Geographic information system (GIS) is a technology that manages, analyzes, and disseminates geographic knowledge. GIS links location to information (such as people to addresses, buildings to parcels, or streets within a network) and layers that information to show how it all interrelates. GIS is used to redraw boundaries, model population growth and distribution, target sites in market analysis, and develop distribution networks and evacuation plans for community preparedness. GIS helps planners, environmental scientists, biologists, and business owners to make site location decisions and solve urban and environmental problems. A background in GIS provides opportunities in federal and state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Protection, the Water Resources Authority, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The private sector employs professionals trained in GIS in database creation, applications development, sales and marketing, software development and training, data conversion, and project management. GIS specialists may be employed by petroleum companies, utilities, and multinational corporations. GIS professionals hold the following titles: Cartographic Technician, GIS analyst, System/Database Administrator, GIS Sales Specialist, and GIS Software Engineer.
The Department of Geography and Regional Planning maintains a state-of-the-art facility for GIS instruction. A microcomputer laboratory, equipped with Pentium 4 class computers, laser and inkjet printers, CD-ROM readers, digitizers, and other output devices, supports such software as ARCGIS, ArcView, GIS, and Idrisi. The labs offer INTERNET connectivity and global positioning system equipment (GPS).
The GIS Certificate minor is designed to introduce students to software and hardware used in GIS, provide knowledge about the planning and construction of spatial databases, and offer instruction in GIS analysis and the representation of data in mapped and tabular form
