A GIS can map the surface of the earth.
A Geographic Information System, or "GIS," is an electronic database of geographic information that allows users to observe and analyze maps and other geographical information related to the earth's surface. A GIS can create maps and solve problems like determining where debris that falls from airplanes will land. There are five schools in Colorado that offer GIS training.
Colorado Northwestern Community College
Colorado Northwestern Community College is located in Rangely, Colorado, and it offers a degree program in Natural Resources and Ecology Management. Though the focus of the program is on ecology, GIS is studied to help you understand observe and analyze the ecological data you come across in the field. There are no prerequisites for enrolling in the program, but you do have to mail your high school transcripts and ACT/SAT scores to the school.
Front Range Community College
Front Range Community College offers a GIS Fundamentals Certificate program at its Boulder County campus in Longmont. This 12-credit program introduces such GIS topics as cartography, relational database management, spatial data modeling and analysis, and remote sensing and digital image processing. You are also required to complete an internship at a GIS employer and an independent study in a GIS topic of your choice. To become accepted to the program, you simply have to apply to the school, noting that you'd like to enroll in the GIS Fundamentals Certificate Program.
Pueblo Community College
The GIS Certificate program offered by Pueblo Community College is online, but it does require that you spend one weekend on campus per class. It's a 16-credit program that you can complete in about one year and that will have you taking such courses as Arcview GIS, Remote Sensing and Digital Image Processing, and Cartography. To apply, you simply have to fill out a free online application or go the Admission Office at Pueblo Community College.
University of Colorado at Denver
The University of Colorado at Denver offers a post-graduate certificate in GIS through its College of Architecture and Planning. This 18-credit certificate program is designed for students who are entering urban planning, environmental planning and architectural fields. Two of the courses in the program that you must complete are Introduction to GIS and a seminar in Planning and Design Applications. Because this is a post-graduate program, you do have to have an undergraduate degree. To be considered, you have to have a GPA of at least 2.5 and submit a portfolio of creative work and a sample of writing or a work project.
University of Denver
The University of Denver offers a GIS Master of Science program through its Department of Geography. There are two options within the program: the coursework option, which requires you complete 60 credit hours, and the project option, which requires you complete 52 credit hours and satisfactorily complete a GIS project under the supervision of an adviser. Whichever option you choose, you have to take 32 required courses, which include such topics as database design and remote sensing. In the coursework track, you have to take 16 other geography courses and 12 other courses in any discipline. In the project track, you have to take 12 other geography courses and 8 other courses in any discipline. To apply, you have to submit an application, three letters of recommendation, an essay/personal statement, your GRE results and your university transcripts.
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