Development of a GISc Programme for CPUT

J.H. Raubenheimer

Dept. of Civil Engineering & Surveying, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town,
South Africa, RaubenheimerJ@cput.ac.za


Abstract
This paper discusses the development of the first GISc diploma at a South African University of
Technology.
The changes in Surveying education and development of GIS is explored, since it became clear
that the interest in the cartography programme became increasingly limited and the obvious
solution was to replace it with GISc. This paper describes how the programme was developed with
the input from industry. Different options, e.g. a new programme, revision of an existing
programme or by adding options, were considered. A few years ago the government published the
Higher Education Qualification Framework setting the scene for future higher education
programmes in SA. This creates specific challenges for future Surveying and GISc education in SA
and the paper addresses some of the challenges. The new school curriculum also has an influence
on university education.

1. Introduction
Decision-makers are increasingly relying on the geospatial component of information because
90% of the data used by them are location-based (Pagiatakis et al, 2009). In South Africa most GIS
technicians are currently employed by local authorities, provincial authorities, planning
departments, organs of state or private geospatial suppliers. These employees are either trained in-
house or have general or related qualifications.
Employment opportunities for surveyors have severely decreased due to the economic decline
over the past couple of years. On the other hand, GIS applications are found in almost all spheres of
business, e.g. planning, engineering, nature conservation, health, etc.
According to Rther (2003) survey education and the survey profession are under severe threat.
Too few graduates enter the profession and then many of these are soon lost to other professions. As
opposed to Rthers rather bleak forecast for the future of surveying, Pagiatakis et al (2009) is very
positive and states that the geomatics industry has been increasing at a dramatic pace and has
become a multi-billion dollar industry with a high demand for knowledgeable and skilled people
with expertise in the many and varied aspects of geomatics theory and applications.

2. Brief History of Survey Education in South Africa
Survey education in South Africa at university level dates back to the early 20
th
century, while
the first diploma course was introduced in 1958. The latter was a three-year diploma consisting of 3
semesters of theory alternating with 3 semesters in-service training. This diploma course was
replaced in 1991 with 2 years academic education and one year in-service training after a complete
revision of subjects and learning material. During 1995 the Cape Peninsula University of
Technology (CPUT) formerly the Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon introduced the
B.Tech. degree which also includes a dissertation. Registration of technicians and surveyors was
introduced with the so-called PLATO Act (Registration of Professional and Technical Surveyors
Act 40/1984) in 1984. Although the perception exists that only conventional survey skills and
traditional cartography are required in Africa and therefore the education can still follow its
conventional form (Rther, 2003), significant changes were made at both universities and
universities of technology. The latter have upgraded their diploma programmes and introduced
B.Tech degrees. New technologies like GPS and GIS, were introduced into the programmes to a
varying extent.
The number of students at the traditional academic universities in South Africa has declined to
such an extent that 3 of the original 5 departments have closed over the last 15 years (Rther, 2003).
Contrary to this, the numbers at UoT have increased to such an extent that most of the UoTs now
have to limit their number of students due to capacity constraints. This is probably due to the
improvements of the quality of the diploma and B.Tech programmes, registration of surveyors and
the resultant improved status. Unfortunately, the academic quality of the recent intake of first year
students is of grave concern because a significant percentage of these students lack numerical and
communication skills as well as the ability to think in a structured and logical way. This problem is
now amplified by the fact that geometry is now merely optional in the senior certificate
Mathematics.

3. HEQF
The Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF) was published by the government in
2007 and was implemented by 2009. This prescribes the qualifications that can be offered in future
by South African higher education institutions. All new programmes that are introduced must be in
terms of this structure and all existing programmes will have to be converted to one or more of
these structures. The cut-off date for conversions has not been determined yet. PLATO will also
have to determine which of these new qualifications will be required for practitioners to register in
the different categories. Figure 1 shows the different qualifications that are created in the policy
document. In future any university may offer any of the qualifications in the HEQF with the
approval of the Dept. of Higher Education.
It is interesting to note that the structure makes provision for the four year professional degree
currently offered by academic universities, but not for the diplomas or B.Tech degrees currently
offered by universities of technology, who will now have to convert all their programmes in order
to comply with one of these approved programmes.

Qualifications in the HEQF
High Cert
120
96@8
120@7
L8
Prof B
480
96@5
120@7
L7
B
360
96@5
L6
Diploma
360
120@5
Adv Cert
120
L6
L5
L7
L8
60
@7
B Hons
120@8
120@9
M 180
L9
L10
D
360@10
Adv Dip
120@7
PG Dip
120@8

Figure 1. Qualifications in the new HEQF

New programmes will have to be developed in consultation with industry and the professional
bodies. These curricula will also have to be compared with unit standard qualifications previously
developed as well as with international qualifications.

4. Development of GISc Diploma
When the current diploma programme was developed in the early 1990s, GIS was still in its
infancy in South Africa and a full subject offering GIS was not included in the diploma course.
With the introduction of the B.Tech in 1995, a subject GIS 4 was included in the fourth year. In
2005 this was augmented by also introducing GIS at diploma level. To achieve this, the former
Photogrammetry 2 and 3 and Stereo Mapping 3 were restructured into two subjects to accommodate
the new subject. These subjects were offered in both the Surveying and Cartography streams.
Over the last decade a few GIS programmes were developed in South Africa, mostly at
universities (e.g. Stellenbosch and Pretoria) as part of geography programmes or as post graduate
programmes (e.g. UCT). There were however no programmes at technikons or universities of
technology. With the Directorate: National Geospatial Information (NGI), South Africas national
mapping organisation, the navy cartographic section, and various private mapping companies all
based in Cape Town, CPUT is ideally suited to offer a programme in GISc.
The diploma in Surveying is offered at four universities of technology but the Cartography
diploma is offered only at CPUT. This is viable only because it largely overlaps with Surveying, but
the number of students enrolling for Cartography is very small. Most of the people in industry who
have a cartography background are also doing a large amount of GIS work.
Research in the USA identified the key competencies and roles that GIS employees were
involved in (DiBiase et al, 2006). This is summarised in Table 1. Technicians are directly
responsible for at least the first seven functions.


Table 1. Roles played by geospatial professionals. Adapted from DiaBiase, 2006.
Application Development Identify and develop tools and instruments to satisfy customer needs
Data Acquisition Collect geospatial and related data
Co-ordination Inter-organisational facilitation and communication
Data Analysis and Interpretation Process data and extract information to create products, derive conclusions
and inform decision-making reports
Data Management Catalogue, archive, retrieve and distribute geospatial data
Visualisation Render data and information into visual geospatial representations
Marketing Identify customer requirements and needs, and effectively communicate
those needs and requirements to the organisation, as well as promote
geospatial solutions
Management Efficiently and effectively apply the companys mission using financial,
technical and intellectual skills and resources to optimize the end products
Project Management Effectively oversee activity requirements to produce the desired outcomes
on time and within budget
Systems Analysis Assess requirements to produce the desired outcomes on time and within
budget
Systems Management Integrate resources and develop additional resources to support spatial and
temporal user requirements
Training Analyse, design and develop instructional and non-instructional
interventions to provide transfer of knowledge and evaluation for
performance enhancement

It was therefore decided in 2009 to set up a small committee to revise the Cartography diploma
course to make provision for GIS. This committee was representative of staff from the department,
academics from other universities, members of the Advisory committee and practitioners from
industry involved in GIS. They used the current Surveying and Cartography diplomas and the
qualifications compiled by the GIS Standards Generating Body (SGB) as a basis for their
investigation. This SGB has compiled the body of knowledge (BoK) that would be required for a
diploma and degree qualification in GIS in South Africa. It therefore describes the requirements for
South African qualifications.
The topics in the qualifications compiled by the SGB were compared to the existing CPUT
qualifications to determine the gaps. Table 2 shows how these topics are covered by the existing
CPUT qualifications.

Table 2. SAQA BoK relating to CPUT qualifications
SAQA topic CPUT subject
Mathematics & Statistics Mathematics 1 & 2, Statistics 1
Geography Geography 1
Data capture Surveying 1, 2 & 3, Photogrammetry 2 & 3
Data manipulation Computer Applications 3, Adjustment of Errors 3,
Cadastral Surveying 3
Map production Survey Drawing 2, Map Projections 2, Cartography 3,
Cartographic Techniques 3
Photogrammetry Photogrammetry 2 & 3
Databases Computer Applications 3, GIS 3
Professional practice Legal Principles 1, B.Tech
GISc GIS 3
Remote sensing Photogrammetry 3 (limited)
Spatial awareness Geography 1, Drawing, Surveying
Spatial analysis -
Work ethics Experiential learning
Research methodology B.Tech

These documents served as the basis for discussion from which the committee compiled the
subject matter that had to be included in a qualification. These were then grouped into related
topics. Although modern technology must be sufficiently covered, this must be based on
fundamental knowledge. It was therefore essential to maintain the right balance between theoretical
principles, modern technology and applications. After scrutiny of all existing subjects in order to
prevent duplication, three new subjects were created: Data Quality Management 3, Spatial Analysis
3 and Remote Sensing 3. The contents of the subjects are briefly summarised in Table 3.

Table 3. Content of the new subjects
Data Quality Management 3
Understand and manage data errors
Data cleaning
Metadata
Spatial Analysis 3
Concepts of spatial queries
Statistical analysis
GIS project
Remote Sensing 3
Remote sensing platforms
Digital image processing
Image classification

To be successful, a surveying or geomatics programme must provide students with the
fundamentals of mathematical, scientific and surveying knowledge underlying the role of the
surveyor as the technical leader and geospatial expert (Greenfeld & Potts, 2008). The underlying
principle of technician education in the diploma courses was to emphasize the application of
knowledge and technical skills with a balance between theory and practical application, thereby
balancing the universities academic objectives with industries desire for ready-to-work
technicians. Universities of Technology have always used outcomes-based education where the
emphasis is on developing the skills that a technician would need to perform his daily tasks. This
has proved most successful with co-operative education where theoretical studies are combined
with experiential learning. Rther (2003) also stress the advantages of the integration of software
systems, but point out the dangers of a black box approach which may lead to uncritical
acceptance of outputs. This needs to be considered when developing new teaching material.
Because it was decided to keep the current structure of the programme unchanged, the period of
experiential learning is still kept to one year. In a revised structure in terms of the HEQF, however,
this might well be reduced to 6 months, or even removed from the qualification. Whereas the year
of experiential learning for Survey students is the 2
nd
year of the programme, it was decided to
make it the 3
rd
year for GISc. It was felt that after only one year of study, students do not have
sufficient knowledge - particularly in GIS theory - to be able to apply this in industry. Moving the
experiential learning component to the third year, also has the added advantage that if an employer
wants to employ a student permanently, this would then be a continuous period from his practical
year to full-time employment.
UoT may change the content of programmes by a maximum of 50% with the approval of senate.
However, they may not significantly change the name of a programme without the approval of the
Department of Higher Education. Such an amendment could take up to 2 years to be effected. All
qualifications will have to be transformed into the new HEQF model in the next few years. The
department therefore had to make a decision either to go through this process to change the name of
the programme and then soon afterwards amend it to the applicable HEQF model, or to keep the
current name until a full revision is required. It was decided to do the latter with a minor
amendment to the programme name:
National Diploma: Cartography (GISc)
The new curriculum is shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Curriculum of ND: Cartography (GISc)
FIRST YEAR
Semester 1 Semester 2
Mathematics 1 Mathematics 1
Computer Skills 1A Physics 1
Communication Skills 1 Photogrammetry 2
Surveying 1 Computer Skills 1B (CAD)
Drawing 1 Civil Engineering 1
Geography 1

SECOND YEAR
Semester 1 Semester 2
Mathematics 2 Geographic Information Systems 3
Cartography 3 Data Quality Management 3
Map Projections 2 Spatial Analysis 3
Statistics 1 Remote Sensing 3
Computer Applications 3 Management: Civil 1
Spatial Data Acquisition 3 Legal Principles 1
THIRD YEAR
GIS Experiential Learning

An important component of geomatics and GIS education is the availability and accessibility of
equipment, software and data (Pagiatakis, 2009). The Department is reasonably well equipped with
surveying, GPS and photogrammetry equipment as well as GIS software. Remote sensing and
image analysis software will have to be acquired. Data sets have been provided by the City of Cape
Town and Directorate: National Geospatial Information and they are very helpful in providing
updates and applicable samples.
It is essential for these qualifications to fulfil the requirements for registration with the SA
Council for Professional and Technical Surveyors (PLATO) and to be accredited by the Education
Advisory Committee. PLATO is responsible for the registration of surveyors and GISc
professionals. The current Surveying diploma and B.Tech were fully accredited by PLATO in 2009.
Accreditation assures students that their course material, lecturers and academic resources are
within the high-quality standards and requirements of the professional bodies (Pagiatakis, 2009). If
the new qualification closely resembles the SGB qualifications it would probably comply with these
requirements. This would, however, only be determined when the universities are accredited for
GIS qualifications probably only by 2012.
Surveyors and GIS technologists are becoming more involved in multidisciplinary projects and
for this reason they also need skills in communication and staff management. (Hannah et al, 2009).
We have added a management subject to the diploma, but have also found that the communication
skills of students entering the programme are declining every year. This needs to be addressed by
the university and industry.

5. Work-Integrated Learning
Work-integrated learning (WIL) is an educational structure used worldwide in many surveying
and engineering programmes. It provides opportunities for students to apply theoretical knowledge,
develop and consolidate skills, reflect on practice and develop an understanding of the profession
while obtaining real-world experiences (Webb, 2010). If it is not part of the formal programme, it is
usually recommended as some sort of vacation work. WIL is a compulsory component of all
Surveying and Engineering programmes at CPUT. In some cases it is one year in the middle of the
3-year diploma and in other cases it is the last year. Raubenheimer (2002) described the objectives
as to provide a career oriented programme and to assist students to develop the (practical) skills
required for their profession.
The advantages are that it provides an integral learning process between theory and practice and
ensures co-operation between students, university, employers and professional bodies. If the formal
period of WIL is reduced or even removed from the formal qualification, care should be taken that
these advantages are not lost in the process.

6. Comparison with Other Programmes
Whereas surveying science is easy to define and most survey practitioners know exactly what it
entails and what skills a surveyor must have to perform his function, this is not the case with GISc.
It is a tool used by diverse professionals such as engineers, planners, environmental managers,
bankers, etc. In fact, there is almost no profession that does not make use of geographic information
in one or other form. This makes it very difficult to design a curriculum to suit the different
requirements of these diverse professions.
Evidence of this is visible in the Education Advisory Committee of PLATO at the moment. This
committee is in the process of compiling a model which will be used to accredit universities that
offer GISc. However, the members of the committee find it difficult to agree on the contents of the
model. There appears to be two schools of thought:
One which is based on surveying and believes that a GISc professional should have a strong
scientific (surveying) background with an extensive knowledge of mathematics,
positioning/surveying, map projections, error theory and computer science.
The other mostly represent people with a geography background who believe that they
should have a general education based on geography, environmental science, statistics,
spatial analysis and even philosophy.
To get a common curriculum model that would satisfy both groups is proving to be very difficult.
To evaluate a new or revised curriculum one can compare it to other university curricula or with
the requirements set by industry. In a number of publications a so-called Body of Knowledge
(BoK) has been published, covering the material in that area (DiBiase et al, 2006 and Greenfield &
Potts, 2008). One can therefore test a curriculum by comparing it to a BoK. Table 5 is an attempt to
give an indication of the coverage of the GISc BoK by the CPUT curriculum.

Table 5. GISc BoK relating to the CPUT curriculum
GISc BoK CPUT subject Comment
Analytical Methods Comp. Appl. 3, GIS 3, Spatial Analysis 3 Introductory level
Conceptual Foundations Geography, GIS 3 Limited coverage
Cartography & Visualisation Map Projections, Cartography 3
Design Aspects Computer Appl. 3, GIS 3, Management:
Civil 1

Data Modelling Computer Appl. 3, GIS 3 Introductory level
Data Manipulation GIS 3, Cartography 3, Computer Appl. 3
Geocomputation Data Quality Management 3, Spatial
Analysis 3
Limited coverage
Geospatial Data Map Projections 2, Spatial Data
Acquisition 3, Remote Sensing 3, Data
Quality Management 3

GIS & T and Society Legal Principles 1, Management: Civil 1 Introductory level
Organisational & Institutional
Aspects
GIS 3, Data Quality Management 3 Introductory level

A cursory comparison between the CPUT programme and the Diploma in Geographical
Information Science at the University of East London appears in Table 6.

Table 6. Comparison of University of East London and CPUT curricula.
UEL CPUT subject
Plane surveying Surveying 1
Quantitative methods Mathematics 1 & 2
Skills for Surveying Surveying, Experiential learning
Mapping Cartography 3
Introduction to GIS GIS 3
Applications in GIS GIS 3, Spatial Analysis 3
Applied information technology Comp. Skills 1, Comp.
Applications 3
Handling spatial data GIS 3, Comp. Appl. 3
Legal framework for Geomatics Legal Principles 1
Data acquisition and 3D
modelling
Spatial Data Acquisition 3,
Remote Sensing 3
Analysing spatial data Spatial Analysis 3
Digital cartography Cartography 3

The evaluation of the CPUT curriculum reveals that it covers the basic mathematical sciences,
data capture, data manipulation, mapping and visualisation. It is probably lacking in programming,
modelling and geo-computation. It can however be argued that these areas are more on a
professional than on a technician level. Ultimately the employers of our graduates will be the main
evaluators of the programme, together with PLATO accreditation.

7. Surveying, GISc or Geomatics
The debate between Surveying or Geomatics has been ongoing worldwide (Barnes 2009, Rther
2003 and Hannah et al 2009) including South Africa, for a few decades. It has been argued that
geomatics includes a wider field than surveying and rather refers to the science of spatial
information. Many universities changed the names of their programmes and departments to
Geomatics, hoping to increase their student numbers, but with limited success. It was also felt that
with Geomatics it would be possible to expand the traditional market of sunsets and land rovers to
young people interested in information technology and spatial science.
Compared to engineering or the legal profession, for example, surveying is a small and largely
unknown profession. In many countries the profession has an extremely low profile when compared
to other professions (Hannah et al, 2009). This has made the marketing to learners difficult because
most of them are not aware of the profession. Geomatics is even less known and although it may be
a better description of the modern science, it will even be more difficult to market as a possible
career. Even internationally the term geomatics still remains very much unknown to the majority of
high school students and the public at large (Pagiatakis, 2009). Most parents and students do not
know what geomatics is, whereas nearly all are familiar with e.g. Google Earth and GPS car
navigation systems. The question is therefore: Do we rather use a term that best describes the
science or do we use one that is possibly easier to market to prospective students and the general
public? Marker (2007) described how Surveying and GIS was merged into a Geomatics degree by
offering a common knowledge base with options. An example exists in the engineering programmes
where - at most institutions - the first year is common, while students only specialise from the
second year onwards. We can also create a common knowledge base between Surveying and GIS at
CPUT, with common subjects such as Geography, Surveying (data capture), Map Projections, etc.
Surveying/Geomatics are traditionally housed in the Engineering Faculties at universities, often
together with Civil Engineering. In South Africa only the Tswane University of Technology has a
separate department of Geomatics, whereas at all the other universities of technology it is combined
with civil engineering. CPUT previously had a separate department of Surveying but it has also
merged with civil engineering in 2004. The UKZN is in the same position as CPUT, while at UCT
geomatics is combined with architecture and town planning. This trend is also visible in
international programmes where, for example programmes in Canada, it is found in civil
engineering, geography and Arts & Science (Pagiatakis, 2009).

8. Conclusions
With technology changing and developing at such a rapid rate, university curricula have to be
updated regularly to ensure that graduates meet the demands of industry. CPUT is already working
on the curriculum that will be introduced in terms of the HEQF. The draft makes provision for a
Diploma and Bachelors degree in Geomatics. This will probably have two streams with electives so
that students can either specialise in Surveying or GISc. In March 2010 the Education Advisory
Committee of PLATO recommended that in terms of the new structure, candidates will need an
Advanced Certificate to register as a technician and a diploma or Bachelor degree to register as
surveyor/technologist. This will mean that CPUT will have to offer both these parallel qualifications
to provide the necessary skilled personnel. A challenging curriculation is required to offer this
within the restrictions of staff and budget.
Much has been said and written about the highly improved pass rate of grade 12 learners in
2010. Educators at tertiary institutions, though, find a vast number of their new students lacking in
sufficient mathematical and communication skills. The harsh truth is that the current school
education system and curriculum fail to adequately prepare their learners for tertiary education and
even the job market in general. A remedy for the short term would be for the university to put more
emphasis on preparing students in communication, mathematics and work ethics, although this is
mere patching of a much larger problem that should be addressed by policy makers in the school
system. In the meantime, our marketing will have to improve because we compete against the
engineering, science and medical programmes for the limited number of school leavers who do
have acceptable marks in Mathematics and Physics.
PLATO will probably introduce a compulsory system of CPD (continuing professional
development) in the near future. This will mean that the need for short courses and post graduate
courses will grow. When students leave the university it is essential that they do so with the
expectation that this is not the end of their learning, but only a transition to a new phase.


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