Scenario: You will create a GIS project from start to finish by bringing in data from multiple sources (imagery, surfaces, database tables, vector drawings), geo-registering a land use interpretation, perform heads-up digitizing of the interpreted landcover, evaluate land cover change between 1968 and 1995, perform an accuracy assessment of the landcover map, quantify the landcover within a stream buffer, produce a final cartographic map and Internet Map Server application of the study area, and a 3D terrain visualization.  

The course is broken into 13 separate lessons.  The following is a short description of the course:                                                       

Data Preparation and Creation

    Lesson 1:  The User Interface 
                   Exporing menus: File, View, Options
                        Exploring Toolbars: main, format, selection, tools, transform and query; 
                        Exploring panes: Project

    Lesson 2:  Getting Data into Manifold
                        Importing and exporting drawings, tables, surfaces, images, 
                              Coordinate system definition, projection transformation, on-the-fly
                              projections.

    Lesson 3:  Improving System Performance
                       Coordinate precision, orthoganize data, zoom dependencies,
                             simplify data, project to map, nomalize topology

    Lesson 4:  Working with Databases
                   Importing and linking tables, adding and relating columns, active columns,
                        query and transform toolbar, table design, transfer rules

    Lesson 5:  Georegistration
                   Importing scanned images, adding control points, georegistration
                        of images, viewing residual errors.

    Lesson 6:  Creating Data (digitizing)
                   Creating new drawings, discreet polygon digitizing, spaghetti digitizing,
                        normalizing topology, creating bounded areas, editing data, 
                        altering databases, adding attributes

Data Analysis

    Lesson 7:  Basic Analysis Tools 
                   Spatial Overlay; Topology Overlay; Viewbots, SQL, SQL and
                        spatial operators

    Lesson 8:  Overlaying Spatial Data
                   Data elimination, saved selections, topology overlay,
                       dissolving features, setting transfer rules, SQL pivot tables, change
                       analysis, integration with Excel.

    Lesson 9:   Accuracy Assessment
                    Import GPS data, point in polygon overlay, SQL transform table,
                         integration with Excel, computing overall accuracy.

    Lesson 10: Taking Spatial Analysis Further
                    Importing data, Quantify % landuse, clip features,  buffer geographic
                         features, SQL analysis, quantify selected geometry within buffers.

Data Presentation

    Lesson 11: Cartographic Composition
                    Clipping data, creating cartographic layouts and elements,
                         coordinate grids

    Lesson 12: Creating an Internet Map Server Application
                    Overlaying data, modifying database tables, SQL parameterized
                         queries, exporting web pages

    Lesson 13: Terrain Mapping
                     Import a USGS DEM, crop a DEM, create a 3D terrain,
                          overlay 2D objects on terrain, navigate over terrain.