Students will see how maps may be used to help us make decisions (policy) at various scales, AND, how the decisions we make influence the maps we create--hence, the interactive feedback between maps and decisions.

Students will work on projects in which they acquire mapping and GIS skills.

Grading:
     Oral midterm presentation of progress on project--15%
     Weekly map quizzes on place recognition--10%
     Final presentation--25%
     Final project--50%--written web site including text, graphs, and possibly interactive features.

Required books to purchase:
    Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps, University of Chicago Press
    A current world atlas.

Content split into four units, each 1 to 4 weeks in length:

1.  Maps and Decisions:  Ann Arbor
      Uses Geography's Five Themes on maps of Ann Arbor and information involving Planning.  The five themes are:  location, place, population-environment interaction, movement patterns, regions and methods of classification.

2.  Maps and Decisions:  Michigan
     As above, this unit uses the five themes on base maps from SEMCOG and the Census (from ESRI).

3.  Maps and Decisions:  the U.S.A.
     As above, this unit uses the five themes on U.S. national maps based on Census data.

4.  Maps and Decisions:  the World.
     As above, this unit uses the five themes on ESRI maps and data and Digital Chart of the World data.