Geographical Information Systems, introduction

Course content

This is an introductory course in GIS. The course prepares you to address general geographical problems in the society and environment and  shows you how they can be handled using GIS. It is a balanced mix of theoretical foundation and practical applications:

• cartography and map projections
• raster/vector data models and analyses
• databases and attributes
• data capture and visualization

Hardware requirements and operating systems

Since this is a distance programme, you need your own computer upon which to install the GIS software you will need.  This computer must run a modern version of the Windows operating system, as is required for ArcGIS Pro.  The specific technical requirements to run ArcGIS Pro can be found at the ESRI website:

ArcGIS Pro requirements

Using a Mac 

Note:  While it is possible to install Windows on an Apple computer (using Boot Camp on older machines with Intel processors or some virtualization approach on Apple silicon) we can provide NO support for this approach.  That means that if you have technical issues we cannot help you, and you must provide your own licensed copy of an appropriate Windows OS as well as any other software needed to make this work.

Teaching

Teaching consists of lectures and practical exercises that you will submit to the teachers. The course ends with a written examination. By completing the course you will have a basic, theoretical and practical understanding of GIS. You will also be able to work independently with various types of geographical data in GIS.