from a shapefile?
Be able to create a personal geodatabase with multiple feature classes.
What is a domain in the context of a personal geodatabase and how would a domain be useful ?
What are vertices, endpoints, and edges?
Be able to create spatial features that will become a part of a personal geodatabase using on-screen digitizing.
Be proficient at using the snapping environment, including snapping tolerances, for on-screen digitizing.
Be able to use appropriately each of the following tools for on-screen digitizing:
Be able to edit an existing line or polygon spatial feature by adding a vertex, moving a vertex, and deleting a vertex.
Know conceptually what is required for geocoding addresses, including address table, reference data, geocoding service, geocoding tolerances, and rematching addresses. You will not be required to perform address geocoding on the exam.
What is required to be able to display x,y coordinates (obtained with a GPS receiver) on a map in ArcGIS? Be able to perform this function.
Be able to add a map, legend, scale, and title to a Layout.

That's it! If you are "comfortable" with each of these 20 questions/capabilities, then you will do very well on the final exam. If you have questions, please let me know.

Last revised November 26, 2005.