MINIMUM ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Prerequisites for the Honours Programme: BSc with a minimum of 60% average for all GIS300 modules, or equivalent, accredited modules from other Higher Education Institutions.

MODULES

GIS 511:       Advanced Remote Sensing

Purpose:       To provide a solid understanding of the basic principles of the remote sensing process, and the implementation of this data via satellite image processing techniques. To develop both a strong theoretical knowledge of the subject area, and build confidence and experience in the practical implementation of this theory utilising professional GIS/Image Processing software.

Contents:     The electromagnetic spectrum; Radiation and the atmosphere; Reflectance signatures; Platforms and sensors; Visual Interpretation of remotely sensed images; Image pre-processing; Image enhancement; Image transformations; Image classifications; Radio Detection and Ranging (RADAR); Synthetic Aperture RADAR (SAR); Spectroscopy; Multispectral analysis; Hyperspectral analysis; Landcover classification (GEOBIA).

Instruction:   Lectures, practicals.

Credits:         25

Assessment: Practicals, presentations, assignments, tests, one 3-hour exam paper

Prerequisites: GIS 300

Target group: Students having successfully completed a BSc degree with the prerequisites wishing to pursue an Honours degree in Remote Sensing and GIS.

GIS 512:       Advanced Spatial Modelling and Analysis

Purpose:       To expose, inform and instruct students in the application of GIS to solve real-world problems. To expose them to the process, and practical and theoretical issues involved in utilising GIS for decision support and problem solving.

Contents:     Review in utilising GIS for fundamentals; basic and advanced analysis techniques in GIS. Introduction to advanced spatial analysis; Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE); Geosimulation; Terrain analysis; Network analysis; Proximity analysis; Hotspot analysis; Site suitability analysis.

Instruction:   Lectures, practicals

Credits:         25

Assessment: Practicals, presentations, assignments, tests, one 3-hour exam paper

Prerequisites: GIS 300

Target group: Students having successfully completed a BSc degree with the prerequisites wishing to pursue an Honours degree in Remote Sensing and GIS.

GIS 521:       Quantitative Techniques in Remote Sensing of the Environment

Purpose:       To expose, inform and instruct students in the application of remote sensing and statistical methods and techniques that are applied in both GIS and Remote Sensing to solving real-world environmental problems.

Contents:     Remote sensing applications in various fields such as natural resource management and hydrology. In addition, basic statistics: mean, mode, median, sum, etc.; Estimation: kriging; Simulation: Gaussian, Markov, Boolean and Genetic; Variance; Accuracy Assessments; Image Training.

Instruction:   Lectures, practical

Credits:         25

Assessment: Practicals, presentations, assignments, tests, one 3-hour exam paper

Prerequisites: GIS 300

Target group: Students having successfully completed a BSc degree with the prerequisites wishing to pursue an Honours degree in Remote Sensing and GIS.

GIS 522:       Environmental Geographical Research Methodology

Purpose:       To produce GIS and/or Remote Sensing research projects that utilize the theory, methodology, and techniques learnt during the Honours Programme.

Contents:     Project planning; Project proposal; Project execution (field work, practical work, analysis, and interpretation); Interim and final project report writing processes and structures; Project presentation development and execution.

Instruction:   Lectures and project supervision.

Credits:         50

Assessment: Continuous evaluation through various “milestones” (project proposal, project planning, interim report, and presentation). Final research report externally moderated. Final research report presentation at an internal seminar.

Prerequisites: GIS 300

Target group: Students having successfully completed a BSc degree with the prerequisites wishing to pursue an Honours degree in Remote Sensing and GIS.