38 Geography
Advanced Analytic Methods in Geospatial Intelligence
Todd Bacastow (Pennsylvania State University) and Dennis Bellafiore
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
General James Clapper, former United States Director of National Intelligence and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), once said “everything happens somewhere.” He stressed that there are aspects of time and place to every intelligence problem. In this course, you will examine how time and place work with general intelligence techniques to create geospatial intelligence. You will learn and apply critical thinking skills, structured analytical techniques, and other intelligence methods in a geospatial context. You’ll also learn how to reduce personal and organizational bias by conducting an Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, by R. Heuer, a 45-year veteran of the CIA. As a result, you will be better prepared for the world of geospatial intelligence analysis.
Formats: Online, HTML
Cartography and Visualization
Cary Anderson (PennState-University Park)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Maps are powerful visual tools, both for communicating ideas and for facilitating data exploration. In GEOG 486: Cartography and Visualization, you will learn design principles and techniques for creating maps with contemporary mapping tools, including ArcGIS Pro. In this lab-focused course, you’ll apply cartographic theory to practical problems, with a focus on design decisions such as selecting visual variables, classifying and generalizing data, applying principles of color and contrast, and choosing projections for maps. You will also be introduced to future-focused application topics such as augmented and virtual reality, mapping with multivariate glyphs, the visual depiction of uncertainty, interactive geovisualizations and (geo)visual analytics, and decision-making with maps and mapping products. Successful completion of this course will signify mastery in map production for communication and research; you will be practiced in making, analyzing, critiquing, and sharing high-quality maps.
Formats: Online, HTML
Cloud and Server GIS
Ryan Baxter (Pennsylvania State University) and Sterling Quinn (Esri)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Is your understanding of Cloud GIS a bit hazy? Does thinking about it leave you in a fog? We’ve designed GEOG 865, Cloud and Server GIS, to help you understand how all of the various pieces of architecture fit together. By the end of the class you’ll have a clear understanding of esri’s and others’ offerings in the space, how to implement ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon EC2, make online maps with Carto and Mapbox, and engage in some blue sky thinking of your own in our weekly discussions about trends and directions.
Formats: Online, HTML
Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research and Practice
Dana Hellman and Vivek Shands (Portland State University)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC
This reader is an Open Educational Resource, meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others.
Each section of this volume includes (1) an introductory summary, (2) a reading list with full text articles, (3) student exercises meant to enhance understanding and facilitate in-class discussion, and (4) additional discussion prompts or activities for instructors to use in class. The format of materials is intended to convey key concepts, while leaving ample space for student exploration, discourse, and creativity. Lessons may culminate in an applied, imaginative final project, a sample framework of which is provided at the end of Section VI.
Formats: PDF, Word
Suggested for: GEOG 311
Earth Science
Claire M. Coyne (Santa Ana College) (Lumen Learning)
2017
Licence: CC BY
This text includes introductions to concepts from level I earth science courses, from geology to water systems. It was developed through Lumen Learning and a professor of Geology and Earth Sciences from Santa Ana College.
Format: Online
Suggested for: GEOG 365
Fundamentals of Human Geography
Wing Cheung
2023
Licence: CC BY
Fundamentals of Human Geography is a college-level digital textbook aimed at introducing undergraduate students to the field of human and cultural geography.
Format: Online, PDF, Google Doc
Geographic Information System Basics
Jonathan E. Campbell and Michael Shin (UCLA)
2014
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This textbook integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise. It also illustrates how GIS is used to ask questions, inform choices, and guide policy. From the melting of the polar ice caps to privacy issues associated with mapping, this book provides a gentle, yet substantive, introduction to the use and application of digital maps, mapping, and GIS.
Formats: Online and PDF
Geographic Information Technologies
R. Adam Dastrup and Lisa C. Young (Maricopa Community Colleges)
2020
Licence: CC BY
Adaptation of: Essentials of Geographic Information Systems integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise. Essentials of Geographic Information Systems also illustrates how GIS is used to ask questions, inform choices, and guide policy. From the melting of the polar ice caps to privacy issues associated with mapping, this book provides a gentle, yet substantive, introduction to the use and application of digital maps, mapping, and GIS.
Formats: Online, PDF
Human Geography
Christine Rosenfeld and Nathan Burtch
2023
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Welcome to Human Geography! If you are interested in how humans interact with the environment and how human systems are geographically distributed over space, then you’ve found your place. We hope that find this textbook useful and enjoyable; please dive in by clicking “Contents” to immerse yourself in all-things-human geography.
Formats: Online, PDF, Ebook
Introduction to Climate Science
Andreas Schmittner (Oregon State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC
This book describes how Earth’s climate is changing, how it has been changing in the recent geological past and how it may change in the future. It covers the physical sciences that build the foundations of our current understanding of global climate change such as radiation, Earth’s energy balance, the greenhouse effect and the carbon cycle. Both natural and human causes for climate change are discussed. Impacts of climate change on natural and human systems are summarized. Ethical and economical aspects of human-caused climate change and solutions are presented.
Formats: Online, EPUB, and PDF
Introduction to Geomatics
Scott Bell (University of Saskatchewan)
2020
Licence: CC BY-SA
This open textbook was developed as a supplement to Geography 222.3 (GEOG 222), Introduction to Geomatics at the University of Saskatchewan.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for: GEOG 201
Introduction to Human Geography
R. Adam Dastrup (Salt Lake Community College)
2015
Licence: CC BY
This textbook includes chapters on Population and Migration, Cultural Geography, Political Geography, Sustainable Development, Food, Water, & Agriculture, Urban Geography, Environmental Issues, and Living with Disasters.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Suggested for: GEOG 201
Introduction to Human Geography – 2nd Edition
David Dorrell, Joseph Henderson, Todd Lindley, and Georgeta Connor (Georgia Gwinnett College)
2018
Licence: CC BY
Geography is a diverse discipline that has some sort of connection to most every other academic discipline. This connection is the spatial perspective, which essentially means if a phenomenon can be mapped, it has some kind of relationship to geography. Studying the entire world is a fascinating subject, and geographical knowledge is fundamental to a competent understanding of our world. In this chapter, you will learn what geography is as well as some of the fundamental concepts that underpin the discipline. These fundamental terms and concepts will be interwoven throughout the text, so a sound understanding of these topics is critical as you delve deeper into the chapters that follow.
Formats: PDF, Word
Suggested for: GEOG 201
Laboratory Manual for Introductory Geography, First British Columbia Edition
Stuart MacKinnon (UBC Okanagan), Katie Burles (College of the Rockies), Terence Day (Okanagan College), Fes de Scally (UBC Okanagan), Nina Hewitt (UBC), Crystal Huscroft (Thompson Rivers University), Gillian Krezoski (University of Victoria), Allison Lutz (Selkirk College), Craig Nichol (UBC Okanagan), Andrew Perkins (Simon Fraser University), Todd Redding (Okanagan College), Ian Saunders (UBC Okanagan), Leonard Tang (Langara College), and Chani Welch (Okanagan College)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This lab manual is a cross-institutional project from British Columbia (BC), Canada that provides 22 labs to be implemented within first-year post-secondary physical geography courses. The labs have been developed to be easily adapted for various course structures, durations, and differing laboratory learning objectives set out by instructors. Instructor notes are provided for each lab that outline the instructional intent of the lab author, along with some suggestions for modification. The lab manual consists of 22 labs that cover an introduction to physical geography, weather and climate, biogeography, map and geospatial skills, hydrology, geomorphology, and landform identification. The majority of the labs have a BC focus; however, they are useable across Canada and further abroad. The majority of the labs have been developed so that they can be done in any order to increase instructor flexibility and promote adaptability to differing course structures and durations. Many of the labs have students using live data, or built-in flexibility with datasets for instructors in order to prevent the lab exercises becoming static over time. The first edition of this lab manual is intended as a beta test of the lab manual for the 2020/21 academic year.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, and MOBI
Suggested for: GEOG 201
Mapping, Society, and Technology
Steven Manson
2017
Licence: CC BY-NC
Learn how to read, use, and create maps and along the way explore how maps reflect the relationship between society and technology. Mapping is an essential form of scientific and artistic inquiry as well as a trillion dollar business. People, companies, and governments use and misuse maps and map technology to tell stories, save lives, rig elections, and spy on you.
Formats: Online, PDF, EPUB, and more
The Nature of Geographic Information
David DiBiase (Pennsylvania State University)
2017
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
The Nature of Geographic Information is an orientation to the properties of geographic data and the practice of distance learning. The purpose of this course is to promote an understanding of the Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&T) enterprise. GIS&T is the intersection of professions, institutions, and technologies that produce geographic data and render information from it. It is a rapidly growing and evolving field. Learning is a way of life for all GIS&T professionals. With this in mind, I hope that this text may contribute to your lifelong exploration of how geospatial technologies can be used to improve the quality of life–yours and your neighbors’, locally and globally, now and in the future.
Formats: Online, HTML
The Physical Environment: An Introduction to Physical Geography
Michael E. Ritter
2020
Licence: CC BY-SA
This online physical geography textbook is for students to gain a basic understanding of physical geography. It is an introduction to the processes and patterns of the physical environment and demonstrates connections between human activities and the Earth system. The text makes physical geography dynamic through active learning and multimedia integration. Formative and summative assessments encourages student learning as they progress through the text.
Formats: Online
Physical Geography
Lumen Learning
2015
Licence: CC BY-SA
An open textbook published by Lumen Learning on Physical Geography. It includes chapters on planet Earth; plate tectonics; tectonic forces; weathering, erosion, and deposition; Earth’s fresh water; oceans and coastal environments; the atmosphere; and weather processes and systems.
Format: Online
Includes: Embedded videos
Physical Geography and Natural Disasters
R. Adam Dastrup (Salt Lake Community College)
2020
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
The intent of this textbook is to update and build upon the body of knowledge that exists within the geographic discipline.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Physical Geology – 2nd Edition
Steven Earle (Thompson Rivers University)
2019
Licence: CC BY
Physical Geology is a comprehensive introductory text on the physical aspects of geology, including rocks and minerals, plate tectonics, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciation, groundwater, streams, coasts, mass wasting, climate change, planetary geology and much more. It has a strong emphasis on examples from western Canada, especially British Columbia, and also includes a chapter devoted to the geological history of western Canada. The book is a collaboration of faculty from Earth Science departments at Universities and Colleges across British Columbia and elsewhere.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
Remote Sensing
Anders Jensen Knudby (University of Ottawa)
2021
Licence: CC BY
This introductory book on Remote Sensing is intended to be the equivalent of a textbook for an undergraduate-level university course. It covers remote sensing, satellite images, mapping, photogrammetry, electromagnetic radiation, image classification, accuracy assessment, and change detection.
Formats: Online, EPUB, and PDF
Suggested for: GEOG 322
Spatial Thinking in Planning Practice: An Introduction to GIS
Yiping Fang, Vivek Shandas, and Eugenio Arriaga Cordero (Portland State University)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC
The goals of this textbook are to help students acquire the technical skills of using software and managing a database, and develop research skills of collecting data, analyzing information and presenting results. We emphasize that the need to investigate the potential and practicality of GIS technologies in a typical planning setting and evaluate its possible applications. GIS may not be necessary (or useful) for every planning application, and we anticipate these readings to provide the necessary foundation for discerning its appropriate use. Therefore, this textbook attempts to facilitate spatial thinking focusing more on open-ended planning questions, which require judgment and exploration, while developing the analytical capacity for understanding a variety of local and regional planning challenges.
While this textbook provides the background for understanding the concepts in GIS as applicable to urban and regional planning, it is best when accompanied by a hands-on tutorial, which will enable readers to develop an in-depth understanding of the specific planning applications of GIS. Chapters in this textbook are either composed by the editors using Creative Common materials, or linked to a book chapter scanned copy in the library reserve. In the end of each chapter, we also provided several discussion questions, together with contextual applications through some web links.
Formats: Online and PDF
Surveying and Mapping
Christian Tiberius (Delft University of Technology), Hans van der Marel (Delft University of Technology), René Reudink (Delft University of Technology), Freek van Leijen (Delft University of Technology)
2021
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
This book provides an introduction, at academic level, into the field of surveying and mapping. The book has been compiled based on hand-outs and readers written for the third-year course Surveying and Mapping, in the bachelor program Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology. This book covers a wide range of measurement techniques, from land surveying, GPS/GNSS and remote sensing to the associated data processing, the underlying coordinate reference systems, as well as the analysis and visualization of the acquired geospatial information.
Formats: PDF
Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective
Nadine Ibrahim (University of Waterloo)
2018
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Sustainable Cities: Adding an African Perspective is a course that introduces students to the theories and strategies to reimagine cities from an urban sustainability perspective. The course modules are beginner level building blocks that cater to the new inter-disciplinary trend around Cities Engineering.
The modules provide an introduction to concepts of sustainability, urbanization, climate change; strategies for best practices in the design of new cities and redesign of existing ones; and tools and methodologies for environmental assessments, material flows, and urban metabolism. Each module is expected to take 2-3hours for completion, this includes following the videos, reading through the global cities and African cities examples, and completing assessments, contributing to discussions and reflections. The course activities and interactions will enable students to design cities in developed and developing world contexts, in addition to engineering the great African cities of the future. The course is organized in 4 modules, where each module begins with an introduction to definitions and theories, followed by academic research on the topic, then showcases case studies from global cities in developed and developing world contexts, and from African cities.
Formats: Online, PDF
Suggested for: GEOG 200
Unmanned Aerial Systems
Qassim A. Abdullah (Pennsylvania State University)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Unmanned Aerial Systems, or drones, are developing aggressively, and many government and non-government agencies are considering acquiring such systems. This course will focus on the geo-spatial utilization of a UAS. It will cultivate students’ knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of the UAS and data post-processing systems. It introduces fundamental concepts surrounding operating a UAS such as strategies for selecting the right UAS, assessing its performance, managing resulting products (i.e. imagery), selecting the appropriate commercially available processing software, assessing product accuracy, figuring ways and means of producing metric products from UAS, and understanding rules and regulations governing operating a UAS in the United States.
Formats: Online, HTML
Urban Literacy: Learning to Read the City Around You
Leanne Serbulo (Portland State University)
2022
Licence: CC BY-NC
This book introduces students to the basic concepts of urban studies. It is an interdisciplinary text that was developed for lower-division undergraduate students. The book is organized into thematic chapters that explore different aspects of urban life, such as the environment, housing, and culture. Each chapter introduces a new way of conceptualizing the city, presents core theories and concepts, and provides examples and case studies from cities around the globe to illustrate the ideas presented in the text. At the end of each chapter, there are review questions and a series of interactive field activities where students can apply the concepts introduced in the chapter to a real-world setting. Many of the field activities can be adapted to online or remote learning modalities. This textbook is appropriate for interdisciplinary courses with urban themes or for introductory urban studies, urban sociology, or urban geography classes.
Formats: Online, eBook, ODF, PDF
Web Application Development for the Geospatial Professional
Jim Detwiler (Pennsylvania State University)
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Locating restaurants in an unfamiliar place, reporting potholes to the local DOT, obtaining real-time traffic conditions… All of these are examples of geospatial web apps that are revolutionizing how people obtain and share information about the world. In GEOG 863, you will learn how to build apps like these. You’ll start with a quick look at the fundamentals of web programming (HTML and CSS) before diving in to using JavaScript and a mapping application programming interface (API) developed by Esri. Using this API, you’ll create both 2D and 3D visualizations of your own data and learn how to develop a user interface to enable users to interact with your map.
Formats: Online, HTML
World Regional Geography
Caitlin Finlayson (University of Mary Washington)
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
Rather than present students with a broad, novice-level introduction to geography, emphasizing places and vocabulary terms, this text approaches geography as experts understand the discipline, focusing on connections and an in-depth understanding of core themes. This thematic approach, informed by pedagogical research, provides students with an introduction to thinking geographically. Instead of repeating the same several themes in each chapter, this text emphasizes depth over breadth by arranging each chapter around a central theme and then exploring that theme in detail as it applies to the particular region. In addition, while chapters are designed to stand alone and be rearranged or eliminated at the instructor’s discretion, the theme of globalization and inequality unites all of the regions discussed. This core focus enables students to draw connections between regions and to better understand the interconnectedness of our world. Furthermore, the focus on both globalization and inequality helps demonstrate the real-world application of the concepts discussed. Colonialism, for instance, rather than a historical relict, becomes a force that has shaped geography and informs social justice. This thematic approach is also intended to facilitate active learning and would be suitable for a flipped or team-based learning-style course since it more easily integrates case studies and higher-order thinking than the traditional model.
Formats: Online, PDF
Suggested for: GEOG 200
World Regional Geography: People, Places and Globalization
University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing
2016
Licence: CC BY-NC-SA
World Regional Geography: People, Places and Globalization is designed for students to experience and study as much of the world as possible within a limited amount of time. It gives students the fundamental concepts and the latest data regarding world places in a concise, easy-to-read format. This World Regional Geography textbook focuses on the primary issues that have created our cultural and societal structures, and presents them within a framework for global understanding. A pattern of development is outlined from the imprint that European colonialism had on culture to the impact that giant retail corporations like Wal-Mart have on consumerism.
Formats: Online, EPUB, PDF, MOBI, and more
