Introduction to Qualitative & Quantitative Land Cover Change

Learning Unit Description:

Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training (iGETT) presents a series of Learning Units (LU) designed to incorporate federal land remote sensing data into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) instruction. This LU covers the use of GIS to detect land change in Nueces County, Corpus Christi, Texas and in particular a region of interest around Oso Bay. During this lesson students will use satellite remote sensing images and orthoimagery to: 1) identify areas of land cover change and 2) develop reclassification techniques for both land use and cover. The lesson will enable students to analyze and interpret the significance and consequences of land cover change through space based remote sensing observations.

This iGETT Learning Unit is intended to take 15-20 hours of classroom instruction over a 3-4 week period. Students should spend a total of about 6 hours on homework (dependent on grade and skill levels). All LUs are intended for students with a basic understanding of GIS. 

Lesson Contents:

This learning unit includes an instructor guide, a curriculum support document, a document of student worksheets, PowerPoint lessons, photos, videos and data sets.

The 8-page Curriculum Support Document and 16-page Instructor Guide provide an overview of the lesson, including lesson purpose, a description of the learning unit, learning objectives, student outcomes, a list of software and hardware needed, a list of included data sets, the sequence and timeline of lessons and activities, and more. The Instructor Guide includes additional information and notes for the timeline of lessons and activities. 

The Land Change Classification Work Sheets document includes 7 worksheets. Worksheets include questions that cover visually interpreting 2002 landsat images, comparing 1992 and 2002 landsat images, land coverage changes between 1992 and 2002, and more. 

There are 4 data sets included and are in .rar format.

For orientation purposes OsoBayLCCC_Nelson_CS_June2008.pdf has been included as a separate attachment, and offers a sample of the type of material included in the lesson unit. 

LU_Nelson (10 files, 2.32 G)

• Land Cover Change in Corpus Christi, Texas (LandCoverChange_Nelson.pdf 85 KB)
• Land Change Classification Work Sheets (LU_Student Worksheets.pdf 181 KB)
• NelsonData1.rar (768 KB)
• NelsonData2.rar (48.6 MB)
• NelsonData3.rar (719.5 MB)
• NelsonData4.rar (760.6 MB)
• Curriculum Support Document - Outline of Content (OsoBayLCCC_Nelson_CS_June2008.pdf 59 KB)
• iGETT Cohort 1, June 2008 (OsoBayLCCC_Nelson_IG_June2008.pdf 237 KB)
• Support_6DocZip Support_Doc.zip
  • OsoBay_Nelson_Doc.zip
    • How Landsat Scenes Are Made iGETT (How Landsat Scenes Are Made iGETT.doc 70 MB)
  • OsoBay_Nelson_Photos.zip
    • 2008-05-18-OsoBay042508 (67 files, 124 MB)
  • OsoBay_Nelson_PPT.zip
    • ENVI False Color Images for tree type detection (ENVI False Color Images_v1.ppt 8 MB)
    • Ways People Use Remote Sensing (PeopleUseRS_Allen01Aug07.ppt 109.1 MB
  • OsoBay_Nelson_Video.zip
    • Fleet.mpg
    • msh.mpeg
    • Phoenix_AMNH.mov
    • Phoenix.mov
    • SF_Landsat_7.mov