I’ve been thinking about going back to grad school and getting my degree in GIS. I have a BA in geography and would like to pursue a more technical side. I want to find a well-known (if there are any) schools for GIS. Does anyone know a university with a really good program?
I also have a year before I go back to school and would like to check into doing an internship to have some experience under my belt. Any ideas where to start?
And mods, I’m not sure if this question should stay here or go to another forum…help? Thanks.
ESRI is a leader in GIS software (Arc/Info, etc.) and Tobin is one of the leading data suppliers - companies you might check out for intern employment possibilities.
Mods - those are both commercial sites with which I have no connection. I hope I’m not spamming the board; I’m just trying to give our friend a little direction so blast those links if you feel you must.
Another good connection is the U.S.G.S. EROS Data Center (I once gave a talk where, in the question and and answer part I couldn’t remember the exact name so I told the inquiring geoscientists to search on “eros” - I’ll bet they had fun).
A great little source for some excellent shareware that has help files that will teach most of us all we’ll ever need to know about various map projections and coordinate transforms is at Seissoft. Once again, mods, this is a site that offers freeware that may well be applicable to the OP’s quest, but the proprietor is selling software as well (and I have no connection).
And finally, you might want to check out getting a year’s worth of experience just working on the ground with a survey crew that’s incorporating GIS location in it’s endeavors.
While I think GIS is a good choice for a field of expertise, I’m not sure getting a degree in it is the best way to make a career of it.
For starters I wonder if there is such a degree. It seems a little too narrow of a specialization. But the real point I want to make is that since you already have a college degree in a related field, you would probably qualify yourself faster with experience than with education. As a potential employer, a degree in geography and experience with GIS would almost certainly satisfy my requirements.
Interning sounds like a good idea. And take some courses, especially on the IS part of GIS. I’m just not sure pursuing a full-up program is necessary.
I’ve never heard of a whole degree program for GIS. It’s more of a matter of getting the right training/certification courses from ESRI. But GIS is definitely one of the latest “big things” in data management. It’s everywhere and people who are skilled in this are highly valued.
You may also want to check into training/certification for database software such as Microsoft Access. Databases & GIS go hand-in-hand.
I’m not sure what type of college degree would best support an intended career in GIS. Since GIS is used in many different types of work (environment, law enforcement, the post office, etc…anything that uses maps & data!) there does not seem to be one direction to pursue. Perhaps a degree in math? computer science? cartography?
Perhaps you could major in another interest while also becoming skilled at GIS…then you could find a way to apply your GIS skills to your other area of interest.
But who knows, maybe there is a new GIS degree program somewhere. Stranger things have happened. If it exists, you’ll find out about at the ESRI website.
I looked in to this for awhile. There are schools that DO have masters of GIS, well they may not actaully call it GIS but they do almost all of their classes in it.
I can think of at least two off the top of my head. One would be University of Maryland College Park. Also Eastern Carolina University does a Masters in GIS. I’ve been told that UMD is very hard to get into because it’s a good school and they do a lot of GIS work for the gov.
If you would like a job try http://www.gjc.org, it’s a non-profit org that lists jobs mostly in the GIS field. I tried for long time to get a GIS job but a good amount want programing skills and I wasn’t looking to do that.
That’s because GIS IS nothing more than a database, it just gets shown graphically.
If you’re looking for a job also try looking for MapInfo, I used that for awhile in my last two jobs.
Good luck finding something, I really didn’t want to program and that’s what I saw a lot of people wanting. I also know a number of people who got degrees in Computer Science and only took a few GIS courses. I think I’d rather do it the other way around.
Oh one more thing, I was close to going to ECU a few years ago and from what I gathered it was a lot more how can GIS be used and not as much hands on type stuff. don’t know if this changed or not. If you’ve got any more questions let me know.
Hey thanks to everyone that posted! You’ve definitely given me something to look into. I knew the people of StraightDope would help me out! Sorry I’m late in replying, but I don’t have internet at work. ergh. And Edward the Head I’ll be sure to contact you if I have more questions! Thanks!
