DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELING IN RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS (E-LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES)

In Tomsk State University, at the Department of Geography, digital elevation modeling technologies began to be introduced into research and educational activities in the late 1990s. A conceptual scheme for teaching GIS-technologies was introduced in the educational process. New courses were developed: “Computer graphics”, “Geographic information systems”, “Desktop mapping systems”, “Building geodatabases”, “Digital elevation models”. The main principle of GIS education at the Department of Geography of TSU was the continuity of training, i.e. the training courses were designed so that training in GIS-technologies was carried out from simple to difficult in each semester without significant breaks, which allowed students not to “forget” and not lose the acquired skills and competencies. The course “Digital elevation models” is one of the most difficult for mastering, therefore it is taught in the sixth semester and it is occupies one of the last places in this chain of courses. Since 2003, the course “Computer processing of remote sensing data” is taught, within the framework of which for the first time in TSU there were began to teach technologies of 3D modeling and creation of virtual geoimages on the basis of DEM, draped with space images. Since 2007, new forms of distance learning have been actively introduced - virtual laboratory workshops, which are electronic educational and methodological complexes, including a large block of practical exercises created in a step-by-step mode using multimedia animation technologies. They are available on the Internet on the website of the Institute of Distance Education of TSU. 5 virtual laboratory workshops were developed by the authors. In 2014-2016 years, authors developed three courses on the Moodle platform: “Digital Elevation Models”, “Computer Processing technologies of remote sensing data”, and “Information and Methodological Features of Environmental Impact Assessment in the Siberian Federal District of Russia”. The courses include both theoretical blocks consisting of lecture classes, as well as numerous laboratory works on mastering the technologies of digital elevation modeling and creation of virtual geoimages. Many methods of spatial analysis using DEM, later included in electronic educational resources, were developed at the Department of Geography of TSU during the implementation of research projects and grants. For example, when choosing a site to accommodate the Seversk Nuclear Power Plant, the slopes of small river channels were analyzed with the use of a digital elevation model in order to search for tectonic faults (geological faults). At present, the methods for forecasting the levels of flooding of populated areas in the valleys of the Tom and Ob rivers developed on the basis of three-dimensional elevation modeling are of great importance and prospects for the Geoportal of the Tomsk region.

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