» Humanities/Social Sciences » MS-GIS
Northwest Missouri State University offers a completely online Master of Science degree in Geographic Information Science (GIScience). The focus of this program is applied GIScience as used in industry and the public sector. The online Master's program includes courses on such GIScience topics as modeling with GIS, geostatistics, cartographic design, GIS database design, and project management. The target population for the online Master's program consists of people working in business or government who wish to use GIS technology for managing geographic data and solving geo-spatial problems, and who need in-depth knowledge that goes beyond the mechanics of using GIS software. Those in academia who want to use GIS as a tool to conduct research in their discipline may also be interested in the courses.
The Master's degree requires 30 credit hours. By taking one course in each of the six 7-week terms in a year, students may earn the Master's degree in less than two years. Students taking a selected subset of courses for the online Master's degree may earn a graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science. The certificate is appropriate for students seeking advanced coursework but who do not wish to pursue a Master's degree. For certificate students who decide to continue on for the Master's degree, all courses taken for the certificate count towards the Master's degree.
The courses in the GIScience program are taught by full-time faculty at Northwest with Ph.D. degrees and with GIScience and GIS as their primary specialty. Students have access to online GIScience peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly online resources through Northwest's B.D. Owens Library.
Our students come from a broad diversity of backgrounds. Many of our students are using GIS in their current jobs and are seeking more in-depth knowledge to support and advance their careers. Other students want to make a career change to the GIS industry and are using the GIScience program to give them the education needed to become part of the rapidly growing geo-spatial workforce. Our students have undergraduate degrees in a wide variety of majors, including geography, forestry, geology, biology, agronomy, urban planning, environmental science, history, English, anthropology, architecture, and finance.
The Master's and certificate programs require that students have access to ArcGIS and its Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst, Network Analyst and Geostatistical Analyst extensions. For more details on software and hardware requirements, please see: Software Requirements.
Northwest Missouri State University is excited to offer this online Master's degree in GIScience.
| Application Procedures/Status |
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Graduate Office E-mail: gradsch@nwmissouri.edu |
| M.S. in GIScience program |
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Ming Hung, Ph.D. E-mail: mhung@nwmissouri.edu |
The Master's degree requires 30 credit hours. Students take three required core courses (9 credit hours) and choose five elective courses (15 credit hours). To fulfill the research component of the degree, students take a two-course sequence that culminates in a GIScience project.
Required Core Courses |
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| 32-602 | Principles of GIS | 3 |
| 32-604 | Applications of Remotely Sensed Data | 3 |
| 32-606 | Cartographic Design and Visualization | 3 |
| Total Core Hours Required | 9 | |
Electives (Choose 15 hours) |
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| 32-608 | Fundamentals of Geostatistics | 3 |
| 32-611 | Special Topics in GIScience | 3 |
| 32-615 | Geographic Foundations of Geospatial Intelligence | 3 |
| 32-620 | GIS and Spatial Analytics | 3 |
| 32-630 | Raster-based GIS and Modeling | 3 |
| 32-641 | Geoprocessing with Python | 3 |
| 32-642 | Internet GIS | 3 |
| 32-650 | GIS Database Design | 3 |
| 32-655 | GIS Project Management | 3 |
| 32-660 | Trends and Applications in GIScience | 3 |
| 32-663 | Digital Image Processing | 3 |
| Total Elective Hours Required | 15 | |
Required Research Component |
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| 32-680 | GIScience Research Seminar | 3 |
| 32-690 | GIScience Research Project | 3 |
| Total Research Component Hours Required | 6 | |
| Total Program Hours Required | 30 | |
