Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
11.520: A Workshop on Geographic Information
Systems
11.188: Urban Planning and Social Science Laboratory
GIS Principles & Methods
September 14, 2005, Joseph Ferreira, Jr.
(including contributions from Visiting Prof. Zhong-Ren Peng who taught the Fall
2003 class)
Administrative notes regarding lab exercises and schedule
• Lab Exercises #2: we've made some minor edits regarding how to
control the labeling (it's different in new version, ArcGIS 9.1)
• Lab Exercise grading
o we aren't going to grade every detail
o you'll get a 'check' = okay, 'check-plus' = especially good,
or 'check-minus' = not as complete as we had hoped.
o all together, the lab exercises count for 25% of semester
grade.
• Lab Exercise purpose:
o quick start with basic ArcGIS tools and features
o highlight important ideas and methods
o assist you in becoming more self-sufficient with ArcGIS
help pages
o as semester progresses, they will be less cookbook and a
little more open ended
o Don't just push the buttons to get the 'right' answer -
pause to think about what you are trying to do, what
info/tools are needed, and why ArcGIS is organized in a
particular way.
General Approach to the Course
