Our undergraduates of the Master’s Program «Integrated Resources Management» completed Geographical Information Systems (GIS) course

We are starting a series of posts how our «Integrated Water Resources Management” (IWRM) undergraduates studied in the summer semester.

Today we will tell you about the course «Monitoring and Data Processing in GIS”, which was taught by a Professor Andrey V. Mitusov.

Geographic information systems (GIS) help to conduct effective analysis and management of water resources.

The course was based on the open source Q-GIS program for Windows or Apple operating systems.

The students studied the following components:

• Data acquisition, Data processing, Data analyzing,

• Geo-databases,

• Descriptive statistics,

• Introduction in geographical information systems,

• Geo-referencing,

• Introduction of remote sensing.

Thanks to the course, our undergraduates were able to get:

• important knowledge about GIS structure, digital maps, and spatial data;

• practical GIS skills, such as: data visualization, classification, and digitization.

Andrey Mitusov is an active participant of online projects in the field of education, coordinator of the YouTube channel «Earth and Water CA” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC52FN1r8kqx42bMqcz2ywEQ?sub_confirmation=1) and the founder of the online school «Academic Writing for Young Researchers” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4gmv525RjgB2RNqX3QBIQg/featured).

Review of the master’s student of the IWRM program on the course «Data monitoring and processing in GIS»:

Q-GIS is a very convenient application. At first glance, it seems very difficult, but in the course of intensive course with Professor Mitusov, we were able to cover almost 90% of the program. There are several advantages to using this software and the first of them, of course, is its availability. It is free and can be easily installed on a computer with any software. Also, it has very nice design and interface. Another advantage is that if you have any questions, you can easily find the answer on the Internet, as well as training videos or Books that my classmates and I prepared during the course. This book contains a detailed description of all the necessary basic processes. Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages to this app. First, the app is in English and there is no full translation into Russian. This may slightly complicate the work for Russian-speaking specialists. Secondly, if you have an old version of Windows, then you need strong nerves to use this program, as it will run slowly.

Regarding the course itself, I want to say that the first week was very difficult, as we had to work very intensively, without leaving the computer screen, and our hands were on the keyboard almost all the time. But from the second week, we realized that the method used by the professor is very productive.

In general, since the grades for the course are fair, then I think this course and Professor can be advised to all future students.