Lady6Starlight Posted July 22, 2013 Share Posted July 22, 2013 Hi everyone, In fall 2013, I'm beginning the grand pursuit of my Masters of Science in Geographic Information Science (or systems?). I've always liked maps since I was a little girl and find myself understanding data much better visually than in any other way. I got my Bachelors in Urban Studies but felt that it was lacking any sort of tangible skill set, so I'm seeking to actually acquire new abilities in my pursuit of my Masters. Are there any other GIS students out there? What's it like? Is it hard? What schools do you go to? I'll be attending Lehman College (part of the CUNY system). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmu Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 I'm not in the program yet but starting in the Fall I will begin a certificate (18 credits) in GIS (along with my PhD.) One thing I noticed while looking for programs is that they pretty much all use ArcGIS and are tailored around that software. This is a bit of a problem for me, as a GNU/Linux user, but be ready to get deep into it. From talking to others who are in the program or who have taken courses related to it, it seems that it is not incredibly difficult as long as you are willing to devote a lot of time and effort into understanding what you are doing rather than just following along. Some folks have told me that they find the programming portions difficult because they had to learn some Python, but, again as a GNU/Linux user, this doesn't seem like it will be that big of a deal for me. Lady6Starlight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 I'm not in the grad school yet, but I'm applying to one soon. I am currently a senior in college, studying cartography/GIS. I am more of a cartography guy than GIS, which means I prefer the design, aesthetic part of mapping than actually doing technical, computative stuff. GIS has a high utilitarian value nowadays so I think it is a pretty good decision to deviate from urban studies to GIS as they are both complementary to each other. But GIS is computer-intensive, so I guess you have to love dealing with machines in the first place PS: If you haven't used ArcGIS before, I warn you, that little devil crashes all frickin time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmu Posted August 23, 2013 Share Posted August 23, 2013 The crashing is supposed to be better in 10.1. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted August 24, 2013 Share Posted August 24, 2013 I'm using 10.1 now and it still crashes occasionally. But it might be my shabby laptop though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmu Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 FWIW we just went to 10.2 here (after litereally two weeks on 10.1) and were told that crashing should be even better as long as we kept our scaling in check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted August 28, 2013 Share Posted August 28, 2013 Awh, that's a good news. Have you used any other spatial analysis software than Arc? My department heavily focuses on Arc and I have yet to learn other kinds of software. Not that I have mastered Arc like a pro but you know, sometimes you feel like trying something new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmu Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I use QGIS/GRASS/PostGIS at home since I don't use windows. They are different and not as powerful but don't lack in functionality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Awesome. I just googled those softwares and I found out that those are OSGeo softwares. I am definitely going to install these on my computer and learn how to use it on my own for additional skills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmu Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 FWIW I loaded a huge file today and Arc froze for a minute but no crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 I think it all depends on your machine after all. If you run it on a fast PC then it's all good. But my laptop is shoddy so I should expect it to crash often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obviousbicycle Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 I use QGIS/GRASS/PostGIS at home since I don't use windows. They are different and not as powerful but don't lack in functionality. I just started using QGIS and it is AMAZING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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