101 
EDUCATION IN GIS/ÜS AT THE DEUT UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 
Prof.dr. M.J.M. Bogaerts 
9. 
Abstract 
Since 1976 the Faculty of Geodesy of the 
University of Technology in Delft in The Ne 
therlands has an academic chair in Land 
Information & Cartography. The education in 
GIS/LIS is mainly based on an own research 
programme in the Centre for Computer Gra 
phics and Mapping. In this paper attention 
will be paid to the education and research 
programme. The main topics are: 
- information policy, analysis arid planning; 
- data in GIS/LIS; 
- methods and techniques for data acquisi 
tion, data processing and information sup 
ply: 
- applications of GIS/LIS 
1. INTRODUCTION 
1.1 General background 
In 1974 the Board of the Faculty of Geodesy 
at the University of Technology decided to 
modernize the curriculum. The main reason 
for this was the increasing demand for more 
information related to space, sea and land. As 
a result of the discussions a new academic 
chair in Land Information Systems was esta 
blished at the Faculty of Geodesy. In 1976 I 
was nominated to be professor in this new 
field of science. In the new curriculum for 
geodetic engineer in Delft, a lot of time was 
intended for the new lessons in US. I even 
had to realize the opportunities for students to 
spend one fifth of their whole study time on 
LIS. For me this was a very difficult task 
because there were no teaching materials and 
books. There were no international colleagues 
with whom I could exchange experiences. GIS 
was completely unknown at that time. 
The only possibility to get my own teaching 
material was to establish a Study Centre for 
Land Information. Our own research program 
me has always been a very strong base for 
the education on a university level. 
Around 1982 there*was a vacant chair in 
Cartography at the Facuity of Geodesy in 
Delft. This vacant chair was combined with 
my chair in Land Information. The staff of this 
new academic chair Land Information and 
Cartography is a relatively large group of 15 
staff members with another 10 people working 
in contract-research. Because of the combina 
tion with cartography, the chair is also cover 
ing research and education in GIS. The 
education and research programme of our 
group at the Faculty of Geodesy in Delft 
consists of the following elements: 
1. information policy, analysis and planning 
GIS/LIS; 
2. data in GIS/LIS; 
3. methods and techniques for data ac 
quisition, data processing and informa 
tion supply; 
4. applications of GIS/LIS. 
The Faculty of Geodesy is divided into 2 
groups. Our unit of Land information and 
cartography is part of a group together with 
photogrammetry and remote sensing, land 
use planning and land law. 
1.2 Cooperation with ITC 
Around 1983 representatives of the World 
Bank asked us to start a course in LIS with 
special emphasis on land registry for students 
in low-developed countries. The reason for 
this request was that some big cadastral 
projects of the World Bank failed, because the 
local experts could not maintain sophisticated, 
automated cadastres. The solution for this 
problem is to start international courses where 
those experts can be trained. In the Nether- 
lands‘wa were able to start such a course as 
a combined activity of the International In 
stitute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Scien 
ces (ITC) and our group in the Delft University 
of Technology. The LIS course, as it is called, 
is a diplomcourse of one year. Four courses