The Pedagogical Experience in Teaching Cartography and GIS Using Public Data and Software

1. The Pedagogical Experience in Teaching Cartography and GIS Using Public Data and Software Maria Cecília Bonato Brandalize Alzir Felippe Buffara Antunes International Cartography Conference 2009 15 - 21 November, Ciudad de Santiago UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

2. Overview Description of a GIS & Cartography learning-teaching Experience applied to Environmental Engineering students of UFPR Intention → Apply Cartography’s fundamentals to GIS effective understanding Use of Free Public Data of the Brazilian territory Use of Free Public Software as an option to the standard commercial ones The actual Policy of the federal government and its migration campaign towards the Open Source Software in the Public Administration Implications → Complexity of practical classes’ preparation Final considerations about Free Software Dissemination among students and the Availability of Geospatial Data in Brazil UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

3. Introduction FIRST INITIATIVES 2002 Brazilian Federal Administration Policy Focused in the use of Free Software in the Public Institutions 2003 Brazilian Technical Committee to Implement Free Software PRIORITIES the implementation of solutions, programs and services based on free open source software (FOSS); the gradual migration from proprietary systems; and the acquisition of hardware compatible with free platforms. UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

4. Introduction Brazilian Technical Committee to Implement Free Software MAIN ACTIVITIES distribution of free software systems (collaborative & spontaneous) strengthening of sharing actions between governmental organizations andsociety UFPR As a public institution has been, since 2005, connected with the goals of the public state administration and has developed, in conjunction with local state agencies, strategies for the migration to free software Such experience has not yet reached the graduation classes in a satisfactory measure, leading to the development of new strategies for the teaching process UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

5. GIS Data and Software Distribution Among several institutions and organizations, it is worth to mention: BRAZILIAN INSTITUTE OF GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS (IBGE) Cartographic Field: topographic mapping and mapping of territorial units Geodetic Field: Brazilian geodetic system, Brazilian network for continuous GPS monitoring, permanent geodetic tide gauge network and geocentric reference system for the Americas Geographic Field: regional distribution, special areas (like border strip and coastal zone), atlases and cities influence areas Environmental Field: publications about sustainable development indicators, environmental studies, fauna and flora, land use and hydrographic resources UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

6. GIS Data and Software Distribution UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

7. GIS Data and Software Distribution NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SPATIAL RESEARCH (INPE) Promote and carry on studies, scientific researches, technological development, and human resources capacitation in the fields of Space and Atmosphere Sciences, Space Applications, Meteorology, and Space Engineering and Technology Prepare and Implement a plan to expand the divulgation efforts and the diffusion of scientific and technical knowledge for the popularization of space science and technology Are responsible for the CBERS project, a provider of multispectral images of the world in different spatial resolutions with free distribution Develop and distribute to the community free software (public domain & open source) in the following categories: state-of-the-art GIS, GIS classes and functions library, remote sensing image processing and web applications UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

8. GIS Data and Software Distribution SPRING SPRING WEB TERRAVIEW TERRALIB UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

9. Practical Lessons USE OF FREE PUBLIC DATA & SOFTWARE Environmental Engineering → Discipline “GIS Applied to Environment Issues” (90 h / 1st semester) Significance of GIS & Cartography are assessed in a sort of workshop since the students have no experience related to the cartographic sciences Significant theoretical themes are selected in order to give the students a general notion of basic cartography, GIS data collection, GIS fundamentals and basic remote sensing concepts Methodology of practical classes follows: distribution of different portions of the Brazilian territory to each student; download, from IBGE homepage, of corresponding topographic maps (1:50.000 scale and file format chosen by the student); and print of the proposed material UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

10. Practical Lessons USE OF FREE PUBLIC DATA & SOFTWARE Methodology of practical classes also includes: access and download of free image data and software from the INPE homepage, where images are corresponding to the portions proposed before Note: Students have an extensive use of the analogical map before they experience the tools and functions of the chosen software (SPRING) SPRINGprovides a comprehensive set of functions, including tools for Satellite Image Processing, Digital Terrain Modeling, Spatial Analysis, Geostatistics, Spatial Statistics, Spatial Databases and Map Management UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

11. Practical Lessons Diagram UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

12. Final Considerations • Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS software with the environmental engineering students of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because: • Once this graduation course is focused in environmental modeling, cartographic concepts are generally neglectedin the first years of the students professional education • Nevertheless, students have a very strong mathematical background, which facilitates the teaching/learning process of cartography and remote sensing exercises • The bottle neck is to perform a great deal of practical and sequential exercises in a short period of time • The students have presented the most significant difficulties in the final phase of the learning process (use of software)  data edition and importation (lack of logical consistency) UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

13. Final Considerations • Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS software with the environmental engineering students of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because: • Access to free public spatial data and free GIS software capable of dealing with these data demand from the educator other responsibilities: practical classes preparation is much more complex once the data available are in a variety of formats and scales and not always compatible with the software which is intended to be used • Another issue for the educator may be the considerable preparation of data import, export and editiontutorials along with the adaptation of pre-existing free software tutorials according to the discipline needs • The experience of using SPRING as a learning tool for GIS technology in the environmental area has shown that it is important for the student to have the opportunity of working with other technologies than the proprietary ones UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

14. Final Considerations • Sharing the use of free public spatial data and free GIS software with the environmental engineering students of UFPR was quite an interesting experience because: • Its is important to notice that the information about the availability of national free public spatial data and software does not reach the majority of graduation students in Brazil → Educator’s Role • The experience has proven that graduation students are capable of understanding the importance of free software dissemination as an element of digital inclusion and also that the availability of free public data represents an enormous contribution to the students’ spatial and descriptive knowledge of the nation’s territory, which significantly increases their spatial analysis capability • More Demanding Users & Propagate the GIS Culture UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática

15. Thank You for Your Attention!!! Maria Cecília Bonato Brandalize maria.brandalize@ufpr.br Alzir Felippe Bufara Antunes felipe@ufpr.br UFPR - Universidade Federal do Paraná / Departamento de Geomática