Studying GIS in the Island of Malta

25 March 2010, 4:49pm

An International Summer School on Spatial Data
Management and Geographic Information Systems

Three European Universities have joined forces to develop an international summer school on
Geographic Information Systems to be held in the island of Malta in 2010. The Institute for Sustainable Development of the University of Malta, the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering of University College London (UCL) and the Department of Geography of the University of Portsmouth are once again organising a summer school with the focus on Spatial Data Management and Geographic Information Systems. The University of Malta will be hosting the Summer School at its main campus in Msida. The campus is within 20minutes from the capital city Valletta, a UNESCO world heritage site as well as less than 30 minutes away from the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

The Summer School’s goals are to present mid-career professionals, undergraduate and graduate students with the essential skills to handle Geographic Information and the knowledge of how best to utilise Geographic Information Systems. This year the focus is on spatial data management and handling, with some sessions demonstrating application of GIS. Hands-on sessions will supplement the lecture based sessions, with participants using ArcGIS, SPSS and open source software like PostGIS and Quantum GIS. By the end of the summer school participants should be able to handle, manipulate and evaluate geographic data using different packages. The Summer School will also train its participants how to use ArcGIS and Quantum GIS packages for data handling, alongside the SPSS package for statistical analysis. Participants will also learn the database management system PostgreSQL and its application for geographic information PostGIS whilst understanding how GIS can be applied in various analytical scenarios.

The Summer School will run for a period of 1 week, starting on the 12th of July 2010 and participants will be engaged in lectures and practical sessions for 6 hours a day for 5 days. This year’s Summer School will assume previous knowledge of GIS and is suitable for participants who are intermediate users of GIS. Participants who wish to learn how to use ArcGIS have the opportunity to attend a preparatory session to be held before the school starts on the 9th of July 2010.

The teaching faculty for this year will consist of Dr Maria Attard (University of Malta), Dr Muki Haklay (University College London), Dr Helena Titheridge (University College London), Dr Claire Ellul (University
College London), Dr Catherine Jones University of Portsmouth) and Ms Therese Bajada (University of Malta).

More information on the summer school can be obtained by visiting the link below or from Ms Stephanie Stellini on isd@um.edu.mt.

Acceptance to the School is on a first come first serve basis up to a maximum of 20 students. Registration deadline is the 28th May 2010.

Summer School information and registration

Geo: International