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Undergraduate GIS Certificate Curriculum

Open to ALL undergraduate students

The undergraduate certificate is open to all WSU undergraduate students from any background.

All you have to do to earn the certificate is to complete 12 credits of coursework in areas such as spatial analysis, mapping, programming languages, database management, field map methods, and remote sensing.

Admissions group of people

 

Coursework Breakdown:

 Level I: 3 Credit Hours
Level II: 3 Credit Hours

Choose One of the following options: 6 Credit Hours
Option 1: Take Two courses from Level III
                          Option 2: Take One course each from Level III and Level IV

Certificate Structure

GIS LEVEL I - Introduction

Introduction to GIS. 3 credit hours required. Students will learn what a GIS is, what the license levels of ArcMap entail (Basic, Standard and Advanced), and the nature and limitations of the University site license. Beyond that, students will learn of the basic data types (raster and vector) how the ArcMap and ArcPro programs manage a GIS; the integration of map features with data; the elemental structure of ArcMap including the creation of map features, creation and editing of data, combining files of different types. To accomplish this, students will learn to explore and use on-line data sources including those from the Kansas Geospatial Commons (DASC), the U.S. Census, and U.S. National Map. By the end of the class, students should be able to install, activate, and use ArcMap and create a map illustrating one or two major points from established data.

Choose one of the following courses:
(ANTH 562, CJ 581D)

GIS LEVEL II - Database Management

Database Management. 3 credit hours required. Because a Geographic Information System is at base a database management system (the I in GIS) with a geographic connector, students must be familiar with the design and operation of a relational database management system.

(GEOL 692)

GIS LEVEL III - Mapping, Interpretation, and Analysis

Mapping, Interpretation, and Analysis. Classes in this category will generally be taken by students who have been exposed to elementary features of ArcMap and database management systems. In this class, students will become more involved in analysis, including, in most courses, analytical features of mapping including combining data sets; merging, unioning, and trimming polygonal feature classes to achieve a particular analytical end. They will create statistical summaries of feature classes based on their areal extent, data content, or selected attributes of both. And finally, most classes will involve the preparation of an appropriate interpretive map at a scale suitable for the final selected product.

Level III Courses:
(ANTH 662, CJ 581C, GEOL 690Z, GEOL 693, HIST/GEOG 550)

GIS LEVEL IV - Specific Applications

Discipline Specific Application. Classes are intended as student’s capstone presentation in the GIS program and may be, at the preference of the student’s major department or advisor, an internship with some local or state agency or corporation that has a GIS program or a thesis-like presentation of geographic data the student has assembled, roughly equivalent to an honor’s thesis or undergraduate thesis (applied experience).

Level IV Courses:
(ANTH 664, RE 691, GEOL 540, GEOL 564)

Students must complete course work in GIS levels as prescribed and must earn a grade of C or better in all courses and overall grade point average of 2.000 or better for all courses comprising the certificate program.

To add the GIS certificate to your plan of study:

  • Log into the myWSU portal, find the Student Tools box (center of the page) and click "Change my Major/Minor."
  • Click continue (this will show your current major and minor).
  • Click continue, then click on "Add a certificate" and choose your certificate program. Click continue and submit request.

GIS Students Collaborating
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