The Nature of Geographic Information

5. Course Text

PrintPrint

This text, Nature of Geographic Information, is presented in an open source content management system called Drupal. One advantage to presenting the text in Drupal is that we can publish the text openly, for the benefit of anyone who has access to the Internet, regardless of their ability to pay tuition or buy an expensive printed textbook.

Orientation

  • Orientation - familiarizes registered students with the learning environments used to conduct Penn State courses

Resources

  • Instructor Information - contact information and a brief introduction to the course instructor
  • Program Home Page - a link to the home page for Penn State's Online Geospatial Education Program Office
  • Academic Integrity Guide and Academic Integrity Guide FAQ - policies and guidelines to help students avoid plagiarism
  • Library Resources - links out Penn State library resources specific to Geography
  • Getting Help - links to helpful contacts for registered Penn State students and other users

Chapters

  • Links to Chapters 1-9 are found on the right under Chapters.
  • When you click on a Chapter link, links to the pages that make up the chapter are revealed.
  • Navigate between pages using the links at the bottom of each page, OR select a page from the Chapters menu on the right.
  • Each chapter includes an overview page, checklist page, multiple content pages, and a summary.

Printing Options

  • Note the "Print" link in the upper-right of each page.
  • The "Print" link compiles individual pages or entire chapters into a single HTML document. The link on the contents page of each chapter compiles the entire chapter into a single HTML document. Get to the contents page by clicking on the chapter title in the Chapters menu on the right.

Offline Version of the Course Text

  • Within each Chapter Module in Canvas, you will find an assignment to "Start Reading" the chapter. Inside that assignment is a link to a PDF document file, which is an export of the content in this course text. As well as being able to work from these versions of the chapters without being connected to the Internet, you are encouraged to download and save them.