GIS_Update Courses

Acquire new skills and stay up to date! Choose from a set of online courses in the geospatial domain that are offered by the University of Salzburg, Department of Geoinformatics. GIS_Update courses are instructor-led courses that are tailored to the needs of working professionals. You can work through the materials at your own pace and get individual support from the lecturer whenever needed.

The Department of Geoinformatics – Z_GIS integrates cutting-edge research with application-oriented teaching. You will receive personal guidance from leading experts in the field, and tutors will provide individual support. As a participant in a GIS_Update course, you can take advantage of the strong expertise and didactical experience of our faculty.

GIS_Update courses are provided by  UNIGIS, the world’s most established distance-learning program for GIS and Geoinformatics. A personal introduction will ensure that you get acquainted with the organisation, media, and tools of distance learning. Together with a cohort of other participants, you will study in the selected intake of the GIS_Update course. All necessary materials and software will be provided via an online learning platform. All you will need is an ordinary computer with internet access.

Courses are offered three times a year and last three months. During this time, you will work through the materials and complete individual assignments. At the end, you will submit your assignment solutions, for which you will receive a grade along with extensive feedback. After successful completion, you will receive a confirmation certifying your study performance according to the European ECTS standards for Higher Education.

Course overview

Currently, the following courses are offered:

SPATIAL SIMULATION

Together, the two dimensions of space and time form the spatio-temporal context of our environment. Spatial simulation models complement geographical analysis with a process-based approach. Thus, they are fundamentally new tools to study systems from a truly spatio-temporal perspective. Topics that have been successfully addressed with spatial simulation models include biological applications, geomorphological applications, heuristic algorithms, and transport systems.

This course introduces agent-based modelling and cellular automata to solve complex applied problems. With these methods, you will complement your geospatial skillset in geographical analysis and gain new insights for your professional work.

AUTOMATED DATA PROCESSING WITH R

In the GIS environment, the availability of data has rapidly increased due to free access to sensor data and the release of government data. R is the leading programming language for data cleaning, organization, analysis, and visualization.

In this course, you will learn the structure of the R language through numerous practical examples. You will also become familiar with the most important libraries and functions for manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing spatial data (e.g., tidyverse, sf, terra, spatstat). By the end of the course, you will be able to independently leverage R’s extensive functionality to automate your GIS workflows.

Are you interested in taking a course? Can we assist you with further questions? Contact us via email at . We will promptly get back to you with available dates for your course of interest and the respective application form.