This class was very challenging after having an easy Professor for Intermediate GIS but with help from the TA & classmates, I was able to do well and I definitely walked away feeling like a GIS expert. Sheng is a very sweet professor who makes lectures decently interesting. The weekly projects are intense and take time but there's no midterm or final. Push yourself and take this class!

As a final required class for a GIS minor, it is definitely challenging. Apart from the first paper review assignment, the rest is project-based on various topics. The course covers many useful spatial analysis and geoprocessing tools. You should have a good basis for using GIS for vector data before taking this class, so I would recommend you refresh some GIS skills learned in the intermediate class.

The workload is quite a bit for this class. I spent at least 6 hours per project up to 14 hours (per individual project). In the end, you are required to conduct a group project on any topic using the tools that we learned in class in an in-class presentation and a report. In the first few weeks, it may be a little challenging to adjust to the pace of the class. But after week 4, I feel much better about the class structure. You should start working on the assignment early in the week (right after you get the task) and drop by during office hours as much as possible. Warning: the 3D model can take SO LONG to process (the last individual project), which I spent almost 6 hours running on Computer Lab's PC (very intensive processing). The grading was quite strict, but it depends on your TA. To get the full score, you need to go "above and beyond," which is very unclear in terms of guidelines. So, I would recommend you to ask TA about their expectations.

Overall, in hindsight, I enjoyed the class even though sometimes the workload was overwhelming. I have learned something valuable and improved my GIS skills a lot. Professor Sheng is a pretty nice person, but his lectures can be a little boring. However, I still recommend taking this class if you are planning to work on GIS after graduation. If you want to spice up your quarter a bit with some interesting and challenging classes, Advanced GIS is the right choice for you.

Good professor with some clarity issues or confusing instructions. The first weeks will feel really hard as you realize that it is actually an advanced class. However, once you get going the workload is reasonable with one assignment per week. Make sure to work in groups to ask each other questions.

Sheng is hard to understand, but he cares about the topic. My main gripe with the class was the grading structure of weekly labs. You cannot get above an 80% with out going above and beyond. While I understand this is advanced gis there is little to no instruction on lab projects. I would get remarks on labs saying 'missing two maps and charts,' but I wasn't aware those were necessary. A. Madson was my TA and he is not helpful at all.