Westminster College Undergraduate Catalog . . This program, sponsored by the departments of biology, chemistry, mathematics and computer science, and physics, is composed of designated and elective courses from those disciplines, and geology, economics and environmental science. The purpose of the program is to provide the broad background and understanding necessary for effective work on problems of the environment and careers in environmental science. Four credit hours must be labeled biology or chemistry and the electives must be in at least two different disciplines. A grade of C- or better is required in all courses in the major.
All courses are four semester hours unless noted.
This course is an introduction to the theory and use of Geographic Information Systems, including the fundamental concepts of GIS, capabilities of GIS, and applications for dealing with spatial data. Key issues for discussion will include data input, data models, database design and database queries, sources of information for spatial databases, spatial analysis, computational algorithms, and information presentation. Other issues such as the nature of geographic phenomena to be represented in a GIS, comparisons of different GIS representational schemes, and appropriate use of geographic information will also be covered. These topics will all be discussed within an environmental context using ArcView, a PC-based GIS software program. 260 Introduction to Environmental Science.