98 
must begin to play a broader role in the 
activities involving the management, 
maintenance and dissemination of 
spatially-related information; 
. an LIM curriculum should be 
broad-based, drawing on both the arts 
and sciences; 
• LIM is an evolving field of study and a 
curriculum in this area should conse 
quently be flexible and dynamic, 
taking account of technological 
innovations as well as changing 
societal needs; 
• LIM should be approached from a 
broad systems perspective so that 
students gain an awareness of the 
various elements in the system as well 
as the technical and institutional 
problems associated with the 
integration of these elements (Barnes 
and Loon, 1988). 
The aim of the program is to develop a 
well-rounded student who will have a 
strong technical background but will at the 
same time have a broad appreciation of the 
institutional and management issues. The 
coursework requirements for the 
Masters-level program in LIM and 
mapping are shown in Figure 3. 
The core courses for the M.S. program in 
mapping are: Large Scale and Topo 
graphic Mapping, Digital Surface Models, 
Digital Mapping Systems, 
Geomathematical Methods, Generaliz 
ation of Topographic Maps, and a 
GIS-oriented elective from the Department 
of Geography. 
The coursework for the Ph.D in Geodetic 
Science with a specialization in LIM or 
mapping is organized on an individual 
basis with the student’s advisor and the 
approval of the Department’s Graduate 
Studies Committee. In general, a Ph.D 
student in this area will be required to take 
six advanced (700 and above) level 
courses and approximately three elective 
courses in LIS/GIS. 
GIS in the Department of 
Geography 
The Department of Geography at The 
Ohio State LIniversity is heavily involved 
in education and research related to 
geographic information systems with 
educational opportunities available at the 
B.Sc., M.A., and Ph.D. levels. Since 
much GIS instruction must be laboratory 
based, the Department maintains, 
enhances and distributes OSU 
MAP-for-the-PC, an instructional GIS, 
which is currently being used by over 
two hundred colleges and universities 
world-wide. This software is based on 
the original MAP program developed by 
Dr. Dana Tomlin. Dr. Tomlin is* 
currently an OSU faculty member with 
appointments in both the School of 
Natural Resources and the Department of 
Geography. 
Laboratory Facilities. Several 
research laboratories for GIS, 
cartography, and climatology are 
maintained by the Department. The 
equipment available in the departmental 
GIS Laboratory consists of a number of 
PCs with advanced graphics, a SUN 
color workstation, a Mac II and 
numerous peripheral devices (digitizers, 
plotters, etc.). A PC-based ARC/INFO 
workstation, with large plotter and 
digitizer, is also maintained. A number 
of Tektronix color graphic terminals, 
which may be linked to any of the 
on-campus computers, are available in the 
department’s Numerical Cartography 
Laboratory. 
The GIS Laboratory maintains an 
extensive collection of applications and 
development software which is available 
for faculty and graduate student research. 
In addition to “open” GIS software such 
as GRASS and QUILT, this includes 
advanced compilers for FORTRAN, C, 
etc., as v/ell as a number of programming 
support tools (editors, version control 
systems, program performance 
analyzers). 
Graduate Programs. Three 
separate, but interlinked, subareas make 
up GIS studies within the Department of 
Geography at OSU: (a) geographic 
applications of GIS, (b) the design and 
evaluation of GIS, and (c) technical 
aspects of GIS. Students enrolling in the 
M.A. program in GIS are generally 
restricted to subareas (a) or (b) unless 
they have a strong, prior background in 
computer science. All students are 
required to possess some knowledge of 
the conceptual basis of computer systems; 
advanced programming knowledge is 
desirable but is not required outside of 
subarea (c).