Geographic Information Systems

What is this Structured Elective about?
The structured Geographic Information Systems (GIS) elective builds the knowledge and skills of students in location-based data management and interpretation. GIS allow the acquisition, storage, analysis and visualisation of location-based or spatial data. This structured elective provides you with a unique opportunity to develop your spatial awareness and analytical skills.

Why should I take this Structured Elective?
GIS are increasingly applied in research and practice across a wide range of disciplines and sectors (e.g. planning, demographics, health, real state, social and environmental sciences). As such, GIS skills are valuable, transferable and highly sought after in the workplace.

How would this Structured Elective benefit me?
In the core first year module ‘Mapping a Sustainable World’ will introduce you to basic mapping concepts and increase your spatial awareness by working with geographic data and simple online mapping interfaces. You will develop these skills further in the second year through one of the introductory modules (i.e.‘Introduction to GIS for the Social Sciences’: 'Introduction to GIS for Sustainability' or 'Introduction to GIS'), which uses open source and/or ArcGIS Online GIS software to collect, manage and interpret geographic data. The module ‘Projects in GIS’ is offered as an elective in third year which will enable you to apply your spatial analysis skills in problem-solving case studies. It provides the opportunity to apply the skills acquired during stages 1 and 2 into a real-life project of your choice. In this way, you will learn to create and manage a GIS project from start to finish. There are additional options offered at postgraduate level within the School of Geography to bring your GIS skills to industry standards, including an MSc in Geospatial Data Analysis and an MSc in Spatial Demography.

How do I take the modules in this Structured Elective?

• In order to earn this Structured Elective you must take the specified modules in or after 2019/20
• To receive this Structured Elective you must take the required modules as Elective modules and not as Core or Option modules.
• Students must pick 15 credits from the list of modules below to be eligible for the structured elective in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
• Over the course of your undergraduate studies you will have the opportunity to take elective modules in each year of your programme, so if you wish to undertake this Structured Elective in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), you must ensure that at least three of your elective choices are from the list below.
• Students who successfully complete 15 credits in Geographic Information Systems will have this automatically noted on their final UCD degree transcript. The transcript will state that you have completed 'Structured Elective in Geographic Information Systems’, in addition to your main degree subjects.
• Modules must be taken in the following order: 1. GEOG10140, 2. one of the Introduction to GIS modules listed, 3. GEOG30880.