Skip to content

Geographic Information Science (GIS)

Geographic Information Science (GIScience) is an inherently interdisciplinary field of study that deals with gathering, analyzing and communicating spatially explicit data about our world. Our GIScience faculty have a wide range of expertise within the field, including geovisualization, spatial statistics, and computing, as well as within application domains like health geography, emergency management, conflict, hazards, and environmental change. Graduates with a background in GIScience are well-prepared for today's demanding job market and get hired in the tech industry, education, government agencies, and consulting firms.

Courses and Degrees

Courses in GIScience provide students with the methodological foundations to solve geographic problems. Courses in this emphasis cover the whole spectrum of GIScience topics including basic spatial analysis and map making, field data collection techniques ranging from smartphones to drone, advanced GIS methods, spatial database design, web GIS, geo-programming, and spatial modeling. By combining courses in the GIScience area, students can complete a BS in Geographic Information Science. We also offer a professional MS in Geographic Information Science.

Faculty

Simon Brewer

Associate Professor -- past and present climate change, paleoecology, environmental modeling, data mining and analysis.

Tom Cova

Professor -- Environmental hazards, emergency management, transportation, geographic information science

Philip Dennison

Professor, Chair, and Director of URSA Lab  -- hyperspectral, multispectral, and lidar remote sensing of terrestrial ecosystems, wildfire and firefighter safety, imaging spectroscopy

Alexander Hohl

Assistant Professor -- geographic data science, spatiotemporal computing, machine learning, spatial epidemiology

Richard Medina

Associate Professor -- GIS, spatial analysis, geography of terrorism and insurgent activity, complex systems in social and geographic spaces

Neng Wan

Associate Professor, Director of the Utah Geo-Health Lab -- GIS and spatial methods in understanding and solving environmental health problems. Director of the MSGIS program.

Last Updated: 3/26/21