GIS

What We Offer

Ohio Northern University offers a "free standing" minor in geography with a concentration in Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  Whatever your field of interest, chances are good that GIS can be employed.  GIS is built on the collective knowledge of several academic fields, including geography, cartography, and computer science.  GIS has three basic parts: a database, spatial information, and the computerized link between the two.  GIS is a problem solving tool that’s interdisciplinary nature makes the Geography/GIS minor attractive to most majors offered at ONU.  This minor will provide the practical skills to pursue a career in our rapidly changing and technology-oriented economy.

Current applications of GIS include:

Business manages a world of information related to sales, customers, inventory, demographics, and much more.

Engineering and technology professionals rely on the ability to develop and maintain information systems that are inherently linked to infrastructure.  GIS provides the link between infrastructure information traditionally stored in databases and Computer-aided drawing (CAD) maps.

Governments at all levels digest an immense amount of information as part of their responsibilities.  Much of this information has a locational element to it, such as addresses, parcels, postal codes, or census information.  GIS local, state, federal, and international governing bodies to perform diverse functions with greater ease and provides a more effective way of sharing data.

The natural and biological sciences enjoy the benefits of employing GIS in their respective work flows.  Much of our natural world can be observed with the aid of GIS, including climate patterns, forensic biology, and geomorphology.

The health care industry can employ GIS to assist in determining where and when to intervene.  GIS can also help improve the quality of care, increase service availability, discover more cost-effective delivery modes, and preserve patient confidentiality, and also satisfy the needs of the research community for data accessibility.