Goal of the course
The
goal of
this course is for the students learn how methods required for GIS
application
development work. After the course, the student has an understanding how
software development projects work, how spatial data is developed, how
services are set up, and how databases can be maintained, and used in
GIS
analysis. Depending on the exact project topic as well as the student's
role in the project group, they are likely to focus on some of these
topics more than others.
In
addition, the students familiarize themselves and practice with the technological
tools required in GIS software development and management of GIS data sets, and
make a short GIS development project. In the project, the students will
practice how to keep track of the amount of work done on a project,
and compare this to the amount of resources assigned.
The project
will be done in groups. The groups will have 3-5 people, with group of size 4
being the optimal. A group of this size can continue to function, even if one
person needs to drop out of the course. A group of four is also sufficiently
large that the participants can divide work between them, and people can
specialize in different tasks. However, in a group of four, there aren’t too
many people, and therefore everyone will find work they need to do in the
project.
The amount
of time a student should dedicate for project work is approximately 100
hours. This comes to approximately 10 hours of work per week during the
10 weeks of the project work. This number includes both the work done
for developing the
group project, as well work needed for individual studying.
After the
course, the students are familiar with the practical work and tools used in
software projects, and have practiced working in a software project group.
Prerequisites
For
masters' students in geoinformatics the GIS-E1070 Theories and
techniques in GIS is a prerequisite course. Geoinformatics students who
have not finished the course should contact the course staff before the
first session.
In general, the following skills are useful on the course:
- Programming experience and interest
- Familiarity
with and interest in learning programming environments, frameworks, libraries, and ability to
learn new programming languages and environments
- Interest in group work and willingness to work on projects
To those students
who feel hesitant after reading the prerequisites: remember that in
your working life you are very likely to encounter all sorts of project
work you need to do. In those projects you will encounter new
tools, new concepts, and new technology you need to master. This course
is a chance to practice that in a safe environment. You will learn things, and there is no a external customer here.
Learning
and exercise sessions and use of time on the course
There will
be no traditional lectures on the course. Instead, on every Thursday during period IV,
there
will be a learning session, where we will discuss the topics
related
to the course. The sessions can include also brief lectures, but the
work
methods will also include different kinds of group discussions and such.
The maximum time for individual learning session is 4 hours.
Approximately 3 hours likely to be closer to the mark.
The learning sessions will be complemented by self-study material. The material is to be read before the session. In order to emphasize this, there is a pre-assignment
for each learning session, which are obligatory part of the course. In
order to do the pre-assignment, you need to read the material, consider
it, and write a short report. Each pre-assignment should take 2-4 hours
of work.
The deadline for each
pre-assignment is on the evening before the learning session. This is in
order to give the course staff time to read through the submissions
before the session.
For the pre-assignments you need to reserve 6*4=24 hours and for
the learning sessions you need to reserve approximately 18 hours. Most
likely to the total amount of work used for these parts of the course
will be less than 48 hours, total.
In addition, on Fridays every student group on the course can have a session with the staff for discussing their project.
These sessions can either be support sessions or
deadline sessions. In the support
sessions, the purpose of the session is for the group to be able to bring problems
they have to the course staff. In the deadline sessions, the group can
demonstrate the current state of their project, and discuss with the course
staff what will be the next steps.
For these sessions you need to reserve 10 hours.
Thus,
in total, the course can take 140-150 hours of work. The total amount
of work per student may vary a lot, depending on individual
circumstances.
