It is imperative that students applying GIS understand mathematical projections of the earth's surface, spatial data structure and accuracy, data base management, and how the topology of points, lines, arcs, and polygons interact with relational data. Application of GIS technology has increased substantially in recent years. This increase in application and demand has been fueled in part by the fact that the cost for government agencies, the agricultural industry, consulting firms, and education to apply GIS as a management tool has been greatly reduced. Productivity in information management related to GIS continues to increase as costs are decreasing. Hence, the demand for students that can apply GIS technology along with substantive foundation course work in environmental systems, planning, and other life, physical, and social sciences has far outstripped supply.
Problems facing the world today are multi-dimensional in scope.
Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of GIS is that the technology encourages and enables work across disciplinary lines. If successful, it will have broad societal and commercial benefits in areas such as education, decision making for a sustainable future, land use planning, agriculture, and crisis management. Geographic Information Systems provide tremendous opportunities for improving understanding among scientists, for illustrating complex concepts for both scientists and non-scientists, and, ultimately, for helping identify better solutions to the challenges of understanding and protecting the physical and human systems spanning the earth's surface. 3 credits Course Description and Content 1. Map Analysis and Design Analysis of map properties and use of maps as sources of information.