Digital Quest, Inc.

Course at a glance:
What is Geospatial Technology and how does it apply to Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources? Where are the jobs in this industry? How well do they pay? How can I use Geospatial Technology on my farm? How can I use it to contain my cattle in an area without an actual fence? Can I reduce the amount of pesticides that I currently use? Can overlap be prevented?

Digital Quest announces its second course in the AGIS or “A Geospatial Industry Series”, “A Geospatial Industry Series in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources”. It was developed by the Digital Quest creative team with a collaborative effort of Terry Brase and his colleagues at AgroKnowledge (http://www.agrowknow.org/). This course focuses your attention on the uses of Geospatial Technology in the Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources career cluster as defined by the States’ Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI) www.careerclusters.org.

Students will learn about Geospatial Technology and how it fits into the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources career cluster in ten lessons designed to demonstrate key concepts, software capabilities, and future opportunities in the geospatial industry. These lessons contain overviews of career profiles, which provide examples of industries and individuals that use this technology. Students gain hands on experience using ESRI's ArcGIS software (the industry leader in GIS technology) in eight lessons that explore each of the pathways; Food Products and Processing Systems, Plant Systems, Animal Systems, Power, Structural & Technical Systems, Natural Resources Systems, Environmental Service Systems, Agribusiness Systems, and Biotechnology.

Educators will find this course easy to implement in their classroom. It is modular in design and easy to use. Colleges can use this book to supplement their existing courses like “Introduction to Agriculture”, “Integrating Science and Technology”, “Environmental Education”, “Tools in Business” and many others. High Schools integrate this course into classes like “Project Lead the way”, “Introduction to Agriculture Sciences”, “CAD”, “Technology Education” and many other classes. A perfect fit for any STEM based indicatives. The total time to team this class can be from 6 to 18 hours.

During the course you will also learn….

Basic to advanced applications of ESRI’s software and by the end of the course you will be able to apply skills such as:

Adding data to map
Adding Density analysis layer
Adding field to table
Adding charts to a layout
Building a map from scatch
Calculating data within a table
Classifying Points
Creating Buffer Zones
Creating tables
Creating a layout
Creating a multiple frame layout
Displaying data by XY coordinates
Editing data lyr symb for quantative data
Editing layer name
Editing table of contents
Editing transparency of layer
Exploring navigational tools (zooms)
Exploring point data (select by location)
Exporting data layer
Geocoding Addresses
Hyperlinking Images to Data
Joining tables
Labeling Features
Launching a new ArcMap
Learning parts of ArcMap
Measuring distances
Modifying data frame properties
Opening existing map
Querying using Select by Attributes
Querying using Select by Location
Saving a map
Selecting individual features
Setting Scale Range (labels)
Setting selectable layers
Sorting attribute table
Using the GIS Dictionary
Viewing statistical tabular data
Zooming to selected features
Zooming to Layer

Why is this topic important?
The use of geospatial technology in the Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources area is on the rise. Those who learn about it now will be ahead of the game. Not only does this book discuss numerous innovative farming and ranching techniques, it provides the user with valuable geospatial skills. Many of the skills in this book are ones that the students can take and immediately implement.

Table of Contents:

Lesson 1
Introduction to Geospatial Technology

Lesson 2
Agricultural, Food, and Natural Resources Jobs in Geospatial Technology

Lesson 3
From the Coop to Your Soup – An Introductory Lesson to ArcMap Career Pathway… Food, Products & Processing Systems

Lesson 4
Keeping Crops Healthy While Keeping Tabs on Chemical Usage
Career Pathway... Plant Systems

Lesson 5
Why are Poplar Trees So Popular for Waste Management?
Career Pathway... Environmental Service Systems

Lesson 6
Don’t Fence Me In – Using Virtual Fences
Career Pathway... Animal Systems

Lesson 7
Wetlands Are Not Wastelands – Finding Suitable Locations
Career Pathway... Natural Resources Systems

Lesson 8
There’s No Business Like Agribusiness – Mapping Area Businesses
Career Pathway...Agribusiness Systems

Lesson 9
Identifying “Stacked” Crops – Hyperlinking Lesson
Career Pathway... Power, Structural, & Technical Systems

Lesson 10
A Picture is Worth A Thousand Genes – Biotech Research
Career Pathway... Biotechnology

Who could use this knowledge?
Any student at either the high school or college level, anyone already in a job wanting to know more about geospatial technology, anyone wanting to know how to incorporate geospatial technologies in their farm and ranch operations, anyone wanting to know more about the Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources industry, instructors who want their students to understand how this technology can apply to real situations, and more!

Who are the direct stakeholders?
Students, teachers, farmers, and ranchers

Skills we assume you have before you take this class: You will need basic computer skills, a working knowledge of an office suite (such as PowerPoint, Word Docs, and Spread Sheets) and experience with access to the Internet.

Software you will need:
ArcGIS 9.1 and An office suite (such as PowerPoint, Word Docs, and Spread Sheets)

Hardware you will need:
A networked computer lab with a 1:1 ratio of students to computers, which meets the following minimum specifications: Pentium-III, Celeron, Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon running at 1ghz or equivalent, at least 1GB of RAM memory, Windows 2000 or Windows XP Professional, a network server providing at least 500MB of storage per student, and appropriate read/write permissions for both the server and workstations. You will also need Internet access and a suitable means of displaying PowerPoint presentations (LCD projector, large monitor, plasma screen, etc.). You will also need a GPS unit.

Teacher Support…

Detailed, thorough student documentation
An accompanying teacher manual with lesson plans including objectives, materials needed, procedures, PowerPoint presentations with narratives, and assessments and answer keys

What Data will you use…
Various data, text and sid files from Iowa, Texas, and Colorado.