Geography Program   
Department of History, Geography, and Philosophy  

  Geographic Information Science at GCSU

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Home

Minor

 

GISc

Human

Physical

 

Education

Jobs

Research

 

History/ Geography/ Philosophy Department

  
 
Geographic Information Courses
 The science of Geographic Information is a rapidly developing academic field which supports a tremendous variety of geographic fields.  An essential tool in the discipline is a Geographic Information System (GIS), which uses computer hardware and software to allow users to develop, analyze, and display spatial data.  A GIS is more than a map-making tool; it is a spatial database that permits very advanced spatial analysis and modeling.  Often it is used in conjunction with remote sensing software, which is used to display and analyze photographic and satellite imagery.

The foundations of Geographic Information Science (GISc) at Georgia College & State University are presented in a two-course series:

  • GEOG 3100: Introduction to Geographic Information
  • GEOG 4100: Advanced Geographic Information

 

 

Resources and Research
 The faculty and staff at GCSU have been working hard to develop state-of-the-art instruction and research facilities for GISc.  Student instruction is carried out in a campus-wide Office of Instructional Technology classroom, which is fitted with 22 IMacs running dual processors to support a Windows XP operating system.  This installation supports the following GISc software:

GCSU is supported by the University System of Georgia's site licensing arrangements for GISc software.  The ESRI site license is managed by the Information Technology Outreach Services at the University of Georgia, and the Leica site license is maintained by the College of Architecture at Georgia Institute of Technology.  For more information, please refer to the web page GIS Software at GCSU.

Students and faculty also have access to a growing collection of advanced geographic hardware and instrumentation, including:

  • Geoscope mirror stereoscopes
  • Sokkia MS-27 Professional Mirror stereoscope
  • CST/berger 20X Speed Line Level & Transit-Level
  • Sokkia Set-600 Total Station
  • EMTAC Bluetooth GPS receiver
  • Garmin GPS Map 76Cx receivers
  • Garmin Etrek GPS receivers
  • Magellan PROMARK X GPS receiver
  • Trimble GeoXM receiver and data logger
  • Calcomp Drawing Board III
  • Epson GT-15000 large format scanner
  • Canon Powershot SD600 digital camera
  • Dell Inspiron 9300 portable computer
  • Dell Poweredge 1950 server
  • HP DesignJet 1055cm Plus plotter
  • HP Photosmart Pro B9180 large format printer

The GISc courses at GCSU utilize an instructional method known as Problem-Based Learning, which encourages students to pose problems and then solve them using the methods delivered in class lectures.  The instructor works with the students to build knowledge and craft solutions, but the overall direction and conclusions of the project belongs to the student.  A collection of some of the student projects demonstrates the method, and several of these projects directly serve the local community.   In fact, the GCSU Geographic Research Lab has served over 20 different local entities and agencies in their needs.  The local research projects outline the important contributions of GCSU to the surrounding region.

 

Geographic Information Science Web Links
Geographic Information Science is a rapidly growing field which offers incredible opportunities.  To learn more, please visit the essential web links below, and take some time to examine a more complete collection of web resources in GISc.

 

 

  
Geography Program
Campus Box 047 | Milledgeville, GA 31061
Phone (478) 445-5215 | Fax (478) 445-4009
For more information: doug.oetter@gcsu.edu