Welcome to GEOG 489 - Advanced Python Programming for GIS

New to GEOG 489?

Registered students - if this is your first visit  to this course website, please take some time to become familiar with the assignments and course environment by going to the Orientation.

This website provides the primary instructional materials for the course. The Resources menu links to important supporting materials, while the Lessons menu links to the course lessons. Canvas, Penn State's course management system, is used to support the delivery of this course as well as to provide the primary communications, calendar, and submission tools for the course.

Students who register for this Penn State course gain access to assignments and instructor feedback, and earn academic credit. Information about Penn State's Online Geospatial Education programs is available at the Geospatial Education Program Office.

Quick Facts about GEOG 489

• Instructors:
  Jan Oliver Wallgrün (Fall 2: September - December)
  James O'Brien (Spring 1: January - March & Summer: May - July)
  Jim Detwiler (other times)
• Course Structure: Online, 20-30 hours per lesson for each of 4 lessons. The course runs for 10 weeks
• Overview: GEOG 489 is an elective for Penn State's Master of GIS. In GEOG 489, you will learn advanced applications of Python for developing and customizing GIS software, designing user interfaces, and solving complex geoprocessing tasks, on both proprietary and open source platforms. The course consists of readings, walkthroughs, projects, quizzes, and discussions about advanced GIS programming concepts and techniques, and a final term project. It complements the material covered in GEOG 485: GIS Programming and Software Development. Software covered in the course includes: Esri ArcGIS Pro/arcpy, Jupyter Notebook, Esri ArcGIS API for Python, QGIS, GDAL/OGR. Students will also make use of the Git version control software for code management and learn techniques for distributing Python applications to end users.
• Prerequisite: GEOG 485