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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Fundamentals of GIS by University of California, Davis

4.8
stars
5,500 ratings

About the Course

Explore the world of spatial analysis and cartography with geographic information systems (GIS). In this class you will learn the basics of the industry’s leading software tool, ArcGIS, during four week-long modules: Week 1: Learn how GIS grew from paper maps to the globally integrated electronic software packages of today. You will install ArcGIS on your computer and learn how to use online help to answer technical questions. Week 2: Open up ArcGIS and explore data using ArcMap. Learn the foundational concepts of GIS, how to analyze data, and make your first map. Week 3: Make your own maps! Symbolize data and create an eye-catching final product. Week 4: Share your data and maps and learn to store and organize your data. Take Fundamentals of GIS as a standalone course or as part of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Specialization. By completing the first class in the Specialization you will gain the skills needed to succeed in the full program. Students who need an ArcGIS license will receive a non-commercial, 1 year student license for participation in this course and specialization....

Top reviews

A

May 16, 2021

GREAT COURSE TO JUMPSTART FOR ANY NEW LEARNERS IN THE FIELD OF GIS. It is extremely helpful to learn the basics & the projects help any new learners to understand what kind of work is done in ArcGIS.

BQ

Dec 27, 2018

the content is awesome. i would recommend it to those who need to have some basic knowledge of GIS. it's very easy to learn the ArcGIS because of the instructions and demos given by the instructor.

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101 - 125 of 1,683 Reviews for Fundamentals of GIS

By Grant J

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Jul 23, 2020

Great intro to GIS. Covers many basic elements of ArcGIS - enough to get you started understanding data and making maps. The only reason I give it 4 stars is that it is taught in ArcMap, which ESRI is phasing out (almost all customers are switching to ArcGIS Pro, but they are not providing student licenses yet). Nick is a great teacher.

By Robbie S

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Aug 14, 2021

Good presentation style and pace of learning for someone with basic or no GIS skills. The only drawback was multiple activities were missing data from the downloadable dataset, which added an unnecessary level of frustration. The forums were helpful for that.

By Sofía L S

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Jul 1, 2020

I found this course very entertaining. I learned the basics by listening and practicing. The best part of it is the opportunity to apply concepts on real maps. Tip: don't forget to download Demo's material to follow what Nick explains during the videos.

By FREDDY N R P

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May 11, 2022

Es un muy buen curso de introducción! Sin embargo, considero que algunos temas podrían actualizarse un poco más e incluir nuevos temas relacionados con aplicaciones móviles.

By Jonathan k

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May 5, 2022

Would have liked to follow along with the demos a bit more. Found it jumped to a new data set without being fully provided with the files.

By Khanjarika B

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Dec 9, 2023

Very good, it help me to learn many new things about GIS.

By Neema K

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Jul 15, 2020

i specifically loved the practical assignments

By Brenna G

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Mar 3, 2021

I do not feel like this course was as informative as it could've been. There were a number of things I ended up watching other videos to get the full idea of what to do. The final assignment was an absolute pain! I resubmitted multiple times because people would grade harshly, but then say "great map!". Peer review is not an effective means of grading when people do not leave thought out feedback. I am not satisfied with this course and I had hoped to do the whole specialization, but will not be doing that after finishing this course. The professor should be a little easier to get a hold of to make this course feel authentic.

By Shelby F - W

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Mar 7, 2023

Good content, but the accessibility to contact anyone for assistance was difficult. There were issues with installing ArcGIS that weren't resolved until many students made note of it in the discussion forums. One student kindly wrote out a resolution for the main licensing issue that students were having difficulty with, and it was much more clear and helpful than ANYTHING that the professor or mentors had posted/instructed. It was dissapointing with how little communication between instructors/mentors there were so the course was VERY self-taught.

By Kassie K

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Mar 2, 2023

Outdated, it's okay but you have to do alot of work on your own to figure out what to do because the instructions and videos are based on Arc Map and the software we are given is Arc Pro. So the instructions arent helpful and you need to figure out the translation between software on your own.

By IMPLAN C

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Mar 16, 2023

I think the material is a little bit outdated, it would be really good if the lectures were made with ArcGIS Pro and not ArcMap. Also the problem with licensing is important, I saw too much questions regarding that problem in the first week of the course and were not addressed

By Mohammed A

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Jul 8, 2017

Great course also best instructor my problem is the grading by others is taking really longtime I've been waiting two days until now and no one even looked at my assignment. also I tired posting my problem in the discussion thread even begged but nothing.

By Margaret F

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Oct 18, 2016

The course and the content was great, but the grading process was terrible. Will probably finish the specialization, but wish there was a better way to be graded for the money.

By Madeline G

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Feb 25, 2020

The course itself was great, but I think the grading system could definitely be improved on the final project!

By Kenny C

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Jan 16, 2020

the software is outdated and the assignment instruction is not clear at all!

By Jacob G

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Feb 14, 2018

Needs to be updated to cover the use of ArcGIS pro.

By ivanna m

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Nov 7, 2023

Not updated with the new ArcGIS Version

By James M

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Jul 30, 2017

Peer review is unreliable.

By Ignacio M

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Feb 15, 2023

Needs updating

By Lauren B

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Feb 9, 2023

Matieal and the course were designed great! BUT licensing and setting up GIS was super difficult. I think that this was a major barrier that resulted in many people unenrolling. The video no longer matches what you need to do and the written instructions are not detailed enough. I only figured it out because other students created detailed discussion boards. Furthermore, the licensing now gives you ArcGIS Pro while all the videos and assignments are in ArcMap. This made the videos way less helpful than they could have been and resulted in the assignments being much harder to complete. Additionally, there were people's final projects that I was unable to open because their assignment was made in ArcMap and my software is ArcGIS Pro. This meant that I graded them lower because I was unable to open their files. I know it will take time but I think this course would be signicifcantly better if the material can be updated to match ArcGIS Pro.

By Tim D

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Apr 11, 2021

For myself, I experienced issues trying to work the course projects with the student ArcGIS course work during the process. I reloaded three versions each upload going down one version to the 10.3.1 and the course files were not available to be found on my computer. At the end, I was able to bring in the final project and located the files, and did tinker around with some of the data, but not enough to submit for Peer review or to take the Final Week 4 quiz. Go figure! Because I was not able to work the course projects, I was a deer in headlights at the end. I did use the group sections to identify other users experiencing the same issues. I found dated concerns, with no comments. Because I could not identify and referenced coursework updates, I can assume it is aging and does need to be reviewed and refreshed.

By Neil K

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Feb 17, 2017

Needs to be more concise.

Nick seems very passionate and trying to reach a broad audience, but overly explaining topics is creating "lecture fatigue" for me. For instance, every video starts with "welcome back... this is why people like this... [meat of the video]... this is what we just talked about.... see you next time". I really just need the [meat of the video] part. These videos are 5-10 minutes long each. They are very short and therefore I do not need an introduction/closeout for each individual one. The Module Overview and Module Recap videos are sufficient to serve that purpose.

Overall, I learned the basics and will probably take the next GIS course because I like the Coursera framework, but I think this particular course could be much more condensed.

By Jonathan M

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Mar 11, 2024

The course starts strong and there are some good introductory videos and easy to follow introductions. However, as the course continues, the quality absolutely plummets--quizzes have mixed connection to lectures, concepts are rushed through with limited explanation, and the final assignment lacks sufficient scaffolding to be anything but an exercise in frustration. Datasets are provided so you can follow along, but they are in a completed form so you have to undo a lot of things to get the file to a state where you can usefully following along with the lecture. I would encourage learners to find a different course to introduce themselves to GIS.

By Anshuman P

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Jun 25, 2017

This course gets difficult in Week 4 as the Assignment is tough if you do not fully understand how to use GIS. Discussion forums sometimes help but only if someone else is kind enough to reply. If you don't understand how to do things on your own, do not take this course. There is no way to message or ask the instructor questions.

By Meghan H

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Feb 26, 2024

instructions, especially for the course project, are very confusing and unclear. There's lots of typos across all the materials. The quizzes didn't feel like a reflection of the course content.