GIS Classes and Certificate Curriculum

Required Core

All six online courses are required

Electives

Five courses required

Minimum Commitment

To earn the GIS Standard Certificate, you must complete at least 17.6 CEUs, equal to 11 courses.

Required Core

Seven online courses are required

^*You may take both GEOG 9008 and GEOG 9013. One course will count as a core requirement and the other as an elective. Courses cannot be counted toward both categories.

Applied Environmental Methods Electives

Four courses are required

^*You may take both GEOG 9008 and GEOG 9013. One course will count as a core requirement and the other as an elective. Courses cannot be counted toward both categories.

Programming and Modeling Electives

One course is required

^*You may take both GEOG 9008 and GEOG 9013. One course will count as a core requirement and the other as an elective. Courses cannot be counted toward both categories.

Minimum Commitment:

To earn the GIS, Concentration in Environmental Analysis Certificate you must complete at least 19.2 CEUs, which equals 12 courses.

All instructors in the GIS Certificate Program have formal education in GIS and extensive professional experience. As a student, you will learn from experts working in transportation, agriculture, database management, biogeography, education, geomorphology and state and local government GIS.

Quentin J. Clark

Education: GIS Graduate Certificate, Portland State University; M.A. geography, San Francisco State University
Employment: San Francisco State University
Email: qclark@sfsu.edu
Courses: Introduction to GIS, Cartographic Design for GIS, GPS for GIS

Quentin is the administrator for the California State University GIS Specialty Center, helping facilitate GIS needs for all 24 campuses in the CSU system. In addition to his role in the Specialty Center, Quentin is a lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environment at SFSU, where he teaches courses in environmental science, natural resource management and GIS. His research and GIS interests include cartographic design and theory, GIS data management and GNSS data collection.

Jerry Davis

Education: Ph.D. geography, University of Georgia
Employment: San Francisco State University
Courses: GIS for Watersheds, Raster GIS, Introduction to Programming ArcGIS

Jerry is director of the California State University GIS Specialty Center. He specializes in geomorphology, soils, field methods and GIS. Jerry developed the GIS curriculum at SFSU and his current research interests focus on karst geomorphic processes and the use of computers and GIS for field data collection and processing.

Seth Hiatt

Education: M.A. geography, San Francisco State University
Employment: Santa Clara County
Courses: Introduction to R, Ecological Applications of GIS, GIS for Scientific Visualization, Database Management

Seth has been using GIS to support environmental planning and decision-making for more than 12 years. After working as a remote sensing and GIS analyst in the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center, he served as associate director for the SFSU Institute for Geographic Information Science. He currently works in the Planning Division of Santa Clara County Parks and also teaches GIS and geography at Foothill College in Los Altos. His GIS interests include ecological modeling, spatial statistics, tool building, open-source software, web GIS and field data collection.

Xiaohang Liu

Education: Ph.D. geography, University of California, Santa Barbara
Employment: San Francisco State University, professor
Courses: Building a Geodatabase, GIS for Public Health

Professor Liu’s teaching and research interests are in GIS, remote sensing and spatial statistics, and their application in socioeconomic issues such as urban land use and cover change, population distribution and environmental modeling. Her ongoing research includes the linkage between built environment and public health, environmental justice and using internet GIS to promote public participation in neighborhood revitalization.

Dara O’Beirne

Education: M.A. geography, San Francisco State University
Employment: City of Sacramento
Course: GEOG 9029 Processing GIS Data with Model Builder and Python

Dara earned both his B.A. and M.A. in geography from SFSU and is a GIS analyst with the City of Sacramento’s Department of Utilities. His master’s thesis examined error in measuring tree heights in an urban environment using field methods and airborne LiDAR data. Dara is a GIS professional with more than 10 years of GIS and Python programming experience. He is also co-author of ArcPy and ArcGIS: Automating ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS Online with Python.

Ana Pelegrini Guimaraes

Education: M.S. GIS, San Francisco State University
Employment: ENTRUST Solutions Group
Course: Introduction to ArcGIS Online and Web GIS

Ana is a senior GIS consultant specialist at ENTRUST Solutions Group, where she works in geospatial data engineering and cartography. She has led projects focused on data automation and visualization and is a subject matter expert in field data collection using ArcGIS Online, Field Maps and Survey123. Ana earned her master’s degree from SFSU, where her research examined the impact of urban greenspace and bluespace on the mental health of pregnant women. She is also a certified GIS professional (GISP).

Tom Robinson

Education: B.A. ecology, University of California, San Diego; M.S. GISci, San Francisco State University
Employment: Tom Robinson Consulting
Email: tsrobins@mail.sfsu.edu
Course: Managing a GIS Project

As principal of Tom Robinson Consulting, Tom leads strategic planning and analysis projects that serve the public good. He previously worked as director of conservation, science and innovation at Bay Area Open Space Council and conservation GIS analyst at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space. He holds a bachelor’s degree in ecology and a master’s degree in GISci and is a Switzer Environmental Leadership Fellow.

Sally Shatford

Education: M.S. GIS, San Francisco State University
Employment: AECOM
Courses: GPS for GIS, Working with GIS

Sally is a GIS specialist at AECOM. She received her master’s degree in GIS from SFSU, where she studied residential segregation and affordable housing. She focuses on tailoring GIS solutions for project needs, managing data across project life cycles and creating cartographic products for web and print. She also uses ArcGIS Online and other GIS servers for digital data collection and sharing.

Core Courses

Some core courses may be waived and replaced with electives based on your prior experience or coursework. Waivers do not reduce the total CEUs required for the certificate. After completing all required courses, you must submit an application for the certificate of completion.

Textbooks and Materials

All course materials are provided and included in the cost.

Location and Frequency of Classes

Courses are fully online with live instruction and interaction. Sequences begin twice a year, in early February and early September. Some in-person classes are also offered in summer. In-person classes meet for two full days, Friday and Saturday, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Equipment Requirements

To take GIS classes, you will need a device that can run ArcGIS Pro. This software is used in most classes and is only compatible with Windows operating systems. See the ArcGIS Pro Installation Instructions for details.

Waivers

You may waive GEOG 9003: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems if you have completed an equivalent course at another university. No other courses may be waived.

Because all courses use ArcGIS Pro, we recommend reviewing ESRI Training tutorials if you are new to this software. You must still complete the minimum CEUs (19.2) to earn the certificate after waiving GEOG 9003.

If you have work experience that may qualify you to waive GEOG 9003, contact the GIS program academic coordinator, Chloe Martin, at cmartin9@sfsu.edu.

Direct substitutions are allowed for College of Professional & Global Education GIS Certificate courses if you are a matriculated SFSU student. If you have questions, contact the program director, Jerry Davis, at jerry@sfsu.edu.

GIS Certificate Equivalencies

Core Courses

Current Electives

Non-Current Electives

Once you have completed the necessary coursework, submit the Certificate of Completion Request Form for your certificate.