GIS and Colleges of Business: A Curricular Exploration

Abstract Geographic information systems (GIS) have become a powerful research and operations tool in the world of business, especially in real estate. However, few geography departments in the United States combine the fundamentals of business curricula with their most important geospatial technique-GIS. This study explores whether colleges of business in institutions of higher education in the U.S. incorporate GIS courses into their curricula to ensure that graduates have a better comprehension of spatial analysis in business endeavors. From a sample of 140 public and private institutions across the country, this study identified only five colleges of business that include GIS courses in their curricula. The future employment demand is optimistic for business and geography graduates who have geospatial skills if the forecast by the U.S. Department of Labor underscored in Nature (Gewin 2004, 376) is accurate in identifying ''geotechnology as one of the three most important emerging and evolving fields, along with nanotechnology and biotechnology.'' ''Geotechnology'' and ''geospatial skills'' are terms synonymously used for geographic information science (GIScience), which includes the academic specialties of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, cartography, visualization, and spatial modeling. Although cartography is the oldest of these specializations, GIS is the most well known and most widely utilized in the business community (Daratech Reports, 2003; and Thrall, 2007). A GIS is a computer system with a set of processes for obtaining, managing, analyzing, and displaying data that have been located geographically (ESRI, 2007; and USGS, 2007). GIS is increasingly becoming a powerful research and operations tool in the world of business, particularly in real estate. Business sector employment, specifically for GIS, spatial modeling, and visualization work, in location analysis, real estate, marketing, and tracking systems for materials, products, and goods is growing remarkably for both corporate and consulting firms and has the potential of overtaking the public sector as the largest geospatial employment market in the early twenty-first century (Hartung, 1997; Barnes, 2004; Reid 2004; Thrall and Campins, 2004; and Lowe, 2005). Further, Richardson (2005) suggests that ''geographic management systems'' will provide substantial employment for college graduates who have a combined knowledge of geotechnology skills and business acumen. Businesses can use geographic management systems for real-time spatial management of their operations and systems. Such integrated systems afford substantial cost efficiencies (Richardson and Solis, 2004). Overall, the meteoric geospatial market is likely to expand to between $60 and $100 billion in less than a decade (Corle, 2004). Business and geography university graduates who have knowledge of spatial analysis and skills in geospatial techniques along with an understanding of business concepts and operational frameworks are exceedingly marketable. Most American geography departments, however, have not developed specific undergraduate or graduate curricula needed to position themselves and their students for the vigorous employment growth in the business sector. Indeed, only a handful of geography departments in the U.S. combine the fundamentals of business curricula with their most important geospatial technique-GIS: University of Florida, University of Washington, State University of New York-Buffalo, Texas State University-San Marcos, and University of North Alabama (AAG Guide, 2006; and Estaville, Keys-Mathews, Brown, and Strong, 2006). Purpose The purpose of this exploratory study is to determine whether colleges of business in the U.S. incorporate GIS into their current curricula. Such curricular inclusion would show a strong understanding and commitment of colleges of businesses to the power of geospatial techniques for location analysis and spatial management of business activities. …