This course acquaints students with classical and modern methods of landscape analyses as well as assessment and changes in landscape structure using ArcGIS and its extensions. Students will be gradually introduced to the subject both to acquire and integrate geographic data, and to learn how to analyze and interpret the results.
All topics are demonstrated on selected tasks. The goal of this course is to explore various approaches to modeling landscape pattern and change. The focus is on the design and use of computerized geographic information systems for land planning and design decisions and on understanding, describing and predicting land-use and land-cover.
The course will move between social and ecological processes and applications of the models. Students will learn to evaluate the trade-offs associated with use of a particular modeling approach within a given situation, and to implement (at least minimally) several of the approaches discussed.