This track within the Geography Major is designed to meet the interests of students who wish to pursue careers in geographic information systems, cartography, and remote sensing. It provides students with: 1) the intellectual platform from which they can select more specific paths to follow within this field at the graduate level, and 2) the technical skills and professional training that might allow them to obtain entry level positions with a wide range of mapping organizations. This track focuses on the art and science of geographically (spatially) organizing and analyzing information pertaining to the earth's physical and cultural landscape. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) employ cartographic and remote sensingtechniques along with computer and data based technology to create sophisticated and complex maps used to address a wide range of locational problems. Cartography deals with the technical and decision-making processes related to making maps. Remote sensing centers around interpreting aerial and satellite imagery and extracting relevant information from such imagery.

GIS specialists, cartographers, and remote sensing analysts work in a variety of organizations ranging from local, state, and Federal government agencies to small private companies as well as large corporations. At the Federal level, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, United States Geological Survey, Bureau of the Census, Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Mines, and Central Intelligence Agency all maintain large cartographic, remote sensing and GIS facilities. Such facilities are also found in many other Federal agencies. Most states have major cartographic and remote sensing centers associated with their departments of transportation and environmental conservation. At the local government level practically every community must deal with mapping land use changes, street conditions, property lines and a great many other items related to the operation of a community. In the private sector hundreds of small mapping and surveying companies exist working a variety of jobs. Large corporations such as AT&T, IBM and Xerox use mapping and GIS systems to solve some of their problems. For example, AT&T employs GIS technology to identify the location of every telephone within a community as part of its 911 system. Most utility companies need elaborate mapping systems to manage their hundreds of miles of power lines and remote sensing techniques to determine if they are meeting environmental regulations. Railroads and air lines use GIS technology to map the movement of their trains and planes. Many retail and service organizations use maps to determine markets and select store locations. As we enter the Information Age, a great number of organizations have found maps the best way to store and present information key to their operations and with the power and speed associated with computer technology and the great number of locationally referenced data bases these organizations have turned toward GIS to handle many of their problems.