Unit Synopsis
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) power Earth and human interaction decisions far beyond what we see in internet maps and vehicle navigation devices. Because GIS is a business tool in many organisations, you will be exposed to and acquire practical skills in making electronic maps and analysing geographical data. You will explore mapping concepts, spatial analysis processes and mapping communication standards that are as important today as they were for Gerardus Mercator in the 16th century.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Practical Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Practical Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Practical Assessment | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 17.78% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Self-reflection
Review and update learning materials. Some of the materials are dated and based on earlier versions of the GIS software used in the unit.
Review and update all learning materials for this unit. Ensure that the guidelines or procedures provided for mapping purposes are in sync with the current version of the GIS software in use.
Learning materials were reviewed and updated to align with the current version of the GIS software in use.
Source: SUTE
Schedule a weekly tutorial to complement pre-recorded lectures and other materials provided on Moodle.
Schedule a one-hour weekly tutorial to respond to students' questions or provide further guidance on certain aspects of the unit. Consult with the students about the time and day of the tutorial.
A weekly one-hour live tutorial session was scheduled. However, only a handful of students attended these sessions.
Source: Self-reflection
Students should be encouraged to download and test the GIS software on their computers early in the term.
Bring forward the requirement for students to download the GIS software used in this unit (ArcGIS Pro) from Week 2 to Week 1 of the term. Before Week 1 of the term, the unit coordinator will email the enrolled students with the links and procedures to download and install the software on their computers. This will give them additional time to test and get familiar with the software. Students having problems accessing and running the software on their computers should contact the unit coordinator and TaSAC for help as soon as possible.
Two weeks before the start of the term, enrolled students were emailed instructions on how to download the GIS software. They were required to complete the download by the end of Week 1.
Source: Self-reflection
Schedule a weekly tutorial to complement pre-recorded lectures and other materials provided on Moodle.
The scheduled weekly live tutorials should be continued, as students who attended sessions in Term 1 2025 found them to be highly beneficial.
In Progress
Source: Self-reflection
This unit requires the use of GIS software, and students need basic computer skills to succeed.
Students who lack computer skills or need to refresh their knowledge will be encouraged to seek assistance from CQUniversity's Academic Learning Centre (ALC).
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Replicate a range of mapping operations using GIS data sets.
- Solve introductory spatial analysis problems using GIS data management and manipulation functions.
- Reproduce GIS-based maps that meet cartographic theory, standards and practice.
Nil
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment | • | ||
| 2 - Practical Assessment | • | • | |
| 3 - Practical Assessment | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | ||
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |