PL431B / PL531B - Map Analysis and Site Planning

Virtual Textbook

Class Instructor: Alan A. Lew
E-mail to: Alan.Lew@nau.edu
Department of Geography and Public Planning
Northern Arizona University

Want to Learn More about AutoCAD? What to download some free AutoCAD stuff? Then visit:
The CAD Shack - AutoCAD Support Homepage
possibly the best AutoCAD support site on the WWW.

Also try visiting the TopTen Cad site, which has listed my online Map Projections Lecture (chapter 5 below) as a TopTen sites in 2000:


Chapter 1 - Definitions

A Glossary of Land Surveying/GIS and Related Terms
- from the Australian Survey and Land Information Group of the Australian government

Definition of Land Surveying
- from the Engineering program at Purdue University

Geomatics
- from Online Resources for Land Surveying and Geomatics, compiled by Maynard H. Riley

Basic Elements of Map Composition
- Section 4 from Cartographic Communication - a virtual textbook by Kenneth E. Foot and Shannon Crum, The Geographer's Craft Project, Dept. of Geography, University of Texas at Austin.

Cartographic Design
- lecture overheads by Alan A. Lew, NAU

Computer Cartography
- lecture overheads by Alan A. Lew, NAU


Chapter 2 - Mapping Standards

USGS Map Scales
- US Geological Survey Fact Sheet - contains many maps which can take a while to transfer -- you may want to turn off your "Auto Load Images" (under "Options" on Netscape)

National Map Accuracy Standards
- US Geological Survey Fact Sheet -- positional accuracy standards on USGS topo maps

Planning Map Scales
- Dr. Lew's Map Scale Lecture Overheads - based on the PL431 Workbook Chapter 3

Error, Accuracy, and Precision
- by Kenneth J. Foote and Donald J. Huebner, The Geographer's Craft Project, Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Texas at Austin

Map Accuracy and Coordinate Systems
- Dr. Lew's Lecture Overheads - the coordinates section is based in part on the PL431 Workbook Chapter 6

Coordinate Precision in Mapping and GIS: Why You Should Care
- by the Autodesk GIS Market Group Staff


Chapter 3-A - Coordinate Systems and Surveying

Tennessee Land History,
Transferring Land in the US,
Meets and Bounds,
Locating Deed Information,
Survey Terms and Units (skim this),
Legal Terms in Land Records (skim this)
,
- from: Land Record Reference - Sponsored by Direct Line Software, makers of DeedMapper mapping products for the PC.

Township and Range System,
Metes and Bounds
- from: Legal Land Descriptions in the U.S. by Infobahn Outfitters, Inc.

Chapter 3-B - Other Materials

Coordinate Systems Overview (worldwide) (skim this)
- by Peter H. Dana, The Geographer's Craft Project, Dept. of Geography, Univ. of Texas at Austin

State Plane Coordinate System Utilities - from NOAA - find a zone and conversions

The Great Globe Gallery (skim this)
- an gallery of map projections by Zbigniew Zwolinski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland (may take a while to download)

2-D Land Surveying
- Dr. Lew's Lecture Overheads from a class taught at the National University of Singapore


Chapter 4a - GPS

1 - GPS Lecture Outline
- by Alan A. Lew, Northern Arizona University

2 - The Geographer's Craft: GPS - Table of Contents - Univ. of Colorado
- by Peter H. Dana

3 - GeoWeb GPS and GIS/RS Discussion Forums
- these are WWW-based discussion areas, not Usenet newsgroups

4 - GPS Primer - The Aerospace Corporation
- a very basic overview

5 - About.com's Geography GPS information


Chapter 4b - GPS Miscellany

- Map Projections
- Dr. Lew's Lecture Overheads from a class taught at the National University of Singapore - these are text notes only, there are no graphics, yet

- Earth Viewer
- see the world from a GPS satellite - almost live, also see Topo, Weather, and Clouds from the Sun or Moon

- Current GPS Satellite Status
- US Naval Observatory

- GPS Satellite Constellation Predictor
- US Naval Warfare Center

- NAU - Colorado Plateau Studies Center/National Biological Survey Trimble Base State GPS Files
- to download Trimble Base Station files for Differential Corrections in Northern Arizona

- NAU Campus map in AutoCAD .DWG format - (size: > 1mb) - right click and select "Save Link As..." in Netscape to save to your PC.


Chapter 5 - Mapping/GIS Project and Applications: Pulling it all together

GIS Project Planning - by Kenneth Foote and Shannon Crum, Univ. of Texas at Austin

Mapping and GIS Solutions For Municipal Government - by the Autodesk GIS Market Group Staff

 


Other Related Readings

- GIS and the Geographer's Craft - an online textbook of material by Kenneth Foote and company at the Univ. of Texas at Austin

- Landscape Architecture Virtual Library - Software section - Links to many GIS/Mapping companies - AND on-line and downloadable TUTORIALS

- Maps Online: Try these websites: Dr. Lew's Blank Maps and Atlases for GGR346-United States, About.com's Map Links

- NEWSGROUPS - these are Internet discussion groups. Simply click on the group to open your newsgroup reader and see the latest topics being discussed.

AutoCAD Newsgroups:

  • alt.cad.autocad

  • comp.cad.autocad

  • GIS Newsgroups:
  • comp.infosystems.gis

  • GPS and Surveying Newsgroups:
  • sci.geo.satellite-nav
  • sci.engr.surveying
    Disciplinary Newsgroups:
  • alt.planning.urban

  • sci.engr.civil

  • alt.landscape.architecture
  • AAG Microcomputer Specialty Group - has shareware, software reviews and links of interest to geographers who practice their craft on computers


    Acknowledgment: Thanks to all those who have provided the homepage websites that have made this virtual textbook possible.


    Homepage - Syllabus - Schedule/Assignments - Workbook - Virtual Text - Dr. Alan Lew