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George Mason University

Geographic Information Systems Minor

The Geographic Information Systems Minor is designed to prepare students with the basic training necessary to enter the rapidly expanding field of geographic information science.

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an integrative approach to help solving complex spatial problems in most professional fields and at different scales. Although it has its roots in cartography and the graphical display of information, its breadth spans from geographic data acquisition, geospatial database construction and management, spatial analysis, and geovisualization. The curriculum in the minor is multidisciplinary in content and interdisciplinary in approach, drawing on a variety of geographic and computational science components.

Public and private sector organizations work with an overwhelming amount of spatial data in their day-to-day operations. With so much spatial information, GIS has become essential to the effective operation of both public and private organizations.

Drones, Geotracking

Program Highlights

GIS has irrevocably altered the way we capture, store, analyze, and visualize spatial information. As a tool and a study, GIS is quite interdisciplinary. You an enrich almost any GMU major with a minor in GIS.

Employment opportunities are limitless for students who are proficient in this interdisciplinary field. GIS professionals work in places like government agencies, utility companies, marketing firms, non-profit organizations, and publishing companies. Federal government agencies such as NGA, FEMA, USGS, DoD, EPA, and NASA routinely recruit individuals with strong GIS backgrounds.

Requires a total of 18-20 credits.

Course Catalog

Review admission and course requirements for this degree:

* The programs and services offered by George Mason University are open to all who seek them. George Mason does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. After an initial review of its policies and practices, the university affirms its commitment to meet all federal mandates as articulated in federal law, as well as recent executive orders and federal agency directives.