The purpose of the course is to provide the students with the expertise required to critically analyse (both individually and in a team) a case study (from real-world professional applications related to specific application domains, often requiring a multidisciplinary approach) by means of management, integration and processing of geospatial, cartographic and satellite data. Specifically, the students will be able to: - identify and acquire the reference geospatial data, including satellite ones, through the analysis of the requirements of a case study in terms of thematic content, level of detail and update; - design and implement a proper data model for the integration and management of the selected geospatial data in a GIS environment; - extract added valued information through data processing and geospatial analyses in a GIS software; - generate ad-hoc thematic maps based on the output of the analyses in a GIS software. To develop the aforementioned expertise, the students will learn the following fundamentals of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems, to properly handle geospatial data regardless of the specific application domain or the adopted software: - the main cartographic reference systems; - the technical features of raster and vector datasets and the main processing methods; - the basics of geographic data model design and implementation; - the fundamentals of remote sensing sensors (both optical and radar).

The basic knowledge of Geomatics acquired during the relevant Laboratory course of the Bachelor's degree program is considered useful to meet the learning goals of the course, but it is not mandatory.

The course topics, grouped in lectures and software exercises, are detailed in the following list. Lectures: - Introduction, definitions and terminology (2 h) - Fundamentals and principles of GIS (10 h) - Fundamentals and principles of optical and radar Satellite Remote Sensing (8 h) Software exercises: - Implementation, management and integration of geospatial data in a GIS environment (20 h) - Satellite data processing for the extraction of added-value information by means of (un)supervised algorithms and/or visual interpretation (10 h) - analysis of a case study, to be jointly defined among student teams and the teacher (10 h)

According to the course structure, theoretical and operational fundamentals of remote sensing and GIS are provided through lectures. Such knowledge is then exploited to develop the required expertise through ad-hoc exercises based on a specific GIS software solution. Additionally, the students will work in teams (max 4 students) to analyse a specific case study: the output of the analysis will be summarised in a report including cartographic outputs that will be subject to evaluation. Self-assessment activities will be also proposed during the lectures and the exercises, allowing the students to self-assess their progress in the learning process.

Reference reading materials: - Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Fundamentals of Remote Sensing, https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/sites/www.nrcan.gc.ca/files/earthsciences/pdf/resource/tutor/fundam/pdf/fundamentals_e.pdf - ESA Newcomers Earth Observation Guide, https://business.esa.int/newcomers-earth-observation-guide - MIT GIS Services Group. RES.STR-001 Geographic Information System (GIS) Tutorial. January IAP 2016. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

Lecture slides; Exercises; Exercise with solutions ;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Group graphic design project;

The exam is aimed at assessing the knowledge and expertise acquired by the students through the evaluation of: - the report and cartographic outputs produced by the student teams (50%, group assessment), to be uploaded at least 5 working days before the examination date. The assessment will focus on: / the completeness of the report concerning the required table of content / the details of the datasets selected for the analysis / the description of the developed analysis workflow / the capacity to communicate the main outcomes through ad-hoc thematic maps - an individual on-site oral examination (50%, individual assessment) focused on assessing the knowledge of the fundamentals of the management and processing of geospatial data and satellite imagery in a GIS environment. The expertise related to the use of the software is also verified through a demonstration based on the project implemented by the students for the analysis of the case study. Both evaluations will equally contribute to the final grade, specifically 50% of the written report and 50% of the on-site oral examination. Excellent results in both evaluations will contribute to awarding a final grade with honours. It has to be remarked that both evaluations should be considered at least sufficient to pass the exam.

In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.