Geospatial Information Science Minor

Minor in Geospatial Information Science

The Minor in Geospatial Information Science provides a formal introduction to foundational concepts, principles, and tools for gathering, storing, processing, analyzing, viewing, and portraying geospatial data. Practical applications and problem solving are stressed.

The minor is open to all majors in a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science program. The choice of electives enables students to specialize in an area of academic interest that complements their disciplinary major.

Students may earn a Minor in Geospatial Information Science by completing 30 credits, with at least 18 at the 300 or 400 level, as follows:

• 9 credits of core courses: GISC_O 380, GISC_O 381, and GISC_O 480;
• 21 credits of elective courses, with no more than 6 credits at the 100-level¹ and with no more than 12 elective credits from a single discipline² that is the same as the major, from the following list:
  • APSC_O 169³;
  • COSC_O 101, 111, 121, 222, 304, 341, 360, 404, 435, 448⁴;
  • DATA_O 101, 301;
  • EESC_O 111, 413, 437, 444, 448⁴;
  • ENGR_O 332³;
  • GEOG_O 109, 129³, 271⁵, 272, 427³, 437, 498⁴

¹First-year electives can only be counted toward the GIS Minor by students not majoring in the discipline of the subject code (e.g., an EESC major may not count EESC_O 111 for the GIS Minor, but a COSC or GEOG major may do so).

²For the purposes of the GIS Minor, a discipline is identified by the subject code (e.g., GEOG_O, EESC_O) with COSC and DATA combined as one discipline and ASPC and ENGR combined as another discipline.

³For the purposes of the GIS Minor only, these courses will be counted as science credits.

⁴Directed studies courses (3 credits only) can be counted toward the GIS Minor only if pre-approved by the program coordinator based on sufficient GIS content and learning potential.

⁵Any equivalent course dealing with introductory statistical methods can be substituted (e.g. APSC_O 254, BIOL_O 202, PSYO_O 270, SOCI_O 271, STAT_O 230).

Double Counting of Credits restrictions apply. See Program Requirements.

Queries related to the GIS Minor should be addressed to the program coordinator.