BS in Geography: Geographic Information Systems Emphasis
(56 hours*)
Program Requirements | View MAP
- Complete the following core courses:
GEOG 101 : Global Environment: Understanding Physical Geography.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Physical environment, distribution and interrelationships of climates, landforms, ecosystems and their human significance. |
GEOG 110 : Landscapes of Disaster: An Introduction to Natural Hazards.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Exploring natural and social science of disturbances by analyzing causes, consequences, and role of human behavior in causing and mitigating natural disasters. |
| NOTE: | This course is part of a GE Mosaic. See ge.byu.edu/mosaic-list for more information. |
GEOG 120 : Geography and World Affairs.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| OFFERED: | Honors also. Independent Study also. |
| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Survey of the world, stressing geography of major political regions. |
| NOTE: | This course is part of a GE Mosaic. See ge.byu.edu/mosaic-list for more information. |
GEOG 212 : Introduction to Geographic Information Systems.
(3:2:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter; Spring |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Concepts in the use of small- and large-scale digital map data, emphasizing landscape interpretation and feature description. |
- Complete two physical, regional, or human geography courses from the following:
GEOG 305 : Geography of Landforms.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100, 101; or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Elements of landforms: distributions and cultural significance. |
GEOG 306 : Public Land Conservation.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100, 101; or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Environmental and social geography of public lands; analyzing historical, planning, management, and ecological issues. |
GEOG 307 : Landscape Ecology.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100, 101; or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Interaction between spatial patterns and spatial processes in an ecological context. Methods, theories, and practical applications of landscapes at various scales. |
GEOG 310 : Principles of Land Use Planning.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100 or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Land use concepts, practical and theoretical problems, activities, and techniques. |
GEOG 331 : Economic Geography.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100 or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Introduction to economic processes and spatial patterns, emphasizing theoretical approaches, locational strategies, and changing economic land-use patterns. |
GEOG 336 : Geography of Urban Environment.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100 or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Urban patterns, city structures, and spatial analysis of cities as they affect their residents. |
GEOG 346 : Population Geography.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | Geog 100 or instructor's consent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Spatial perspective on wide field of population studies, focusing on distribution, development, structure, and movement of populations, emphasizing basic demographic measures. |
GEOG 410 : Practices of Land Use Planning.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 310 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Applications of methods and techniques commonly used in the land use planning process, emphasizing data collection and analysis, fieldwork, and writing skills. |
GEOG 421R : Comprehensive Planning.
(2-3:Arr:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 410 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Assessing problem and issue identification, goal formulation, data gathering, synthesis and summary, plan concept and format, and public policy adoption while writing a general plan for a rural community in Utah. |
GEOG 422 : Principles of Urban Design.
(2:2:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 410 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Theories and principles of urban design emphasizing specific design criteria. Planning and design tools used within the U.S. by local government. Basic principles of architecture and landscape architecture. Field trips. |
GEOG 423 : Planning for Unique and Sensitive Lands.
(2:2:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 410 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Unique aspects of land affecting land-use planning positively or negatively depending on sensitivity of design. Landscape ecological principles introduced and examined for usefulness in land-use planning. |
GEOG 510 : Advanced Urban Dynamics and Planning.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 410 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Urban geography and land use planning, emphasizing urban morphology, land use patterns, and spatial analysis; critical evaluation of models and theories. |
- Complete the following major courses:
GEOG 213 : Earth Observation and Image Interpretation.
(2:2:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Principles of earth observation: primarily air photo/large-scale satellite imagery interpretation, basic field methods, photogrammetry. |
GEOG 311 : Geographic Data Management.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 211; Geog 212 or equivalent. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Nature of geographic information and its practical management in GIS; design of GIS databases, data collection from primary and secondary sources, manipulating data in preparation for analysis, and data exploration. |
GEOG 312 : Cartographic Design.
(4:2:4)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 211 & GEOG 212 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Graphic perception, layout, typography, color, statistical methods, and symbolization of thematic maps through computer-aided techniques. |
GEOG 313 : Remote Sensing 1.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 211 & GEOG 213 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Introduction to airborne and spaceborne sensors, including characteristics and image acquisition. Emphasizes land cover mapping applications appropriate for environment monitoring. |
GEOG 317 : Analytical Cartography.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 217 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Geocoding, spatial data representation, spatial algorithms, and map based transformations. |
- Complete two courses (6 credit hours) from the following:
GEOG 399R : Academic Internship.
(.5-6:ARR:ARR)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | On-the-job experience. |
| NOTE: | No more than 3 hours total in cooperative education may be counted in major. |
GEOG 411 : Issues in Computer Cartography.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 312 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Current techniques for compilation, integration, and display of digital map data. |
GEOG 412 : Problem Solving with Geographic Information Systems.
(3:3:1)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 100 & GEOG 212 & GEOG 222 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Solving practical geographic problems and performing scientific research using raster and vector analysis tools in GIS. |
GEOG 413 : Remote Sensing 2.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 313 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Computer processing of low-altitude and satellite images for geographic analysis of physical and cultural phenomena on earth. |
GEOG 414 : Applied Urban Environmental Modeling.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Winter On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 212 & GEOG 213 & GEOG 313 |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Complexities of urban environment through use of geographic techniques, including remote sensing, GIS, GPS, aerial photo and map interpretation, and fieldwork. Modeling human impact on the physical environment by examining local case studies and completing group projects. Developing and building technical skills as tools in understanding the urban environment. |
GEOG 495R : Mentored Research.
(1-3:Arr.:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall; Winter; Spring; Summer |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Participating in research integrating material learned in major. Emphasizes individual or collaborative research and creative thinking through active learning and reflective analysis. |
GEOG 521R : Geographic Information Practicum.
(3:3:0)(Credit Hours:Lecture Hours:Lab Hours)| WHEN TAUGHT: | Fall, On Demand; Winter, On Demand; Spring On Demand |
| PREREQUISITE: | GEOG 212 |
| RECOMMENDED: | Geog 217, 222, 311, 312, 313, 317, 412. |
| DESCRIPTION:  | Integration of various geographic technologies to solve a practical problem. Advanced topics in GIS, remote sensing, cartography, and programming as needed. |
- Complete the exit assessment during the final semester, no later than one month before graduation.
*Hours include courses that may fulfill university core requirements.