Volume 4

Volume 4, Number 91

October 6, 2006

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9 pages884 K bytes

Designing Geographic Information System Courses in the IS Curriculum


Peter Y. Wu
Robert Morris University
Moon Township, PA 15108-1189 USA

Frederick G. Kohun
Robert Morris University
Pittsburgh, PA 15219 USA

Abstract: The use of geographic information system (GIS) has been growing tremendously in many areas of application. The low cost of hardware and software, along with the relative ease of access to data on the internet, fueled the proliferation. When IS/IT practices in business begin to seek for a competitive edge in the intelligent use of information, GIS skills and technologies offer new ways of using information, such as those in spatial and topological data analysis. In this paper, we share the design of two GIS courses to expand our IS curriculum: one at the undergraduate level and the other at the graduate level. The courses emphasize the value of GIS applications, while building on the fundamental model of the GIS architecture as the necessary foundation. These include the structures of data and files. We also briefly survey the equipment and sources of data needed to teach the courses effectively. The costs involved in setting up to teach the GIS courses are relatively low.

Keywords: GIS, geographic information system, IS curriculum, business information intelligence

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Recommended Citation: Wu and Kohun (2006). Designing Geographic Information System Courses in the IS Curriculum. Information Systems Education Journal, 4 (91). http://isedj.org/4/91/. ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2005: §2564. ISSN: 1542-7382.)