Undergrad Area of Concentration
You may choose to follow a general geography major/minor or choose to concentrate your studies in one of four optional tracks, such as Geographic Information Science.
Geographers have an ongoing concern with the acquisition, manipulation, and representation of spatial data. The widespread adoption of digital technology coupled with management of very large spatial data sets has led to the development of Geographic Information Science. Particularly with respect to digital information, the nature of geographical data that vary with scale, time, and spectral characteristics presents unique problems for geographers and environmental scientists. In our world of massive amounts of information, geographers use remote sensing methods for collecting and integrating geographical data. They utilize cartography and geographic information systems to uncover spatial patterns and trends, to reconstruct past environmental conditions and to predict future scenarios. The use of such methods requires expertise not covered in human and physical geography concentrations. Conceptually, the societal, political and ethical implications of geographic information in policy and decision-making are only beginning to be understood, and this forms an important component of study in geographic information science. The dissemination of geographic knowledge at all levels of education forms another important component of this concentration.
1000- and 2000-level courses in physical and human geography are prerequisites to all upper-division courses listed below. Additional prerequisites may be listed or permission of instructor required.
GEOG 2053 Mapping a Changing World
GEOG 3023 Statistics for Earth Sciences
GEOG 3053 Cartography: Visualization and Information Design (Restricted to Jr/Sr GEOG/ENVS major)
GEOG 3093 Geographic Interpretation of Aerial Photographs
GEOG 4023 Intro to Quantitative Methods in Human Geography (Prereq: GEOG 3023 or equivalent)
GEOG 4043 Cartography 2: Interactive and Multimedia Mapping (Prereq: GEOG 3053)
GEOG 4083 Mapping from Remotely Sensed Imagery (Prereq: GEOG 3093, 4093 or equivalent)
GEOG 4093 Remote Sensing of the Environment
GEOG 4103 Introduction to Geographic Information Science (Prereq: GEOG 2053, 3053 or equivalent)
GEOG 4160 Teaching Geography
GEOG 4203 Geographic Information Science: Modeling Applications 2 (Prereq: GEOG 4103/5103)
GEOG 4173 Research Seminar** (Restricted to Sr GEOG/ENVS major)
GEOG 4303 Geographic Information Science: Programming (Prereq: 4103 or 5103)
GEOG 4383 Methods of Vegetation Analysis (Prereq or Coreq: GEOG 4371)
GEOG 4983 Field Problems (Restricted to Jr/Sr Geography major)
**core curriculum course
Caution: These courses do not count as hours in the Geography Major.
Check with the appropriate department for the prerequisites for these courses.
Cartography:
CSCI 1200 Introduction. to Programming 1
ENVD 4152 Computer Graphic Applications
MATH 4270 Computer Geometry
Geographical Information Systems:
CSCI 1200 Introduction. to Programming 1
CSCI 3287 Database & Information. Systems
Remote Sensing:
CSCI 1200 Introduction. to Programming
CVEN 3032 Photogrammetry
MATH 1300 Analytic Geometry and Calculus 1**
MATH 2300 Analytic Geometry and Calculus 2**
MATH 2400 Analytic Geometry and Calculus 3**
Geography Education:
COMM 1300 Public Speaking
CSCI 1200 Introduction to Programming
EDUC **** Courses for elementary and secondary social studies certification
**core curriculum course
Caution: These lists are incomplete.
| Num | Num | Sect | Title | Hrs | Instructor |
|---|
| Num | Num | Sect | Title | Hrs | Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3053 | Cartographic Design | 4 | Smith | ||
| 4103 | 5103 | Intro to Geographic Information Science | 4 | Leyk | |
| 4110 | 5100 | Special Topics: Advanced Remote Sensing | 4 | Abdalati | |
| 4303 | 5303 | GIS Programming for Spatial Analysis | 4 | Leyk |
| Num | Num | Sect | Title | Hrs | Instructor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2053 | Mapping a Changing World | 4 | Foote | ||
| 3053 | Cartographic Design | 4 | Buttenfield | ||
| 3930 | 5930 | Internship | 3 | Travis | |
| 4103 | 5103 | Intro to Geographic Information Science | 4 | Leyk | |
| 4203 | 5203 | GIS Modeling Applications | 4 | Buttenfield |
 |
Barbara Buttenfield |
GIS; Cartographic Generalization; Multi-Scale Databases |
GIScience |
 |
Kenneth Foote |
American & European Landscape History; GIScience & Internet Techniques; Geography in Higher Educ, |
Human GIScience |
 |
Stefan Leyk |
GIScience, uncertainty modeling, small area estimation, cartographic pattern recognition |
GIScience |
 |
Seth Spielman |
Urban Geography, Medical Geography, Spatial Statistics, GIScience |
Human GIScience |
May 2013
Barbara Buttenfield Elected Fellow of UCGIS
Feb 2013
Babs Buttenfield a member of NRC panel on the current and future workforce in geospatial fields
Feb 2012
Chris Anderson-Tarver Receives the CaGIS Doctoral Scholarship Award
Sep 2011
Chris Anderson-Tarver Receives Rocky Mountain GITA Scholarship
Feb 2011
Chris Anderson-Tarver Receives Travel Scholarship from the US National Committee
Feb 2011
Jochen Wendel Receives Travel Scholarship from the U.S. National Committee
Jan 2011
Stefan Leyk Receives National Institutes of Health Grant
Oct 2010
Gamma Theta Upsilon wins trivia bowl
Sep 2010
CU Geography is ranked 2nd in nation
Apr 2010
Jeremy Smith wins Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship
Mar 2010
Geography student wins $20K sustainability grant
Mar 2010
Ken Foote Elected President of AAG
Feb 2010
Babs Buttenfield and Stefan Leyk Win NSF Grant
Feb 2010
Early Career Workshop for new faculty and advanced doctoral students, 13-19 June 2010, Boulder CO
Jul 2009
Mark Parsons awarded the Charles S. Falkenberd Award by AGU/ESIP
Feb 2011
What are Self-Organizing Maps? And why do they matter?
Jan 2011
Mobile Location Services: History, Technology, Ecosystems, and GIScience
Oct 2010
Info session for undergraduates.
Jan 2010
Memorialization of US College and University Tragedies: Spaces of Mourning and Remembrance
Oct 2009
Weird Science: Race, Religion, and Politics in the Cartography of Arno Peters and James Gall
Sep 2009
Bayesian Spatio-temporal Model of Short-term Effects of Air Quality on Respiratory Health in Chicago
 |
Elizabeth Pike Primary Undergraduate Advisor |
 |
Darla Shatto Undergraduate Assistant |
 |
William Travis Associate Chair, Undergraduate Studies |
Images taken by faculty and grad students associated with geographic information science
For more information about Geographic Information Science, including grad students, publications, labs and facilities
See About > Geographic Information Science
