Why study Geographical Information Science at Edinburgh?
- Our successful MSc Geographical Information Science was the first of its type in the world and is now one of the largest. It has a heritage of over 30 years and approaching 1000 graduates.
- You will become part of our unique Edinburgh Earth Observatory Seminar Series. The events will enable you to meet a range of professionals and become exposed to new ideas, together with educational and job opportunities.
- We offer foundation courses if you are new to the field and advanced courses if you want to specialise in particular areas. You can flexibly choose optional courses to customise your learning in areas you are most passionate about.
- You will be taught by staff with international reputations and you will have unrivalled opportunities to connect with our alumni network of GIS professionals during your studies, helping you make contacts in the industry.
- The MSc Geographical Information Science is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). A RICS accredited degree is synonymous with the highest quality of education, benchmarked against international standards, and therefore valued by companies. As RICS’ standards and qualifications are recognised worldwide, it will mean you will hold an internationally recognised qualification.
Online Information Session
Watch the recording of our online Information Session (19th Feb), hosted by Programme Director Dr Zhiqiang Feng.
Back to the applicant website
Pre-arrival reading list
Your courses
This MSc programme comprises:
- compulsory and optional courses
- dissertation
You will be taught by leading experts in the field, including both university academics and professional colleagues with many years of experience in GIS.
You will also have opportunities to attend professional seminars and conferences to understand more about the geospatial industry.
You can find out more about compulsory and optional courses on the Degree Programme Tables (DPTs). Please note that the information on the current DPTs is for academic year 2024-25 and is subject to change in future years. The DPTs for academic year 2025-26 will be published in April 2025.
Read more about selecting optional courses on the applicant website.
Your dissertation
The dissertation will be your opportunity to explore a topic of your choice in relation to the programme and prepare a dissertation that you can use to demonstrate your work to potential employers.
Previous topics that have been studied include:
- Extraction of Tree Symbology from Historical Maps Using Machine Learning Techniques
- Application of the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate land use and climate change impacts on the River Brora
- Mapping Scent of Place: A Comparative Study of Smell Evoked Memories in Edinburgh and Hong Kong
- Measuring access to health facilities: does spatial resolution matter?
- Mapping the Present, Plotting the Future: Geospatial Education in Scottish Secondary Schools
Future of your subject
There is high demand for GIS technology and a growing number of jobs in UK Space Sector and in Data Science, attracting our present graduates. Students can attend our Professional Seminar Series supported by the Association for Geographic Information (Scotland) that runs regularly throughout the year and provides and excellent networking opportunity for students to meet with industry leaders:
Edinburgh Earth Observatory Seminars
You can read this blog about recent seminars and related activities:
Where will you be taught?
The majority of our teaching on the MSc Geographical Information Science programme takes place in the Central Area of campus.
Depending on the optional courses you choose, you may study at various campus locations in Edinburgh, including the King's Buildings campus.
Students in this MSc will have access to the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) Masters Hub.
Field trips/excursions
As part of the programme, you will have the opportunity to undertake a residential field course, which enables you to experience the challenges of managing and executing a 'real-world' GIS project. They usually take place in the world-famous Scottish Highlands. During the course, students usually work together in small groups to conduct a small-scale GIS project. Previous examples include:
- assessing the role of green space in mitigating flooding risk
- whether green space exposure is beneficial for health
Our compulsory field trips or field courses are free, including travel and accommodation.
Scholarships
School of GeoSciences scholarships
Scholarships and student funding
You can find funding opportunities, tuition fees and costs of living for prospective UK and international postgraduate students on the University website.
You are also encouraged to undertake your own research into the range of potential scholarships and other funding outside the University for which you may be eligible.
Careers
The proven ability of our graduates means our internationally recognised programme is held in high regard by our employers. Most of our students gain employment before completing the programme or within a few months of graduating. You will benefit from our proven track record in helping students progress to roles with a diverse range of employers in public, private and third sectors.
Some examples include:
- Microsoft
- IBM
- Oracle
- General Electric Aerospace
- ESRI
You can find a comprehensive list on the degree finder under 'Career opportunities'.
Alumni
We have a thriving global network of alumni living and working around the world. As well as individual MSc programme networks, the School of GeoSciences has a large alumni network, which you can join after graduation. You'll have the opportunity to engage with and learn from like minded individuals who can offer advice about shaping your career path.
Every year, past students come back to talk to the new cohort at the GIS Update alumni conference, which has been running for over 20 years.
You can read our alumni profiles to find out more about our graduates experiences throughout their studies and beyond on our website:
If you prefer to watch a video, you can watch our alumni interviews on YouTube:
Your programme director and cohort lead.
Find out more about your programme director and cohort lead.
Dr. Zhiqiang Feng
The programme director and cohort lead for this MSc Geographical Information Science programme is Zhiqiang Feng, Senior Lecturer of Human Geography and GIS. Zhiqiang's research interests include health geography, population geography and GIS focusing on the use of GIS, spatial analysis to explore the impacts of social and physical environments on health.
He works mostly in the UK at present; with the support of the UKRI ESRC Fund, working with colleagues in the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research and the Scottish Longitudinal Study. One project they are working on is exploring how commuting affects our health. These studies combine routinely collected administrative data with variables that describe geographical environments and apply advanced statistical approaches to identify potential causal links between commuting and health. He has also carried out analyses on COVID-19 in the UK and presented findings in the GISRUK and BSPS conferences.
Other research includes association of green space exposure and mental health in China, relationship between exposure to tobacco retailing and smoking behaviour in China, global warming and mortality in Scotland and geographical accessibility to ECMO treatment in Europe.
Zhiqiang has given lecture courses in China and Australia and have collaborations with colleagues in New Zealand, Australia, and China. His personal hobby is travelling and hiking. He has worked with the National Records of Scotland (NRS) on population census data quality assurance and also in the Scottish Longitudinal Study a joint centre between the NRS and the university. Other connections include Transport Scotland, Sustrans Scotland and Public Health Scotland.
Study an MSc in Geographical Information Science
Why Edinburgh?
Our student Taylor on studying the MSc
Contact us
Stay in touch
Degree finder
This article was published on