COURSE OVERVIEW

Birkbeck's geographic data science postgraduate course will provide you with advanced scientific and technical training in capturing, analysing and visualising geospatial information. Thanks to increasing computing power and wealth of digital data, we can record and store an unprecedented amount of information about the world. Geographic information plays a crucial role in our society, contributing to planning, analysis and management in sectors as diverse as transportation, insurance, banking, telecommunications, logistics, energy, retail, agriculture, healthcare, urban planning and scientific research.

On this course, you will learn how to analyse and extract insights from geospatial data, uncovering the underlying patterns and factors that can help address the big challenges we face in the twenty-first century. You will work with real-world data on a number of domains and problems, such as simulating the dynamics of change in the natural and built environment, identifying suitable locations for renewable energy power plants, predicting crime hot-spots, and producing effective maps to visualise natural- and human-geography applications.

The emphasis is on enabling you to think analytically and develop new skills that have real-world applications for your work and career. You will acquire key data science skills that are in high demand in industry and important tools for research in the field:

Geographic information systems, such as ArcGIS and QGIS

Scientific programming in Python

Geo-statistical and modelling in R

Map-making and cartography

Big data management with spatial databases, such as SQL and NoSQL

Web mapping and development

Remote sensing and analysis of satellite imagery

We offer this course as a master’s, postgraduate diploma and postgraduate certificate. For the diploma and certificate you study fewer modules and do not complete a dissertation. The diploma and certificate are aimed at professionals and researchers who work with, or wish to work with, geographically referenced data. They are ideal if you are interested in studying at postgraduate level for personal or professional reasons, but don't yet want to commit to a full MSc.

CAREERS AND EMPLOYABILITY

Graduates can pursue career paths in archaeology, surveying, planning and policy, government, business and industry, in areas such as:

cartography

GIS analysis

remote-sensing applications

software development.

Possible professions include:

geographical information systems officer

higher education lecturer

commercial/residential surveyor.