For admission to graduate study for the Master of Science in Geographic Information Science (MS in GIS) degree, a student normally should have completed the minimum preparation for an undergraduate major in geography or GIScience related fields with a 3.00 grade point average in all work. Students with majors in other fields are encouraged to apply. Normally such students are admitted on a conditional basis, with the student required to take courses to remedy deficiencies.
The prerequisites of the program are GEOG 380, 496, and 488 or equivalents.
GEOG 380 Maps and Geographic Information or equivalent
GEOG 496 Introduction to Spatial Quantitative Analysis or STAT 243 AND 244 or equivalent
GEOG 488 Geographic Information Systems I: Introduction (4 credits) or equivalent
In addition to the general University admission requirements for advanced degrees, the student must provide letters of recommendation from three faculty members of colleges previously attended. Applicants are also required to submit a GIS portfolio that highlights their prior GIS training or experience.
Students for whom English is a second language must present a score of at least 550 (paper-based) or 213 (computer-based) in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with their application for admission.
The student will plan a program of study with an adviser and other members of the supervisory committee during the first term of residence (the first term after admission to the program). The program of study must include a minimum of 45 graduate credits. Of these, a minimum of 32 graduate credits must be in geography, to include 6 credits of Geog 509 (GIS Practicum), 12 credits of core geography courses, 8 credits in core GIS competency courses, 4 credits in non-GIS, topical courses, at least 8 credits from one of the five specialized geospatial data science focus areas, and 7 elective credits to meet the 45 credits required by the program.
Please note that most GIS courses have prerequisites. See this document for the GIS course sequences. Students are required to follow the sequences to complete the courses. You can use the PSU course projection guide (https://app.banner.pdx.edu/cpg/) to plan for your course of study in the program.
Students in the program must complete a project-based practicum. The practicum requires the presentation of the student’s practicum project into a topic approved by the student's graduate committee, which may include a community partner. The practicum represents an original contribution to knowledge in the field of GIScience and normally involves working with a community partner. A final oral presentation of the project and a project report are required for completion of the degree.
The Geography Department follows the University requirement for minimum and continuous enrollment.
The program consists of coursework in the following areas:
Core Geography courses (10 credits)
GEOG 572 Critical GIS 2 credits
GEOG 522 Research Design 4 credits*
GEOG 591 Professionalism in GIS 4 credits*
GEOG 592 Geographic Information Systems II: Advanced GIS 4 credits
Core GIS Competency courses (2 courses - 8 credits)
GEOG 590 GIS Programming 4 credits
GEOG 575 Digital Compilation & Database Design 4 credits
GEOG 597 Advanced Spatial Quantitative Analysis 4 credits
Non-GIS, Topical courses (4 credits)
4 credits of graduate level non-GIS courses (with approval of the committee)
Specialized geospatial data science focus area (at least two courses in one of the tracks below)
Remote sensing & digital image analysis
GEOG 580 Remote Sensing and Image Analysis 4 credits
GEOG 581 Digital Image Analysis I: Introduction 4 credits
GEOG 582 Digital Image Analysis II: Advanced Remote Sensing 4 credits
GEOG 577 Photogrammetry and LiDAR 2 credits
Cartography & geovisualization
GEOG 584 Cartographic Applications of GIS 4 credits
GEOG 585 Map Design and Production 4 credits
Computer & information sciences**
CS 520** Object-Oriented Programming 3 credits
CS 547** Computer Graphics 3 credits
CS 549** Computational Geometry 3 credits
CS 554** Software Engineering 3 credits
GEOG 575 Digital Compilation & Database Design 4 credits
GEOG 590 GIS Programming 4 credits
GEOG 595 Maps, Models, and GIS 4 credits
Spatial statistics & quantitative methods**
ESM 566 Environmental Data Analysis 4 credits
ESM 567 Multivariate Analysis of Environmental Data 4 credits
GEOG 597 Advanced Spatial Quantitative Analysis 4 credits
STAT 510 Spatiotemporal Statistics 4 credits
System and data science
CS 541** Artificial Intelligence 3 credits
CS 542** Advanced Artificial Intelligence: Combinatorial Games 3 credits
CS 543** Advanced Artificial Intelligence: Combinatorial Search 3 credits
CS 545** Machine Learning 3 credits
SYSC 514 System Dynamics 4 credits
SYSC 525 Agent Based Simulation 4 credits
SYSC 527 Discrete System Simulation 4 credits
SYSC 531 Data Mining with Information Theory 4 credits
SYSC 535 Modeling & Simulation with R and Python 4 credits
SYSC 540 Introduction to Network Science 4 credits
SYSC 552 Game Theory 4 credits
SYSC 575 AI: Neural Networks I 4 credits
GIS Practicum (6 credits)
GEOG 509 GIS Practicum 6 credits
Electives (9 credits or take the number of credits to reach 45 credits required by the program)***
Graduate level GIS courses or seminars (or other courses approved by the committee). The list below includes some courses that could be used as electives.
GEOG 507 SEM: Speaker Series 1 credits
GEOG 576 3D Terrain Analysis & Visualization 2 credits
GEOG 589 Building a GIS Database with GPS 4 credits
GEOG 594 GIS for Water Resources 4 credits
* GEOG 522 Research Design is removed from the MS in GIS program and GEOG 591 Professionalism in GIS is changed to a 4 credits course, effective September 2025.
** Students might need to complete additional non-GIS courses to meet the prerequisite requirements of the course. Please check with the instructor before registering for the course.
*** Or other emergent geospatial technology topics offered as seminars or 510.
Courses taken at any institution, including PSU, before the term of formal admission to a PSU graduate degree program are pre-admission credits. Courses taken at any other institution at any time are transfer credits. Transfer credits must be graduate credit taken at a regionally accredited institution and applicable to a graduate degree program without qualification at the originating institution.
A master’s student must earn a minimum of two-thirds of the credits required for the degree after formal admission to the graduate degree program at PSU and must earn a minimum of two-thirds of the credits required for the degree at PSU.
See PSU Bulletin for more information on pre-admission and transfer credits.
Graduate courses can be applied to a master’s degree and a graduate certificate. See PSU Bulletin for course overlap policies.