Geographic Information Systems have advanced rapidly in recent decades and now play an important role in environment and society issues including land and water management, forestry, climate science, biodiversity conservation, urban and rural planning, and social research. Spatial data are becoming increasingly accessible and are being utilised by a wide range of government and research agencies, consulting firms and other private businesses. This course focuses on social and urban applications of GIS. The first part of the course covers key concepts and skills including models of geographic accessibility, network analysis, geocoding and socio-demographic disadvantage. During the second part of the course students are provided with a range of research topics and spatial datasets to independently investigate and write a research paper.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Understand spatial environment and society research and applications
- Synthesise and apply that knowledge to formulate new applications
- Pursue a guided investigation of a topic involving a social application of GIS
- Communicate the results of that investigation in written format
Work Integrated Learning
Other
Knowledge and skills developed in this course are highly sought in the industry. All projects are based on real-world, drawing on existing government datasets, analysed to industry best practice standards and presented in formats expected by employers.
Other Information
A limit will apply on admission into this course. Students will be given permision to enrol on a first come-first serve basis and should request permission to add the course via the following website.
Indicative Assessment
- Social Atlas Assignment (15) [LO 1,2,3]
- Research paper (2000 words) (50) [LO 1,2,3,4]
- Examination (35) [LO 1,2,4]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Lecture content presenting core theory will be accessible via self paced recordings.
- Face-to-face activities will be a mixture of GIS software application, discussions linking theory and project work. Application of theory and practical software skill development will occur each week, face-to-face in the computer laboratories. This component may consist of 22 hours.
- Approximately 108 hours of independent student research, listening to pre-recorded material, reading and writing.
Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions.
Inherent Requirements
To be determined
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the Fenner School of Environment and Society to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
Not applicable.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8337 | 27 Jul 2026 | 03 Aug 2026 | 31 Aug 2026 | 30 Oct 2026 | In Person | N/A |