Bachelor of science in geographic information systems

The Bachelor of Science in Geographic Information Systems (BSGIS) program teaches you to think, communicate, reason, and solve real-world problems spatially — through a curriculum of four key competencies: spatial data acquisition, spatial data management, spatial analysis, and information presentation. 

Spatial data acquisition: 

Working with spatial needs a sound understanding of how spatial data are represented and how they can be acquired using various methods. You will learn how to represent spatial data in coordinates, how to calculate coordinates from field measurements, how to use images to get GIS data, and how GPS is used in GIS on different platforms. 

Data management: 

GIS data has a large volume and every GIS system involves different types of data. You'll learn how to model real-world problems with spatial data and manage such data for efficient data creation, update, and retrieval for use. 

Spatial analysis: 

The core of GIS is spatial analysis. You will learn various concepts and knowledge of how to solve problems spatially. Upon a sound understanding of the concepts, you will learn how to use GIS technology to solve spatial problems, including customizing workflows under a GIS platform. 

Information presentation: 

You will learn how to represent spatial data under different contexts and understand the issues with the different representations. 

Core Courses

Required

• GIS110: Introduction to Spatial Analysis & GIS
• GIS167: Introduction to Python Programming
• GIS210:  Advanced Spatial Analysis & GIS
• GIS325: Spatial Data Acquisition and Representation 
• GIS326: Cartography
• GIS362: Spatial DBMS 
• GIS465: Geospatial Analysis 
• GIS496: Capstone Project

Electives

• GIS267/DS201: Introduction to Data Science 
• GIS361: Advanced Topics in GIS 
• GIS363: Applied Data Analysis with Python 
• GIS368: Advanced Cartography 
• GIS369: Web GIS Application 
• GIS425/SPA425: Introduction to Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry 
• GIS467: Advanced Geospatial Analysis with Python 
• MATH233: Introduction to Machine Learning

Math:

• MATH118: Integrated Calculus I 

  Or

• MATH120: Brief Calculus
  Or

• MATH121: Calculus I 

Learning Outcomes

Graduates from the BS in GIS program are expected to: 

• Understand methods of spatial data acquisition and be able to use appropriate tools to acquire spatial data
• Understand spatial data structures and able to use GIS tools to organize and manage spatial data 
• Understand the concepts of and be able to perform common GIS analyses  
• Have competent programming skills to customize and develop GIS and its related tasks and workflows 
• Be able to effectively identify, propose, design, and develop solutions to spatial problems 

Careers

GIS specialist, GIS analyst, or GIS application developers in the private sector, various levels of governments, and utilities. 

Faculty

• Douglas M. Flewelling 
• Mark P. Kumler 
• Ruijin Ma 
• Fang Ren