CSIS Discussion Paper No. 91

Inter-Field Cooperation in GIS Education in the US

Mizuki Kawabata*, Rajesh Bahadur Thapa**, and Takashi Oguchi**Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan** Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Japan

September, 2008

Abstract
Cooperation among different fields of study is important in developing a systematic method of GIS
education. We examined inter-field cooperation, particularly that between geography-related andcomputer/information-related fields for education programs at US colleges and universities that award
GIS-related degrees or certificates. Academic fields were classified using ten major classes of the Dewey
Decimal Classification system. In the 2007-08 academic year, about 40% of GIS education programs
were based on cooperation between two or more different fields, and about 20% involved cooperation
among more than three fields. Approximately 10% of GIS education programs were based oncooperation between geography-related and computer/information-related fields, most of which also
involved some other fields in various disciplines. Inter-field cooperation in GIS education in the US isconsiderably more advanced than that in Japan.
Keywords: GIS education programs, inter-field cooperation, geography-related field,
computer/information-related field, US colleges and universities

1. Introduction
Developing human resources for GIS has become increasingly important in recent years. For example,
articles in Nature point out that the demand for GIS professionals is booming since geotechnology is an
emerging and evolving field (Butler, 2006; Gewin, 2004). In Japan, the Basic Plan of Promoting Geospatial
Information Use, which was approved by the Cabinet in 2008, advocates that human resources for GIS are
essential for developing a “Geospatially Enabled Society” (Cabinet Secretariat, 2008).
Thus far, systematic GIS education has rarely been provided at universities in Japan. One reason
for this is the barriers between traditional fields, which tend to impede inter-field cooperation. Since GIS ishighly interdisciplinary, such cooperation is important for developing systematic GIS education (Murayama,
2008; Okabe, 2006). In particular, cooperation between geography-related and computer/information-related
fields is essential although it is challenging (Okabe, 2006). Therefore, in the research area of GIS education,
professionals from different fields and affiliations have been collaborating to establish systematic curriculaand methods of GIS education in Japan. One example is the research project entitled “Development ofCurricula for Geographic Information Science and a Sustainably Collaborative Web Library System forServing the Materials of the Curricula”, carried out for three consecutive fiscal years 2005-2008(http://curricula.csis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/). In this project, each of the geography-related and information-relatedgroups developed a GIS core curriculum (Arikawa et al., 2008; Oguchi et al., 2008), and the two curricula
were integrated into a general curriculum (Okabe, 2008). Another example is the research project entitled“Establishment of Education Methods of Geographic Information Science: How to Teach GIS at
Universities Effectively”, which is currently in operation for four consecutive fiscal years 2005-2009(http://gis.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp/). In this project, professionals from various fields have been developing effective
methods of GIS education (Murayama, 2007). In the current GIS education provided at Japanese colleges
and universities, however, successful cooperation among different fields is still limited.
In the case of the US, a large number of colleges and universities already offer academic programs
that award GIS-related degrees and certificates (hereafter referred to as GIS education programs), which
often involve cooperation among departments in different fields (Kawabata et al., 2006; Wikle and Finchum,2003). Understanding such advanced GIS education in the US will be valuable for developing GIS education
programs in Japan and other countries. Therefore, in this paper, we examine GIS education programs at US
colleges and universities, with attention to inter-field cooperation, particularly that between
geography-related and computer/information-related fields.

2. Methods
This study deals with GIS education programs at US colleges and universities for the academic years
2006-07 and 2007-08. We first obtained the list of Colleges and Universities with Existing GIS Certificate
Programs from the Urban and Regional Information System Association (URISA) web site(http://urisa.org/career/colleges). This list includes GIS education programs that award GIS-related degrees(degree programs) as well as certificates (certificate programs). From the list, we selected GIS education
programs that were offered in the US and whose curriculum information was available online. As a result,2

we chose 116 programs in 75 US colleges and universities for 2006-07 and 163 programs in 108 US colleges
and universities for 2007-08.
Second, we invesitaged the curriculum, departments, and courses of each GIS education programand compiled them into a database. Next, we examined the following three aspects of the GIS education
programs using this database: (1) the number of degree and certificate programs; (2) composition ofacademic fields and inter-field cooperation; and (3) cooperation between geography-related andcomputer/information-related fields. Data for both 2006-07 and 2007-08 were used in the first part of theexamination, and data for 2007-08 were used in the second and third parts. In this paper, inter-fieldcooperation indicates that mutiple departments from different fields provide courses comprising a GIS
education program; hence a program with inter-field cooperation includes multiple fields. Academic entities
like departments, schools, and centers are all referred to as departments, and both Geographic Information
System(s) and Geographic Information Science are referred to as GIS.
For the classfication of fields, we used the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) (OCLC, 2003).
The DDC is the most widely used classification system in libraries all over the world, and its first summary
contains the following ten main “classes”:• 000: Computer science, information & general works (CSIG)• 100: Philosophy & psychology• 200: Religion• 300: Social sciences• 400: Language• 500: Science• 600: Technology• 700: Arts & recreation• 800: Literature• 900: History & geography
In the DDC system, each of these main classes is divided into ten “divisions”, each of which is further
divided into ten “sections”. In this study, departments were classified into the ten major classes (fields) basedon their names. When a department name indicates more than one field, the following criteria were applied.
Departments whose names include “computer” or “information system(s)” are classified into the field ofcomputer science, information & general works (CSIG); similarly, departments with names that include“technology” or “engineering” are classified into the technology field, those whose names include“geography” are classified into the history & geography field, and those whose names include “GIS” as well
as departments whose names are difficult to be classified are classified into the category others. Each course
in a GIS education program is classified into the field of the department that provides the course.
We also defined the geography-related and computer/information-related fields. The former isdefined as the geography part of the history & geography field of the DDC. That is, when a department nameincludes “geography”, the department and its courses are classified into the geography-related field. The
latter—computer/information—field is equivalent to the CSIG field of the DDC.

3

3. Results
3.1 Number of degree and certificate programs
The number and proportion of GIS education programs offering degrees or certificates for the 2006-07 and2007-08 academic years are shown in Figure 1. Of the 163 GIS education programs in the 2007-08 academic
year, 45 (28%) are degree programs: 18 for graduate degrees, 11 for bachelor's degrees, and 16 for associatedegrees. The remaining 118 programs (72%) are certificate programs, indicating that the majority of the GIS
education programs are certificate programs.
In the academic year 2007-08, the number of GIS education programs increased dramaticallyover the previous academic year, from 116 to 163 (a 40% increase). The increase occurred in both degree andcertificate programs, and the increase for degree programs was more distinct—their proportion to all
programs increased from 22% to 28%.
2007‐08140
120

2006-07（Total: 116）
2007-08（Total: 163）

118

100

90

Certificate
program72%

Degreeprogram
28%

80
60
40
20
0

10

18

Graduate
Graduate
degreeprogram

6

11

Bachelor’s
Bachelor
degreeprogram

10

16

Associate
Associate
degreeprogramCertificate
Certificate
program

2006‐07
Degreeprogram
22%
Certificate
program78%

Figure 1. Number and proportion of GIS education programs offering degrees and certificates(2006-07 & 2007-08)
3.2 Composition of academic fields and inter-field cooperation
Among the 163 GIS education programs in the 2007-08 academic year, 159 have courses with field
information, and the total number of the courses is 2,565. Figure 2 shows the proportion of each field in the2,565 courses. The history & geography field accounts for the largest proportion (33%) of the total. The
second largest proportion is that of the science and technology fields (15%). The social sciences and CSIG
fields account for 9% and 6%, respectively, and the other three fields of arts & recreation, language, andliterature account for small proportions (2% or less). Since no course belongs to philosophy & psychology
and religion, these two fields do not appear in the present and subsequent results.

4

50%

(844)

33%
25%
(164)

6%

(224)

9%

(396)

(374)

15%

15%

(23)

(488)

19%
(51)

2%

1%

(1)

0%

0%

CSIG:
science,
information& general
worksworks
CSIG:Computer
Computerscience,
information& general
Note: The numbers of courses are in parentheses.

Figure 2. Proportion of each field in all courses of GIS education programs (2007-08)
The proportion of each field included in the 159 GIS education programs is shown in Figure 3.
Note that a GIS education program can have multiple fields, and therefore the total of the proportions
exceeds 100%. More than half (52%) of the programs include the history & geography field. Further,approximately 30% include the science, social sciences, and technology fields, and about 20% include the
CSIG field. Both the arts & recreation and language fields are included in approximately 10% of the GIS
education programs. The literature field is included in only 1% of the programs.
100%
(82)

75%
50%

(29)

25%

18%

(39)

25%

(12)

(47)

(45)

30%

28%

8%

0%

52%
(12)

8%

(46)

29%
(1)

1%

CSIG:
CSIG: Computer
Computerscience,science,
information
information& general& general
works
works
Note: The numbers of GIS education programs are in parentheses. A GIS education program can
include multiple fields.

Figure 3. Proportion of each field included in GIS education programs (2007-08)

Next, we examine the composition of a main field in the 159 GIS education programs (Figure 4).
Here, a main field is defined as the field that provides the largest number of courses in each GIS education
program. If multiple fields in a program provide the same largest number of courses, the value of one divided
by the number of main fields was added to the composition of each main field; for instance, if a program has
two main fields, 0.5 was added. The history & geography field is the most common main field (43%) of the5

GIS education programs. This proportion is considerably higher than that for the other fields. The fields ofscience, social sciences, and technology account for about 10% each. The fields of arts & recreation, CSIG,
and literature rarely are main fields.
(69)

50%

43%
(38)

25%

(11)

(2)

(0)

7%

1%

24%

(18)

(19)

11%

12%

0%

0%

(2)

(0)

1%

0%

Computerscience,
information& general
works
CSIG:CSIG:
Computerscience,
information& general
works

Note: The numbers of GIS education programs are in parentheses.

Figure 4. Proportion of each main field in GIS education programs (2007-08)
Figure 5 shows the number and proportion of the 159 GIS education programs by the number offields comprising each program; the number of fields indicates the level of inter-field cooperation. The levelvaries widely, from no cooperation (i.e., single-field programs) to cooperation among eight fields. Although amajority of the GIS education programs are based on a single field, a noticeable proportion (38%) is offeredwith cooperation between multiple fields, and almost 20% of the GIS education programs are based oncooperation among four or more fields.
Number of
GIS education programs
100

4+ fields
17%98

3 fields
7%80

1 field
62%

2 fields
14%

60
40
23
20

11

12

8

4

2

1

6

7

8

0
1

2

3

4

5

Number of fields comprising each GIS education program(the level of inter‐field cooperation)

Figure 5. Number and proportion of GIS education programs by the level of inter-field cooperation(2007-08)

6

The proportion of the GIS education programs by the level of inter-field cooperation varies
considerably depending on whether they award degrees and certificates (Figure 6). The proportion ofprograms involving cooperation between multiple fields is relatively small for the graduate degree andcertificate programs (22% and 32%, respectively; note that the values of the proportions in Figure 6 havebeen rounded off), whereas it is relatively high for the bachelor’s degree and associate degree programs (73%
and 81%, respectively). This result suggests that inter-field cooperation is relatively inactive in the graduate
degree and certificate programs as compared to the bachelor's degree and associate degree programs. In
particular, the proportion of cooperation among four or more fields is markedly high (63%) in the associatedegree programs, which may suggest that the need for inter-field cooperation is higher and more necessary
for community colleges.
Number offields
6%
1 6%
2
3
4+

11%
27%

6% 11%

19%

27%

13%
78%

27%
18%

Graduate degree
program

15%

63%

Bachelor’s degree
program68%

6%
Associate degree
programCertificate
programFigure 6. Proportions of GIS education programs by the level of inter-field cooperation
depending on whether they are degree or certificate programs (2007-08)

As shown in Figure 3, CSIG, history & geography, science, social sciences, and technology were
the five most dominant fields in the GIS education programs. We therefore examined inter-field cooperation
among these fields for the 159 GIS education programs. Figure 7 shows the proportions of GIS education
programs that involve cooperation between two of the five fields. Interestingly, all the proportions are around
10%, ranging from 8% to 16%. The highest proportion of 16% is for cooperation between science and social
sciences. The lowest proportion of 8% is for cooperation between CSIG and social sciences and between
CSIG and technology. Figure 8 further presents the proportions of GIS education programs that involve
cooperation among three of the five fields. The proportions are around 8%, ranging from 4% to 10%. The
highest proportion of 10% is for cooperation among science, social sciences, and technology and amongscience, social sciences, and history & geography. The lowest proportion of 4% is for cooperation among
CSIG, social sciences, and technology and among CSIG, history & geography, and technology. Figures 7 and8 suggest that there is no common pattern of inter-field cooperation in the GIS education programs and thatvarious types of cooperation have been attempted.

7

100%
75%
50%
25%

(13)

8%

(19)

12%

(12)

8%

(18)

11%

(26)

16%

(17)

(21)

(22)

(21)

(18)

11%

13%

14%

13%

11%

0%

CSIG: Computer science, information & general works
SS: Social sciences
CSIG:
Computerscience,& generalare
works
Note: The
numbersof GISinformation
education programsin parentheses.
SS: Social science

Figure 7. Proportions of GIS education programs that involve cooperation between two of five fields of
CSIG, history & geography, science, social sciences, and technology (2007-08)
100%
75%
50%
25%

(12)

8%

(7)

4%

(8)

5%

(8)

5%

(12)

8%

(7)

4%

(16)

(16)

(11)

(12)

10%

10%

7%

8%

0%

CSIG: Computer science, information & general works
CSIG:sciences
Computer science, information & general works
SS: Social
SS:
Socialsciences
Note:
The
numbersof GIS education programs are in parentheses.

Figure 8. Proportions of GIS education programs that involve cooperation among three of five fields of
CSIG, history & geography, science, social sciences, and technology (2007-08)

8

3.3 Cooperation between geography-related and computer/information-related fields
Finally, we present results for cooperation between the geography-related and computer/information-related
fields. Tables 1 and 2 show the departments and courses that belong to the two fields. Of the 2,565 courses,
the geography-related and computer/information-related fields provide 841 and 163 courses, respectively.
The number of courses for the geography-related field is considerably larger than that for thecomputer/information-related field; however, the computer/information-related field accounts for 6% of thetotal number of courses.
Table 1. Departments and courses of geography-related field (2007-08)
Department
Applied geography
Geography
Geography & anthropology
Geography & environmental studies
Geography & geology
Geography & geosciences
Geography & geospatial science
Geography & planning
Geography, planning & recreation
Geography & regional planning
Total

Number of
departments
1
58
2
1
4
1
3
8
2
3
83

Number ofcourses
7
550
15
8
35
5
45
113
21
42
841

Table 2. Departments and courses of computer/information-related field (2007-08)
Department
Computer aided design
Communication, information & library studies
Computer information science
Computer Information system(s)Computer information technology
Computer science
Computer science & engineering
Computer science & information systems
Computer science & mathematics
Management information Systems
Management science & information systems
Mathematics & computer science
Multimedia
Total

Number of
departments
1
1
3
5
2
16
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
37

Number ofcourses
4
2
9
27
5
72
7
21
2
2
5
4
3
163

Figure 9 exhibits the proportions of the GIS education programs offered by only thegeography-related field, only the computer/information-related field, and both fields. Of the 159 GIS
education programs, 28% are based solely on the geography-related field, whereas no program is based
solely on the computer/information-related field. GIS education programs that include both thegeography-related and computer/information-related fields account for 11%. This result indicates that while
the computer/information-related field hardly comprises GIS education programs as a single field, the field ismore likely to cooperate with the geography-related field to comprise a GIS education program.

9

100%
75%
50%

(44)

28%
25%

(17)
(0)

11%

0%

0%
Geography‐related
Geography‐related
only

field only

Computer/information‐
Computer/inform
ation‐related
Geography‐related
Geography‐related & &onlyfieldcomputer/inform ation‐related
relatedComputer/information‐
Com puter& inform
only
relatedfieldsation

Note: The numbers of GIS education programs are in parentheses.

Figure 9. Proportion of GIS education programs offered only by the geography-related field,
only by the computer/information-related field, and by both fields (2007-08)

Table 3 presents more detailed information about the 17 GIS education programs based oncooperation between the geography-related field and computer/information-related field. Only 4 (24%) of
the 17 programs are based on cooperation only between the two fields, whereas the rest (76%) involves
cooperation with some other fields in various subject disciplines, such as civil engineering, economics, andurban planning & policy development.
A good example of cooperation between the geography-related and computer/information-related
fields is the GIS certificate program at San Diego State University (Table 4). This program is developed
through joint efforts of the Department of Geography and the Department of Computer Science. The
program awards GIS certificates for those who complete a total of 27 units with a grade point average of 2.5,
including 12~15 units from the Department of Geography and 12~15 units from the Department ofComputer Science.

10

Table 3. GIS education programs with cooperation between geography-related andcomputer/information-related fields (2007-08)
University/College
Bismarck State College

Degree/Certificate
Associate

Clackamas Community College Associate
Clackamas Community College Certificate
Columbus State Community
College

Associate

Community College ofPhiladelphia

Associate

Cosumnes River College

Certificate

Bluegrass Community &Technical College

Certificate

Mesa Community College

Certificate

Oklahoma State University

Certificate

Rowan University

Certificate

Rutgers University

Certificate

San Diego State University
Temple College

Certificate
Certificate

Temple College

Associate

University of Minnesota
University of Texas at Dallas

Masters
PhD

University of Utah

Certificate

Geography-related
department
Geography

Computer/information-related
department
Computer information science
Computer science

The other-field departments

Economics
EnglishGIS
Management
Mathematics
Political science
Geography
Computer science
Drafting
Math
Geography
Computer science
Drafting
Math
Geography
Computer information technology Communication skill
EnglishEnvironmental technology
GIS
Landscape design/build
Mathematics
Social science
Surveying
Geography
Computer information system
Architecture design & construction
EnglishGIS
Mathematics
Social science
Geography
Computer science
Agriculture
Anthropology
Architecture
Biological sciences
Business
Fire technology
Geology
Sociology
Geography
Computer information technology Architectural technology
Civil engineering technology
Environmental science technology
Geography
Computer information systemn/aMathematics & computer science
Biosystem engineering
Geography
Computer science
Civil & environmental engineering
Management science &Plant & soil science
information systems
Forestry
General technology
Geography &Computer science
Mathematics
anthropology
Management & MIS
Geography
Computer science
Earth & environmental sciences
Management science &Ecology
information systems
Statistics
Communication, information & Marine & coastal sciences
library studies
Urban planning & policy development
Geography
Computer sciencen/aGeography
Computer aided designn/aComputer information systems
Geography
Computer aided design
EnglishComputer information systems
Environmental science
Geology
Sociology
Geography
Computer science & engineering Forest resources
Geography & geospatial Computer science
Electrical sciencescience
Geoscience
Economic, political & policy
Management
Geography
Computer sciencen/a11

Table 4. Courses in GIS certificate program at San Diego State University (2007-08)
Department of Geography
Geographic information science and spatial reasoning
Computerized map design
Geographic information systems (required)
Cartographic design
Internet mapping and distributed GIServices
Geographic information systems applications
Quantitative methods in geographic research
Remote sensing of the environment
Intermediate remote sensing of the environment
GIS-based decision support methods
Advanced topics in GIScience

Department of Computer Science
Visual basic programming
Introduction to computer programming (required)Intermediate computer programming (required)Unix and the c programming language
Data structures
Programming languages
Scientific database techniques
Database theory and implementation
Advanced programming languages
Object-oriented programming and design
Component GIS architecture
User interface environments
Super computing for the sciences
Advanced topics in geocomputation
Spatial databases

4. Conclusion
In the US, a large number of colleges and universities offer GIS education programs. Between the 2006-07
and 2007-08 academic years, the number of the GIS education programs notably increased, and the increase
was greater for degree programs than certificate programs. These trends indicate a growing demand foracademic programs that impart GIS skills and knowledge.
Using the first summary level of the DDC system, we have classified departments and courses
into ten major fields and examined inter-field cooperation. In the 2007-08 academic year, approximately
40% of the GIS education programs were based on cooperation between two or more different fields, andabout 20% involved cooperation among four or more different fields. Among the ten major fields, the history& geography field played the most important role, as it accounted for the largest proportion in the total
number of courses and had the largest proportion as the main field in the GIS education programs. Amongthe other nine fields, the CSIG, science, social sciences, and technology fields played relatively significant
roles, as they accounted for relatively high proportions in the total number of courses and were frequently
included in the GIS education programs. Examining inter-field cooperation among the above five fields, wefound that all possible combinations of two or three of the five fields occurred with similar frequencies,
around 10% of the all programs.
Further,wehaveexamined

cooperation

betweenthegeography-related

andcomputer/information-related fields and found that about 10% of the GIS education programs were based oncooperation between these two fields. Although no GIS education program was based solely on thecomputer/information-related field and the field was the main field of only 1% of the GIS education
programs, the field was included in about 20% of the GIS education programs. These results suggest that thecomputer/information-related field is more likely to cooperate with other fields than to act solely indeveloping GIS education programs. In fact, we found that most of the GIS education programs withcooperation between the geography-related and computer/information-related fields involved additional

12cooperation with some other fields in various disciplines.
Our study has confirmed that inter-field cooperation in GIS education is considerably moreadvanced in the US than in Japan. The promotion of inter-field cooperation should be a key factor for
developing effective GIS education programs in Japan.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by KAKENHI (17200052, 17202023) and Fukutake Science and Culture
Foundation. We are grateful to the members of the two KAKENHI projects for their valuable comments andsuggestions.

References
Arikawa, M., Ota, M., Kubota, K., Makino, H. (2008) “The development of a core curriculum plan of
Geographic Information Science in the information-related field: a proposal for a Geographic
Information Technology (GIS) curriculum.” In Okabe, A. ed. (2008) The Development of Curricula
for Geographic Information Science and a Sustainably Collaborative Web Library System for Serving
the Materials of the Curricula. Report of research achievement, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research(A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 40-117. (in Japanese and English)
Butler, D. (2006) The web-wide world. Nature, 439, 776-778.
Cabinet Secretaria. (2008) Basic Plan of Promoting Geospatial Information Use.
<http://www.gsi.go.jp/WNEW/PRESS-RELEASE/2008/0414/01.pdf> (in Japanese)
Gewin, V. (2004) “Mapping opportunities.” Nature, 427, 376-377.
Kawabata, M., Iwata, O., Esaki, R., Kurata, Y., Nara, A., Hamada, Y., Yamazaki, Y. (2006) “Investigation of
Geographic Information Science Education Systems at 14 Universities in North America. “Theory andApplications of GIS, 14(2), 107-113. (in Japanese)
Murayama, Y. ed. (2007) Establishment of GIScience Education Methods: How to Teach GIS at Universities
Effectively, Interim Report on Research Results. 2005-2008 Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A),Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Murayama, Y. (2008) The key is human resource development! GISA News Letter, 65, 1-2.
Oguchi, T., Okunuki, K., Sasaki, M., Tani, K., Murayama, Y., Morishima, W., Yonezawa, C., Sadahiro, Y.,
Takahasi, A., Kawabata, M., Okabe, A. (2008) “The development of a core curriculum plan of
Geographic Information Science in the geography-related field.” In Okabe, A. ed. (2008) The
Development of Curricula for Geographic Information Science and a Sustainably Collaborative Web
Library System for Serving the Materials of the Curricula. Report of research achievement,
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, 1-39.
Okabe, A. (2006) Education for geographic information science and geography. E-journal GEO, 1(1), 67-74.
(in Japanese)
Okabe, A. ed. (2008) The Development of Curricula for Geographic Information Science and a Sustainably
Collaborative Web Library System for Serving the Materials of the Curricula. Report of researchachievement, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) (2003) Summaries: DDC Dewey Decimal Classification.
<http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf>.
Wikle, T. A. and Finchum, G. A. (2003) The emerging GIS degree landscape. Computers, Environment and
Urban Systems, 27, 107-122.

13