Modellierung dynamischer und räumlicher Prozesse

Winter Semester 2007/2008, ifgi, Edzer J. Pebesma

Lecture material

16.10.07: slides, scans of Frankfurter Algemeine 28.09.07, front page, complete story

Test

The test will be given on Wed Jan 30, 10:00-12:00, location: H2 am Hindenburgplatz. Das große Hörsaalgebäude gegenüber vom Schloss (auf der anderen Straßenseite)

Exercise material

The exercises have not yet been set. Two pieces of software we will most likely use are

PCRaster, a free (but not open source) environment for dynamic spatial modelling, and
the open source statistical environment R (an implementation of the S language for data analysis)

You can find introductory/tutorial material through the respective web sites.

Literature

C. Chatfield, The analysis of time series: an introduction. Chapman and Hall: chapters 1, 2 and 3
P.A. Burrough and R.A. McDonnell, Principles of Geographic Information Systems. Oxford University Press. Chapter 5 and 6.
Two preprint chapters from Applied Spatial Data Analysis with R, by R. Bivand, E. Pebesma and V. Gomez-Rubio (please do not redistribute this)

The first two books can be borrowed without asking (but please leave a note), and should otherwise be on my desk at RvE, 5th floor.

Home work

for 23.10.07: answer the following questions
1. The EU has set two PM₁₀ (particulates, particulate matter, Feinstaub) limits: (a) find out which, (b) how do these limits change on 01.01.2010?, (c) are these limits obtained by linear aggregation or by non-linear aggregation over single (e.g. 10 minute) measured values.
2. Why does the Frankfurter Algemeine article only mention one of the two limits?
3. How can the Bayerische Verwaltungsgerichthof find out whether the EU limit is exceeded for the house of the person who started this case?
4. For 27 out of 29 the BW monitoring stations the limit was exceeded. Can we conclude that in 93% of Baden-Württemberg the PM₁₀ limit is exceeded?
5. Where can we find the PM measurements for all of Europe?
6. What is PM_2.5?
7. How can local authorities list the areas where a limit is exceeded?
8. Before permission is given to build e.g. roads or buildings, one has to prove that it will not result in the exceedence of a PM limit. How would you do this?
On 23.10.07, 12-14h: go through the first 6 chapters (up to "lists and data frames") of An Introduction to R: go to the R home page, click Manuals under Documentation, and open the Introduction. You can copy and paste commands to an R session, started in the CIP pool.
meteo data, and R script
30.10.07 course material: finish the R introductory material, then go carefully through these exercises (html, pdf).
13.11.07: If you missed the lecture, first go through lecture slides and if needed additional information (e.g. on wikipedia, which I found not bad in this case). Then: go through all new exercises (4+5) of the course;
20.11.07: go through section 6 of the course. If you don't finish it, do it at home, before 27.11.07 (when we will discuss the exercises).
27.11.07: go through section 7 and 8 of the course. If you don't finish it, do it at home, before 4.12.07 (when we will discuss the exercises). If you get stuck somewhere, let me know.
4.12.07: you'll find more and new exercises. Try them!
11.12.07: we'll go through older exercises.
18.12.07: new exercises available
22.01.07: try the on-line exercises on Box-Cox transforms here

Assignment and test

A test is planned on 30 Jan 2007, 10:00-12:00, and will cover the material treated in the lectures and exercises. The questions will not be of the kind "how do I do this with R", but rather refer to the modelling itself.

The assignment will be a written report of max 5 pages (regular fonts/margins/page size, including figures and/or tables) on a modelling exercise you set up yourself. It should include an introduction, a central research question, a description of the data, a description of the analysis and the results, and concluding remarks answering the central research question. It is allowed to do the research in couples, but the written report should be made individual. It should be handed in the latest two weeks before end of Semester Ferien (exact date/time will follow). German is allowed, English is encouraged.

The final mark will be computed from both exercise and test (equally weighted, but both need to be passed).