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Australia

University of Tasmania

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Unit: School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences

The University of Tasmania is located on the island of Tasmania in southeastern Australia. It is the oldest university in Australia. Its Department of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences offers a two-year course in spatial science which leads to a degree of Master of Applied Science in Spatial Science. In addition, the department also has a doctoral course, the PhD in Environment. The department has a lot of cooperation with the environmental science department, and students in this department can also spend a semester at several universities in mainland Australia to take courses in geography or surveying/mapping. As the University of Tasmania is the southernmost 4-year university in Australia, many research projects related to Antarctica have been operated here. Some alumni of the school continue doing Antarctica-related research, or being a consultant in affairs related to Antarctica.

Professors:

  • Matt King: GPS/GNSS, Antarctica, geodesy, geophysics, sea level change;
  • Arko Lucieer: remote sensing, LiDAR, spatial analysis, geostatistics, Antarctic environments;
  • Jason Byrne: urban studies, urban environment, planning, land use, data communication;
  • Jamie Kirkpatrick: ecology, ecosystem, species, vegetation, wilderness.

University of Melbourne

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Unit: Department of Infrastructure Engineering

The University of Melbourne is a top university in Australia with a global reputation. It is located in downtown Melbourne. The school’s Department of Infrastructure Engineering has programs in GIS with 8 faculty members, including two professors and two senior lecturers. The GIS-related research topic of this department mainly focuses on the GIS application in engineering and geo-computing and is strong in indoor navigation, spatial cognition, and traffic simulation. Both software and hardware aspects of these topics are studied. Professors Stephan Winter and Abbas Rajabifard are both internationally renowned scholars in their fields.

Professors:

  • Stephan Winter: urban analytics, smart transport, human orientation, wayfinding and navigation, evacuation, information sharing, volunteered geographic information, shared mobility;
  • Abbas Rajabifard: design and development, land administration, marine SDI, capacity development, life sciences and biomedicine, science and technology;
  • Mohsen Kalantari Soltanieh: construction surveying, land administration, spatial data infrastructure, geospatial standards, building information modeling, 3D cadaster, laser scanning, digital twin;
  • Martin Tomko: annotation, spatial communication, mobility analytics, spatial databases, autonomous data cleaning and integration, search and retrieval, spatial data quality, retail analytics;
  • Kourosh Khoshelham: photogrammetry, building information modeling, pattern recognition and machine learning, mobile mapping, indoor location based service, laser scanning- lidar, remote sensing, science and technology;
  • Amir Khodabandeh: estimation theory, GNSS, navigation, earth observation, geodesy, Interferometric positioning, surveying, quality control, PPP-RTK ;
  • Jagannath Aryal: urban analytics, modern land administration, systems modeling, earth observation, spatial statistics, GEOBIA, physical sciences;
  • Davood Shojaei: 3D cadaster, environmental sciences and ecology, environmental studies, eplan, remote sensing, life sciences and biomedicine, science and technology.

University of Adelaide

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Unit: Spatial Sciences Group, Department of Biological Science, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing and Department of Geography, Environment and Population

The Spatial Sciences Group at the University of Adelaide is home to doctoral students, postdocs, and faculty members who are engaged in GIS and remote sensing research. They come from different units (mostly the biology department). The group is currently directed by two professors from the biology department. The research directions of doctoral students in the Spatial Sciences Group include the GIS systems, environmental remote sensing, aerial image analysis, spatial ecological analysis, GIS analysis of soil environment, ecological mapping and visualization analysis, etc. In addition, the Department of Geography, Environment and Population in the Faculty of Social Science also offers urban informatics programs. For example, the Hugo Center for Population and Housing operates the research in social applications of GIS.

Professors:

  • Bertram Ostendorf: GIS, spatial analysis, soil science, spatial decision making for natural resource management;
  • Megan Lewis: spatial data, remote sensing, hyperspectral sensing, multi-temporal imagery, soil and vegetation mapping, land use.

University of Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Unit: School of Agriculture and Environment

The School of Agriculture and Environment at the UWA offers a master’s degree program in GIS. The duration of this program is 1.5 to 2 years. This master’s program is course-based with six core courses, including GIS programming, remote sensing, GIScience, GIS environmental resource management, advanced spatial analysis, and GIS environmental science. In addition, the Faculty of Natural Sciences also operates doctoral programs, and the specific direction for the doctoral research is determined by the student’s faculty advisors.

Curtin University

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Unit: Department of Spatial Sciences

Originally named Curtin University of Technology, the Curtin University is Australia’s top school in geosciences. GIS-related graduate degree programs are operated in the department of earth and planetary sciences at Curtin. They include:

  • Master of Geopatial Intelligence: a two-year class-based master’s degree. In the first year, students need to take advanced courses in GIS, spatial analysis, database, visualization, and cartography. In the second year, students need to complete a scientific project. There is no requirement on the undergraduate major when applying to this program, as long as the candidates have some basic experiences in calculus and statistics and the English proficiency meets the school standards.
  • Master of Philosophy in GIS: a 2-year research-based master’s degree. In the first semester, students are required to take courses related to scientific research in geography. In the next three semesters, students should focus on scientific research and only take a few courses related to their own projects. Finally, a research project needs to be completed, and the direction of the project is usually related to GIScience, spatial analysis, geostatistics, GeoAI, and geographic big data, etc. After completion, those with excellent grades can choose to transfer to the doctoral program in the department.
  • Master of Philosophy in Surveying and Mapping: a 2-year research-based master’s degree, with the same structure as above, but the subject is mainly in surveying, mapping and cartography, which are closer to engineering and GIS application. Because this university was traditionally a mining institute, programs related to mineral surveying and mapping are strong in this department.
  • Ph.D. in Spatial Analysis: usually takes 4 years and needs to take advanced courses and complete an original research project. In principle, it is necessary for students applying to track to have a master’s degree at the time of admission. However, particularly outstanding undergraduates (such as those who have honors on the college level or have taken a certain number of master’s courses) will also be considered.

Professors:

University of Flinders

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Unit: College of Science and Engineering

Flinders University offers a master’s program in geospatial information science (MGISc). The program is a two-year master’s program. The target students are those who are interested in GIS but without an undergraduate degree in GIS. The teaching content of the program includes the theory and technology of GIS (GIScience, remote sensing, geostatistics, spatial modeling, geographic data, GIS research methods, programming) and basic courses of common GIS application domains (climate, environment, coastal management, sustainability, etc.). In the second year, students will complete a research project. Graduates usually work in GIS-related industries or continue to pursue a PhD in GIS.

University of Queensland

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Unit: School of Earth and Environmental Sciences

The School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at UQ is ranked first among environmental science programs in Australia. This department offers different majors such as geography, geology, geophysics, environmental science, paleontology, and urban planning. There is a geospatial information science direction in this department, too. This direction offers three degree programs: Master of Philosophy (MPh), Master of GIS (MGIS), and Doctorate (PhD). Among them, the MGIS degree is course-based, with a duration of 2 years. The teaching content includes spatial analysis, WebGIS, remote sensing, cartography, surveying and mapping, public health, and urban planning. MPh and PhD are research-based degrees that require students to participate in scientific projects.

Professors:

  • Yan Liu: GIS, quantitative human geography, urban, spatial data science;
  • Jonathan Corcoran: human mobility, migrations, sustainability, big data, spatial analysis;
  • Lutz Gross: geostatistics, numerical modeling, computational geoscience;
  • Stuart Phinn: remote sensing, environment, ecosystem data.

University of Southern Queensland

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Unit: Surveying and Built Environment

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is one of the universities with the highest average starting salary for graduates in Australia. Its surveying and built environment department offers a master of science program in spatial science and technology, including GIS and surveying options. This is a course-based master’s degree program, which lasts for 2 years and requires the completion of 16 courses, of which 8 are core specialization courses, 2 are electives, and 6 are research courses. The enrollment times for international students are February or July each year. Entrance requirements include having a bachelor’s degree in a geography-related field and meeting the English proficiency requirements: an IELTS score of 6.5 or above (not less than 6 in each subject) or a TOEFL score of 90 or more (not less than 20 in each subject).

Charles Darwin University

Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia

Unit: School of Science, Environmental Science and Management

The Charles Darwin University is the first university in the Northern Territory of Australia. It offers a 2-year Master of Applied Spatial Science as well as a 6-month Graduate Certificate of Spatial Science under its environmental science department. The instruction goal of these programs is to provide skills to apply spatial science technologies and analysis techniques to solve real-world problems across a diverse range of fields and vocations.