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GEOG 481Geographic Information Systems Project

Units
1.00
Faculty
Environment
Subject
Geography and Environmental Management
Cross-listed
PLAN 481

Not in the current Undergraduate Calendar. Shown as it appeared in 2025–26.

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 5 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

The development, implementation, and presentation of a response to a set of GIS related project requirements is the focus of this course. Students work in small teams to enhance and develop their abilities to work with GIS and related spatial technologies and analytical methods in an advanced project setting. The nature of the project requirements and themes varies with faculty and student strengths and interests. Projects may emphasize development of software applications, use of programming, or advanced GIS analysis methods, and draw from theme areas such as environment studies and management, human and physical geography, or planning.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed the following:
      • ENVS278 - Applied Statistics for Environmental Research (0.50)
    • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
      • GEOG381 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems (0.50)
      • PLAN381 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems (0.50)
    • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Reviewed on UW Flow

75% liked it30% easy86% useful

From 12 ratings and 3 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • A very fun and applicable course which basically involves aspects from all previous GIS courses. Really enjoyed being able to choose our group members and topic, and ended up with a presentation and paper we were very proud of. The course is a lot of work, but is well worth it!

    Dec 2023 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • A solid final challenge to show what GIS skills you've learned in university. The open-endedness can be overwhelming and groupwork can be difficult, but the effort is likely worth it.

    Apr 2026 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Capstone project for GEM and Geomatics students. The course is all structured around creating an analytical project using GIS, so the course usefulness is subjective towards your own work. Overall, I would highly recommend taking this course as you get to play with creating a project to prep you with useful skills.

    Oct 2022 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

3 posts and comments in 3 threads mention GEOG 481, June 2011 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Fall 2023

Winter 2016

Geomatics to now be offered under the math faculty for 2016-17, students in the Geomatics in the environment faculty can transfer given few prerequisites 105 points, 19 comments

u/Huex3: “… Information Systems GEOG 387 Spatial Databases GEOG 471 Remote Sensing Project (1.0 unit) GEOG 481 Geographic Information Systems Project (1.0 unit) Two additional courses chosen from CO 370 Deterministic OR Models CO 453 Network Design STAT 440 Computational Inference STAT 441 …”

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Spring 2011

Anyone in Geog&Enviromental Management? 8 points, 16 comments

“If so, could you tell me what the program's like, especially with Level 200+ courses? Prospective transfer student here. I'm particularly interested in Geomatics/GIS.”

u/Mackinstyle: “… The GIS stream goes: GEOG 281 --> GEOG 381 and GEOG 387 ---> GEOG 481 and GEOG 487. 281 = intro to GIS. You'll learn ArcGIS basics. Spatial and attribute queries and basic analysis 381 = Spatial Analysis using GIS. …”

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Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar