Academic

Today, spatial technology is recognized as the primary means of dealing with information referenced to a specific location and is being integrated across a broad range of disciplines. Geospatial careers exist in every imaginable field, with many applications in resource and environmental management, commercial business and marketing, urban and regional planning, defense, map production, research, and beyond.

To serve this diverse enterprise, several academic departments at UCSC offer courses designed to educate students in GIS, remote sensing, and related spatial technologies and methods.

No.	Course	Department	Quarter


ENVS 115/215	Geographic Information Systems	Environmental Studies	Fall
Introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) as the technology of processing spatial data, including input, storage and retrieval; manipulation and analysis; reporting and interpretation. Emphasizes GIS as a decision support system for environmental and social problem solving, using basic model building, experimental design, and database management.
ENVS 290	Interdisciplinary Research Seminar	Environmental Studies	Winter
Research seminars presented weekly throughout the quarter by environmental studies and affiliated faculty, by visiting scholars, and by graduate students. Students learn advanced techniques and discuss the content and methodology of designing and conducting spatial research.
EART 107	Remote Sensing of the Environment	Earth and Planetary Sciences	Winter
Introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) as valuable tools in the study of geology. Covers application of GIS/RS to study of surface processes, including landslides, hydrologic basins, coastal erosion, modern floods, volcanic activity and surface deformation.
EART 188B	GIS in the Earth Sciences	Earth and Planetary Sciences	Spring
Introduction to basic principles of geographic information systems (GIS). Visualization of earthscapes with applications to problem-solving in the Earth sciences. Laboratory exercises in loading, manipulation, and interpretation of data sets. Field investigations of phenomena visualized in laboratory, including geological description, interpretation, and written report preparation.
AMS 245	Spatial Statistics	Applied Mathematics and Statistics	Spring
Introduction to the analysis of spatial data: theory of correlation structures and variograms; kriging and Gaussian processes; Markov random fields; fitting models to data; computational techniques; frequentist and Bayesian approaches.