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College of Arts & Sciences
GIScience Program

  • Geographic Information Systems Geospatial technologies are used to discover answers to our complex worldmore

Geographic Information Science

How can you utilize geospatial technologies?

Geographic Information Science (GISci), is a broad discipline that spans just about every industry you can imagine. GIS is used to collect, analyze and discover phenomenon related to their place on the Earth's surface. Natural resource management, engineering, public health and business just to name a few. If you aren't interested in having a GIS specific career, many disciplines within GIS could be applied to your desired profession. Just having some common geospatial knowledge is extremely valuable as you enter the professional workforce.
 
Are you interested in understanding how the geographic space surrounding you is interconnected? How about using aerial photography to evaluate landuse change? Are you interested in developing databases that can be used to run statistical analyses? Do you like the creativeness of generating maps or thought about creating interactive maps and applications online? Would you like learning more about GPS? Below are a few common disciplines within GIScience.
 



Geographic Information Systems

Create, manage and analyze data that can be used to solve complex problems. Increase efficiency by using geospatial tools.

 



Spatial Analysis / Statistics

Create heat maps to show densities of features. Determine the ideal location to place a new business. Analyze the spread of diseases.

 



Web Application and Database Development

Develop databases that are used in enterprise GIS applications. Create web maps and applications to showcase your data and analyses to the public.

 



Remote Sensing

Utilize aerial photos, satellite imagery and LiDAR to evaluate the earth's surface. Determine the health of vegetation or locate agricultural plant stress.

 



Data Collection

Use various resources to develop custom datasets both in the office and in the field. Utilize GPS technology.

 



Crowdsourced Geographic Information

Understand how to visualize user-enabled content in the geographic realm. Enable citizen scientists to help solve problems. Harvest Twitter data and analyze trends and patterns.