My first exposure to using computers to make maps was in a class in Computer Cartography at Georgia State University (downtown Atlanta) in 1975, when we used a digitizer hooked up to a keypunch to capture map feature coordinates. You didn't want to make any mistakes -- sorting those cards was, you might say, tedious. These coordinates were used in a SYMAP program to produce thematic maps with output as overprinted characters on a line printer. I remember that our solution to boundary problems on the printout was to literally paste (not ^V -- we're talking library paste) characters on to the printout where there were gaps. Not exactly elegant, but faster than re-digitizing and sorting cards.

After that, I shifted my focus from cartography to geomorphology, sparked largely by a fascination with exploring and studying caves and karst, with a lot of time spent underground in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, with the Cave Research Foundation, and international speleological & geomorphological research in Belize and Somalia. But while a grad student at the University of Georgia (Athens), I combined my two interests by developing cave mapping programs in a sequence of languages -- FORTRAN, BASIC, Pascal, and C (I found this was the best way to learn a new computer language, and really put it through its paces.)

I came to San Francisco State in 1985 hired to teach landforms, soils, and computer cartography. After developing a GIS program starting in 1987, I found less and less time to devote to geomorphology and karst (though I still maintain field research programs in the Marble Mountains and Montara Mountain) but a clear purpose in the need for GIS instruction and applications research.

We've come a long way since then (and certainly since the days of keypunching digitizers and line printer output). The Institute for Geographic Information Science (IGISc) and the GIS Specialty Center for the 20+ campus California State University system I've directed at SFSU since 1988 and we now offer several GIS courses in the Department. The IGISc promotes applications-oriented research through our projects which focus on natural resource management, rare species habitat analysis, and environmental studies.

The Certificate Program in GIS is an obvious progression, and one with a clear purpose: to provide applications-oriented, hands-on training in a breadth of GIS topics for individuals needing a professional program that they can immediately apply in their careers. Our instructors are active GIS practitioners with years of experience in dealing with large spatial datasets, and have put the software to the test and met many challenges along the way. We combine this with innovative instructional methods developed for our highly regarded academic program in Geography at SFSU, to provide a uniquely qualified certificate program.

Welcome,

Jerry Davis
Director