The request to add a Geographic Information Science & Technologies (GIS&T) track to existing M.A. in Geography

Date: May 19, 2011
To: College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
From: Clarence Greene, Faculty Governance Assistant
Approved On: May 4, 2011
Approved by: Graduate Council
Implementation Date: Spring 2012

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Catalog Copy

Overview:Given the increasingly diverse uses of geospatial technology in government, industry, and academia, this track will prepare students for jobs with public agencies and private companies, such as GIS systems designers, geospatial analysts, geospatial project coordinators, geospatial information technologists, cartographers, spatial planners, and remote sensing analysts.

The Geographic Information Science & Technologies (GIS&T) track will offer course work giving each student the opportunity to acquire and apply GIS&T tools and techniques, specifically digital image processing, environmental, transportation and urban applications of GIS, GPS, GIS programming and customization, geocomputation, geovisualization, location modeling, network analysis, planning applications of GIS, remote sensing, spatial database design, spatial decision support systems, spatial optimization spatial statistics and geostatistics.

Course Work:

The following courses (12 credits total) are required for a track in GIS&T:

  • GEOG 6100 Quantitative Analysis in Geography (3)
  • GEOG 6131 Research Design Fundamentals (3)
  • GEOG 7900 (Individual Research Project) (6)

A total of 24 credits originating from the following lists of GIS&T electives are recommended for a track in GIS&T (*). In customizing their programs, students should endeavor to take at least 3 to 6 elective hours of geography courses in the areas of community planning, transportation, locational analysis or urban regional analysis.

A. GIS&T tools and techniques

  • GEOG 5120 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (**) (4)
  • GEOG 5102 Cartographic Design and Map Construction (3)
  • GEOG 5150 Spatial Database Development with GPS/GIS (4)
  • GEOG 5000 GIS Programming and Spatial Database (3)
  • ESCI 5170 Fundamentals of Remote Sensing (4)
  • ESCI 5180 Digital Image Processing in Remote Sensing (4)
  • GEOG 6120 Spatial Statistics (3)
  • GEOG 6130 Geovisualization (3)

B. GIS&T applications

  • GEOG 5101 Applied Cartographic Design (3)
  • GEOG 5131 Environmental Modeling with GIS (4)
  • GEOG 5132 Spatial Modeling for Social and Economical Applications (4)
  • GEOG 5140 GIS and Planning (4)
  • GEOG 6030 Topics in Geographic Techniques (3)
  • GEOG 6121 Advanced Seminar on Spatial Modeling (3)
  • GEOG 6122 GIS&T and Urban Regional Analysis (3)
  • GEOG 6400 Advanced Seminar in Spatial Decision Support Systems (4)
  • GEOG 6402 Multi-Attribute Assessment/Evaluation for Planning and Decision-Making (3)
  • GEOG 6404 Spatial Data Analysis in GIS (3)
  • GEOG 6406 Spatial Information and Mobility Systems (3)
  • GEOG 6407 Geocomputation (3)
  • GEOG 6408 Spatial Optimization (3)

*In addition, selected course work offered by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and the College of Computing and Informatics is available to students with the approval of their academic advisor, provided that course prerequisites are satisfied. Students can also elect to complete an internship with a private company or a public agency for credit to acquire practical experiences in GIS&T.

** Unless students have had a substantial introductory GIS course prior to entering the MA program, GEOG 5120 is strongly recommended as this course serves as a foundation for the other GIS&T courses.

Proposed New Courses:

GEOG 5131. Environmental Modeling with GIS. (4) Cross-listed as GEOG 4131. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120 or permission of instructor. Theories and practices of modeling the environment with GIS. Topics include: types of spatial modeling frameworks; GIS data sources and measurement technologies for environmental modeling; development, calibration, and validation of environmental models; 3-dimensional modeling and visualization of physical processes; and spatial analysis of human-environment interactions. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 5132. Spatial Modeling for Social and Economical Applications. (4) Cross-listed as GEOG 4132. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120 or permission of instructor. Theories and practices of spatial modeling with social and economical applications. Topics include: (1) simulation models for land use change, smart growth, object movement, and homeland security planning; (2) integrated models – spatial – non-spatial, topological – ontological, deterministic – stochastic; (3) agent-based models. Lab exercises employ various spatial modeling tools. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 5150. Spatial Database Development with GPS and GIS. (4) Prerequisite: GEOG 5120, or consent of the instructor. This course consists of tutorials, readings, projects, and discussions of how geo-technologies can be used to create digital geographic databases: designing conceptual databases using entity-relationship approach, transforming GPS data, geo-registering scanned base maps, digitizing vector features, entering attribute data, and developing Mobile GIS applications (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 6406. Spatial Information and Mobility. (4) Cross-listed as GEOG 8406. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120, or consent of the instructor. The course focuses on issues related to the collection, storage, and dissemination of data and information used in transportation analysis, planning, and operations. Students will be exposed to the functionality of geographic information systems and concepts of Geographic Information Science that enable these tasks, as well as to traditional travel data collection techniques. Advanced data collection and information dissemination approaches are also discussed, including the use of probes, sensors, GPS, and other wireless communication devices. The fundamentals of Intelligent Transportation Systems form a central part of the course. Finally, the state-of-the-art and future of location-based services and telematics systems is discussed from the perspective of personal mobility and spatial information. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 6407. Geocomputation. (3) Cross-listed as GEOG 8407. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120, or consent of the instructor. This course is devoted to the implementation of computational techniques and resources for the exploration and analysis of (large) spatially referenced databases. The course provides an assessment of the place and contribution of computational methods in spatial data handling. The course explores “new” computationally intensive approaches to doing geography. Topics will include artificial neural networks, machine learning induction algorithms, genetic and other evolutionary algorithms, and other algorithms for spatial data mining. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 6408. Spatial Optimization. (3) Cross-listed as GEOG 8408. Prerequisite: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GEOG 5120), or consent of the instructor. Spatial Optimization is articulated around the explicit use of GIS tools and techniques to solve coverage, distance-decay problems as well as routing problems integrating geographic information. Case studies in various domains such as urban retailing or transportation. Problem formulation and solution techniques to optimally preserve existing natural reserves, such as reservoir resources or locating natural corridors between biologically rich areas to protect diversity. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 8406. Spatial Information and Mobility. (4) Cross-listed as GEOG 6406. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120, or consent of the instructor. The course focuses on issues related to the collection, storage, and dissemination of data and information used in transportation analysis, planning, and operations. Students will be exposed to the functionality of geographic information systems and concepts of Geographic Information Science that enable these tasks, as well as to traditional travel data collection techniques. Advanced data collection and information dissemination approaches are also discussed, including the use of probes, sensors, GPS, and other wireless communication devices. The fundamentals of Intelligent Transportation Systems form a central part of the course. Finally, the state-of-the-art and future of location-based services and telematics systems is discussed from the perspective of personal mobility and spatial information. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 8407. Geocomputation. (3) Cross-listed as GEOG 6407. Prerequisite: GEOG 5120, or consent of the instructor. This course is devoted to the implementation of computational techniques and resources for the exploration and analysis of (large) spatially referenced databases. The course provides an assessment of the place and contribution of computational methods in spatial data handling. The course explores “new” computationally intensive approaches to doing geography. Topics will include artificial neural networks, machine learning induction algorithms, genetic and other evolutionary algorithms, and other algorithms for spatial data mining. (Fall or Spring)

GEOG 8408. Spatial Optimization. (3) Cross-listed as GEOG 6408. Prerequisite: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GEOG 5120), or consent of the instructor. Spatial Optimization is articulated around the explicit use of GIS tools and techniques to solve coverage, distance-decay problems as well as routing problems integrating geographic information. Case studies in various domains such as urban retailing or transportation. Problem formulation and solution techniques to optimally preserve existing natural reserves, such as reservoir resources or locating natural corridors between biologically rich areas to protect diversity. (Fall or Spring)