Geoinformatics Education and Training at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Mohamad Nor Said Mohamad Ghazali Hashim

Department of Geoinformatics Faculty of Geoinformation & Real Estate

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310, UTM Skudai

Johor

Email: m.nor@utm.my ghazalihashim@utm.my

Abstract

Human resource development is a part of the major components that constitute a successful implementation of Geographical Information System (GIS). Technical knowledge and skill is always required in ensuring a GIS is applied effectively, no matter for what purpose. Hence, a properly designed curriculum at various levels of teaching and learning of the subjects related to the discipline is very important. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has taken a lead in this very demanding field by offering a bachelor degree program in Geoinformatics since 1994. The curriculum was initially designed by referring to various academic development and GIS applications and implementation throughout the world. It is further improved from time to time to suit and fit the local requirements both by the industries and the government authorities such as Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE), Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA). Having a current number of about 500 graduates, the GIS industries seem to grow significantly and thus help the government speeding up various development projects with the use of GIS. At a higher level, UTM also offers postgraduate programmes mainly to carry out researches related to various issues related to GIS implementation and developments. With the establishment of Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI), UTM plays greater roles in collaborating with this agency in providing professional trainings as well as contributing expertise towards helping the development of Malaysian Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI). This paper reports on various academic and research activities as well as professional training conducted by UTM.

1.0 Introduction Geographical Information System (GIS) has been long and widely used to support various needs in tackling spatial-related problems. Many issues require technical experts who do not only know how to use the system but more importantly understand the nature of the problems that associate with geospatial data. Thus there is a need for a balance attention in both geographic information science as well as the technology which commonly refers to GISc & T. As such, the academic curriculum for a particular programme intended to produce graduates in this discipline has to be designed to fit these two requirements. This is how Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), through its Department of Geoinformatics, makes the initiative to offer the bachelor degree in geoinformatics since about sixteen years ago. The postgraduate programme follows to provide the opportunity for the potential students from various professional backgrounds to enhance their knowledge in geographic information and skill in using GIS, as well as to perform academic researches. Realizing the need for a quick introductory understanding about GIS, UTM also designs and conducts short courses either in a standard or tailor-made structure for various government agencies and private sectors. All of these programmes are conducted to support the

needs towards a better and effective use of geospatial data especially with current government agenda in realizing the national Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) as well as in supporting the idea towards establishing a spatially-enabled government.

2.0 The Need For GIS Expertise With a significant increase in the awareness about the importance of geospatial data, the need for experts in GIS also follows. These experts may play their roles, as most listed by Zeiler (1999) such as to become:

a database designer who builds conceptual and logical data models and implements physical database designs

a data builder (or database developer) who inputs geographic data with several techniques - editing, converting, (existing maps, new primary data, attributes information) and creates GIS-ready datasets

an application developer who designs a specific application and customizes GIS software to serve a certain need(s) of an industry (e.g. information retrieval, spatial analysis – planar and network, etc.)

an analyst who provides solution to geographic problems, such as hazards (e.g. modeling - flood risk, soil erosion; ground water contaminations/ vulnerability), transportation (e.g. finding alternative route to existing congested roads, modeling the interaction between landuse and road density), site location (e.g. determining most appropriate site for new bank branch), water resource (e.g. water shortage)

a database administrator who manages GIS databases and ensures that the GIS operates smoothly; may also act in dealing with matters related to SDI (standard, policy, access)

a researcher or research assistant who applies the knowledge and skill in GIS to perform researches or to assist researchers of different backgrounds in solving a certain issue(s)

In the Malaysian context, the real demand for GIS may be seen as started in the early nineties. Although a number of government authorities has already started using (or producing digital data) it earlier than that, the overall growth of this industry is very much dependent on the availability of digital data, software capability (and cost) and the experts that came later. When the Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI) was established in 1997 (known as NALIS at that time), more initiatives are geared in coordinating efforts and implementing policies towards a better and structured way of producing, accessing and using (sharing) geospatial data (Mohsin Hj Ahmad and Mariyam Mohamad, 2006). Department of Surveying and Mapping Malaysia (DSMM) also play very important role by converting paper maps into digital so that more digital data are made available to the GIS users. DSMM also make further initiatives by providing more mapping infrastructures in supporting the Malaysian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MyGDI) initiatives as introduced by the MaCGDI (Abdul Kadir Taib, 2006). The availability of GIS packages with more advanced functions contributes to the demand for more training. Increasing literatures (conferences, journals, text books, etc.) create more awareness amongst users (including researchers at higher institutions), thus generate greater demand for GIS experts.

3.0 Geoinformatics Programs At UTM Geoinformatics is a science and technology which develops and uses information science infrastructure to address the problems of geography, geosciences and related branches of engineering. The discipline combines geospatial analysis and modeling, development of geospatial databases, information systems design, human-computer interaction and both wired and wireless networking technologies. It also uses geocomputation and geovisualization for analyzing geoinformation. This elaborated definition has become the basis for the curriculum

designed for the academic programs run by the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, either at undergraduate or postgraduate levels. It is also a reference for the content of short courses as thus far offered to the professionals that come from various disciplines and backgrounds. It is very important to note that Goodchild (2006) has made very challenging remarks on where the spatial literacy should belong in an academic curriculum.

3.1 Undergraduate Program UTM has started its undergraduate program in geoinformatics in 1994 by extending its existing bachelor degree in surveying but with revised curriculum and named as Bachelor of Surveying (Geoinformatics). The basic entry level of this 5-year program is Malaysian Certificate of Education (SPM) while those hold the Malaysian Higher Certificate of Education (STPM) can also apply. A special consideration is also given to the diploma holders whereby they are allowed to enter directly into the second semester of year 2, i.e. by waiving a certain number of courses (subjects) depending on their previous study background. Starting from 1997, UTM has to fulfil the requirement set by the Ministry of Education that all undergraduate programs must be run at the maximum norm period of four years which thus requires the applicants to come from either the Matriculation centres or STPM. New curriculum was then revised and the new program was later renamed and offered as Bachelor of Science (Geoinformatics). Further revision was again made when the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) throught its Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) produced a directive that every undergraduate programme has to fulfil all the guidelines as set by this agency, otherwise it is not going to be given accreditation.

Table 1: The curriculum of Bachelor of Science (Geoinformatics) as currently offered by UTM

This curriculum requires the students to complete as many as 136 credits to enable them to graduate. This includes the core courses (90 Credits), elective courses (18 credits), Industrial Training (8 credits), GIS Training Camps (4 credits) and University courses (16 credits). The requirement for Industrial Training (10 weeks) is to expose the students to the real working environment whereby they are attached to either government agencies or private companies which deal with GIS-related works. GIS Training camps emphasise on more intensive use of GIS software, geospatial database development and GIS application development. These two courses are non-credited but the students are compulsory to attend and certified with satisfactory performance. The method of teaching and learning (T&L) varies from the traditional teacher-directed to the current student-centred’s learning. This is an Outcome Based Education (OBE) method which emphasises more on the learning outcomes. OBE implementation is the directive from MoHE through to all public universities. All courses must be delivered according to the Course Learning Outcomes (CLO) which have to be aligned with the Program Learning Outcomes (PLO). The CLOs are carefully designed by taking into consideration the appropriate levels of outcome as pooled in the three domains of taxonomy namely Cognitive, Psychomotor and Affective. Assessments are made through various methods including assignments, courseworks, laboratory reports and tests, mid-semester tests, oral presentation, peer evaluation and final exams. Apart from knowledge and technical skills, students’ generic skills are also evaluated which include communication, critical thinking, teamworking, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, leadership, and ethics. These are the learning outcome domains set by the MQA that have to be included in the assessment scheme of the program. The Department also makes initiatives so that the students are taken out for visits to agencies that are using or implementing GIS. Past visits include Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS), Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP), Putrajaya Corporation, DSMM, MaCGDI, Syarikat Air Johor Holdings (SAJH), etc. The University also provides the opportunity (and certain amount of fund) for the students to participate in the overseas technical visit known as Global Outreach Program (GOP) so that they can learn

more on the foreign learning and working cultures. Such visits include Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok; Geo-informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), Bangkok; Hongkong Polytechnic University; and University of Hong Kong. The enrolment for the past five years is shown in Table2 with the intake set between 35 to 45 students. This number is decided to enable a convenient and conducive learning environment for the students. With the new policy by the government in encouraging intakes of foreign students, the Department has so far managed to enrol two of them.

Table 2: BSc (Geoinformatics) - the number of intake for the past five years

Nos. Level of Entry

Number of Intake

2010 -2011

2009 -2010

2008 -2009

2007 -2008

2006 -2007

1. Matriculation Centres 30 25 30 23 15

2. Malaysian Higher School of Certificate (STPM)

5 1 6 14 19

3. Diploma Holders - 15 9 5 -

4. Foreign Certificates 1 (Yemen)

- 1 (China)

- -

Total 36 41 47 42 34

3.2 Postgraduate Programmes

Postgraduate program in geoinformatics was started way back in early nineties. It was initially conducted fully by research at masters degree level. Similar to the undergraduate program, this program was introduced as an extension to the then Master of Surveying degree named as MSurv (Geoinformatics). Not until very recently, other modes of this program are offered and the degree name changed to Master of Science (Geoinformatics). These include master by taught and master by mixed mode (Table 3). All three programs require a total of 40 credit hours for the students to graduate with a norm period of 3 semesters.

Table 3: Three optional modes of Master of Science (Geoinformatics) program as offered by UTM

Nos. Mode of

Program Program

Description Required

Credit Hours

1. Research Students are required to perform a research on any issue related to geoinformation science or technology

40 credits – fully for producing a thesis

2. Taught Course Students are required to attend GIS and other related courses and produce a dissertation at the end of the program duration

40 credits

34 credits for attending courses

6 credits for producing dissertation

3. Mixed Mode Students are required to attend basic GIS courses and produce a thesis at the end of the program duration

40 credits

19 credits for attending courses

21 credits for producing thesis

On the other hand, PhD program is offered fully by research which normally takes about 3 to 4 years for the candidate to complete. Students are required to attend and pass the Research Methodology course (similarly applies to Masters students who enrol the research mode) as well as two of University courses as part of the requirement for graduation. Joint or co-supervision is also possible either with academic staff within or cross department, faculty or university depending on the area of research and requirement for such assistance from the experts. Candidates are also required to produce good quality journal and conference papers as part of their training in technical publication. The statistics of recent enrolment of both masters and PhD programs is shown in Table 4. These students comprise those from local and foreign countries like Iran, Nigeria, UAE, etc.

Table 4: Postgraduate enrolments in Geoinformatics Nos. Year of

Enrolment Postgraduate Program

Masters PhD Total

1. 2010-11 13 6 19

2. 2009-10 6 2 8

3. 2008-09 10 1 11

4. 2007-08 5 4 9

3.3 Research Research is currently becoming a major focus of UTM since it was declared as Research University recently (June, 2010). As many as 11 Research Alliances (RAs) are formed to exploit all the expertise throughout the campus (http://www.utm.my/research/research.html). Small research groups (RGs) are also established as part of the RA components which focus more on a particular interest. Similarly a number of Centre of Excellence (CoE) has been added to the current ones. As far as geoinformatics is concerned, researchers can optionally choose to be part of any relevant RA such as Sustainability, Infocomm, Water, K-economy, etc. Associated RGs are such as 3D GIS and Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning (PLS). Researchers working on SDI related issues are registered under the Faculty’s CoE known as Institute of Geospatial Technology (INSTEG) which is part of the Sustainability RA. A number of collaboration efforts has been made with other local agencies (e.g. DSMM, MaCGDI) and foreign institutions (e.g. University of Southern Queensland; University of Applied Science Stuttgart, Germany; Technical University of Berlin, Germany; Institute for Water Education (IHE), Delft, The Netherlands; Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey; Beykent University, Turkey; and University of Karabuk, Turkey). In terms of fund, researchers may apply either from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) for Science Fund, MoHE for Fundamental Research Grant Scheme or UTM (internal fund).

3.4 Professional Training GIS has been getting more common in various government as well as private agencies. The needs are observed to have been increasingly talked about. UTM has actually made its first step long way back since 1992 to conduct professional (short course) training to cater for such need. Such activities are more frequently organized in the year 1998 until now especially through a joint effort together with the Malaysian Centre for Geospatial Data Infrastructure (MaCGDI) whereby UTM is requested to conduct GIS and related

courses for various government agencies as well as for the MaCGDI staff itself. Apart from that, UTM has also been requested to conduct tailored GIS courses by agencies like Department of Statistics, Electoral Commission, Forest Department, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), Projek Penyelenggaraan Lebuhraya (PROPEL), Water Boards, Ministry of Education, Institute of Public Health, etc.

GIS short courses do not only provide a quick introduction to GIS and how it is or supposed to be implemented but also a venue for the participants to share their experience. Most of the participants frequently talk about issues related to data availability, policy (access, distribution, security/ limit of use), currency, etc. which are clearly about SDI. This input is very valuable for UTM to work together especially with MaCGDI in reducing such problems. Furthermore, being a committee member of the National Mapping and Spatial Data Committee (JPDSN), UTM always brings this matter up so that it can be discussed and appropriate actions taken.

4.0 Educational Resources 4.1 Academic Staff

Department of Geoinformatics which is responsible in running all the geoinformatics programs in UTM has a strong number of academic staff who are qualified in their respective field of teaching. The proportion of staff according to their academic posts is shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Number of staff according to academic post Nos. Academic Post Total

1. Professor 1

2. Associate Professor 4

3. Senior Lecturer 2

4. Lecturer 7

5. Tutor 4

Total 18

The staff are trained locally as well as abroad (e.g. UK, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia and New Zealand), both through a formal academic study (for Masters and PhD qualifications) and professional trainings in GIS and related fields (e.g. at Esri Malaysia, Orcale Corporation, etc.). Staff are also given an opportunity to get involved in contract research and consultancy works to enhance their skills and hence benefit the students through a better quality of teaching delivery.

4.2 Laboratory Geoinformatics is a laboratory-based academic program, thus well equipped laboratories are certainly required as one of the basic and very important infrastructures to ensure the program can be run effectively. In supporting such needs, a number of laboratories are provided and equipped with GIS and other related software as well as sufficient speed of computer hardware and associated peripherals. The laboratories dedicated for undergraduate include:

1. GIS Laboratory 1 2. GIS Laboratory 2 3. Photogrammetric Laboratory 4. Digital & Multimedia Cartography Laboratory 5. Final Year Project Laboratory

On the other hand, a number of new laboratories have been established to accommodate research equipments and postgraduate students. This includes:

1. 3D GIS Laboratory 2. Photogrammetry and Laser Scanning Laboratory 3. SDI Research Laboratory

Apart from the above-listed laboratories, students are also supported with any other equipments and software that are available in other departments such Department of Remote Sensing and Department of Geomatics.

4.3 Library Students are also equipped with very large collection of text books, journals and other GIS-related reading materials which are either located in the UTM’s main library or Faculty Library. A very handy and convenient search is made available to students via a digital library information system which certainly helps them getting their literatures quicker.

4.4 WiFi The University is well aware of the students’ needs for a continuous connection to the internet to support their search for information. This infrastructure is provided and made available for free around the Faculty’s building which has significantly benefitted by the students especially when they are working after hours. Such facility is also available at certain blocks of student accommodation.

5.0 GIS Graduates – The Career Path To date as many as 516 graduates have been produced (Figure 1), most of whom are employed within the private sector. This includes the software vendors, firms that deal with land surveying, utility, town planning, hydrology, road mapping, etc. Some are attached with local authorities while the others with government agencies like MaCGDI, Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency, Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), Malaysian Palm Oil Board, etc. A number of them choose to work as university researchers while some others become university and polytechnic lecturers.

Figure 1: The number of graduates who have completed BSc (Geoinformatics) programme from UTM

The main reason being not many of these graduates are employed by the government agencies is that the appropriate job scheme is not created (currently being finalized) by the Malaysian Public Services Department. The matter has been treated seriously by UTM by taking it up to the JPDSN meeting which, in the year of 2008, had requested for a national survey to be made to all possible agencies including government, semi-government bodies and local authorities that require these graduates. As many as 208 questionnaires have been sent out, the results of which show that about 282 posts are currently required throughout the country (Table 6). These figures are based on the 35% of the returned questionnaires which means that there could be a lot more graduates who have potential to be employed if the job scheme is established by the government.

Table 6: A survey of the needs for geoinformatics graduates by the government, semi-government bodies and local authorities

Nos. Agency Number of Questionnaires Number of Graduates Required

Sent Returned %

1. Government/ Semi-government 56 22 39 215

2. Local Authority 152 51 34 67

Total 208 73 35 282

UTM is very grateful to the Department of Surveying and Mapping Malaysia (DSMM) which offers to work together to get this problem solved. DSMM agrees to surrender its current Cartographer post and offer to be replaced with a new post that is appropriate for the geoinformatics graduates. The proposed post is suggested and agreed by the PSD to be known as Geospatialist (Jurugeospatial in Malay). It is classified as a technical category (J) which is equivalent to other schemes such as land surveyors, engineers, etc. This proposal has been approved by the PSD and is awaiting for endorsement by the Prime Minister.

6.0 Future Plan

6.1 New Curriculum In UTM, currently there are two undergraduate programs that are seen very much overlapping, namely BSc (Geoinformatics) and BSc (Remote Sensing). In line with the University’s new policy, a number of programs of such nature are suggested to be combined so that it will be more economics to run. As such, these two programmes have been reviewed and finally merged to become BSc (Geoinformatics) only. The curriculum has been modified and is seen much better as the current one is enhanced with more Remote Sensing related courses as well as two new courses added, i.e. Cadastral Studies and Institutional and Legal Issues (Appendix 1). It is expected that this program is to be implemented in the next academic session (2011-12 intake).

6.2 RICS Accreditation The Department is currently working on preparing a document to be submitted to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor (RICS) for an accreditation. It is expected that with such an international recognition, more opportunity can be expected for the graduates to work overseas (some of them already do such as in the U.K., Australia and Singapore).

6.3 Establishment of Cooperative Research Centre As far as research is concerned, the Faculty has made an initiative to form a collaborative partnership involving UTM, DSMM and MaCGDI (initially). A number of

meetings and workshops has been held to make the efforts materialised with a proposed establishment of a research centre to be known as Geoinformation Cooperative Research Centre (GCRC). This is in line with the UTM status now as the Research University whereby more research initiatives have to be put forward especially as a joint effort with other agencies outside the University.

6.4 Professional Training The Department is planning to expand the current training programs to be more diversified. More tailored courses are to be designed to suit certain requirements by a particular agency. Another plan is to offer short courses for international participants especially within the Asean region. Past collaboration with MaCGDI is seen to be very successful and thus to be maintained and further enhanced so that a more effective delivery to the participants can be made.

7.0 Summary Human resource development is part of major elements in a successful implementation of GIS. GIS experts may work in operational daily routine works or as researchers that involve in solving geospatial related issues. There could also be another group of professionals with a particular background but need to use GIS in supporting their office work and hence looking for short term training. It is the role of academic institutions such as UTM which has resources in catering for the above needs to contribute expertise towards developing a spatially-enabled nation. This paper explains and elaborates the academic programs, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, research and professional training as have been, being and will be offered by UTM. Major issues such as unresolved job scheme for the GIS graduates to work in the government departments are highlighted. Efforts to work together between UTM and other institutions especially DSMM and MaCGDI in generating workforce in GIS are always treated as important and have to be continually made. Continuous supports from the industries including the software vendors have made all these programs successful.

References

1. Abdul Kadir Taib, 2006. GII: Current Status And Future Initiatives, GIS Development (Jan – March 2006)

2. Department of Geoinformatics, 2011. Bachelor of Science (Geoinformatics) - Unpublished Code of Practice For Programme Accreditation (COPPA) document

3. ESRI, 2002. Guidelines for Developing a Successful and Sustainable Higher Education GIS Program (White Paper)

4. Goodchild, M. 2006. The Fourth R? Rethinking GIS Education, ESRI ArcNews Online, Fall 2006.

5. Mohamad Nor Said and Mohamad Ghazali Hashim, 2010. SDI In Geoinformatics Education

and Training At Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Proceedings of GSDI 12 World Conference,

Singapore 18-22 Oct 2010.

6. Mohsin bin Hj Ahmad and Mariyam Mohamad, 2006. Perkembangan MyGDI, Produk dan Perkhidmatan. Proceedings of 2nd National GIS, July 2006.

7. Zeiler, M. 1999. Modeling Our World – The ESRI Guide To Geodatabase Design. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.

Appendix 1 – BSc (Geoinformatics) New Curriculum

SEMESTER I SEMESTER II

Code Course Credit Code Course Credit

ULT1022 Islamic & Asian Civilization 2 UHB1413 English for Academic

Communications

3

UHS1152 Ethnic Relationship 2 UHS2052 Effective Communications 2

SGG1393 Applied Physics for

Geoinformatics

3 SSE1773 Mathematics for

Geoinformatics

3

SGG1312 Geographic Study 2 SGG1363 Computer Programming I 3

SGG1333 Survey and Mapping I 3 SGG1473 Principles of

Photogrammetry & Remote

Sensing

3

SGG1383 Introduction To

Geoinformatics

3 SGG1373 Survey and Mapping II 3

TOTAL 15 TOTAL 17

SEMESTER III SEMESTER IV

Code Course Credit Code Course Credit

UHX 30## Interpersonal Skills 2 UHB2423 Adv English for Academic

Comm.

3

UHS 2122 Critical & Creative

Thinking

2 UQU1**2 Co-curriculum 2

SGG2463 Cartography 3 SGG2593 GPS Survey 3

SGG2##3 RS Technology 3 SGG2413 Introduction to Spatial

Statistics

3

SGG2483 Computer Programming II 3 SGG2453 Database System 3

SGG2443 Principles of Geographic

Information Science

3 SGG2492 GIS Training Camp I 2

TOTAL 16 TOTAL 16

Note: Blue coloured texts mark the University courses

Appendix 1 – BSc (Geoinformatics) New Curriculum

SEMESTER IV SEMESTER VI

Code Course Credit Code Course Credit

SGG3##2 Cadastral Studies 2 SGG3553 GIS & RS Application 3

SGG3503 GIS Database 3 SGG3563 Cartographic Design 3

SGG3##3 Digital Image Processing 3 SGG3##2 Institutional & Legal Aspect 2

SGG3542 GIS Training Camp II 2 SGG3513 Spatial Analysis 3

SGG3##3 Elective Course 1 3 SGG3##3 Elective Course 3 3

SGG3##3 Elective Course 2 3 SGG3##3 Elective Course 4 3

TOTAL 16 TOTAL 17

Code Course Credit Remarks

SGG3584 Industrial Training – 10 weeks 4 Compulsory Attendance

(Attachment To Industry)

SGG3591 Industrial Training Seminar 1 Compulsory Attendance (Reporting/

Prsentation)

5

SEMESTER VII SEMESTER VIII

Code Course Credit Code Course Credit

SGG4543 GIS Project Management 3 U##4##2 Entrepreneurship 2

SGG4602 Undergraduate Project I 2 SGG4664 Undergraduate Project II 4

SGG4##3 Elective Course 5 3 SGG4##3 Elective Course 9 3

SGG4##3 Elective Course 6 3 SGG4##3 Elective Course 10 3

SGG4##3 Elective Course 7 3 SGG4##3 Elective Course 11 3

SGG4##3 Elective Course 8 3

TOTAL 17 TOTAL 15

Appendix 1 – BSc (Geoinformatics) New Curriculum

List of Elective Courses

Nos. Course Code Course

Name

Implementation

Plan

Year of

Enrolment

1. SGG3583 GIS Software Systems Forced

Year 3 2. SGG3523 System Analysis and Design Forced

3. SGG3573 Digital Photogrammetry Forced

4. SGG3643 Computer Programming III Forced

5. SGG4643 Spatial Data Management Forced

Year 4

6. SGG4563 Strategic Planning Optional

7. SGG4583 Web-based GIS Optional

8. SGG4633 GIS For Resource Management Optional

9. SGG4653 Adv. Database Management

System

Optional

10. SGG4913 Adv. Spatial Data Management Optional

11. SGG4813 Airborne Lidar Survey Optional

12. SGG4523 DTM For GIS Optional

13. SGS 4553 Sensors & Satellite Design Optional

14. SGS4683 Microwave Remote Sensing Optional

15. SGS4693 Advanced Digital Image Processing Optional

Counted Credit = 125 Compulsory Attendance = 9

Total Credit = 134