Cartographic Courses

Faculty of Geography has four courses: Geography, Regional Planning, Demography and Geo-spatial Basis of Environment. Course Geography has following cartographic subject: Cartography on first year, Geographic Information Systems on second and Thematic Cartography on fourth year. Students on Regional Planning course study Cartography with Topography on first year, GIS also on first year, Remote Sensing on second and Thematic Cartography on third year. Demographers have Cartography on first and GIS on second year. Students on course Geo-spatial basis of Environment have Cartography on first and GIS, Remote Sensing Applied in Environment and Digital Cartography with Mapping Environment on second year.

Faculty of Geography has 3 post-graduated studies (master studies) with cartographic subjects: Geographic Cartography, Mapping the Environment and Geographic Information Systems. All courses have four semesters.

Course Geographic Cartography has following program structure:

1. First Year
- Cartographic Methods
- Cartographic Generalization
- Cartometry
- Semiometry and Semiology
- Cartographic Information Systems and Communications
- Historical Cartography;

2. Second Year
- Thematic Cartography
- Digital Cartography
- GIS and Cartography
- Maps on Internet
- Atlases.

Program structure of Course Mapping the Environment:
1. First Year
- Mapping the Elements of Environment
- Digital Mapping
- Organizing and Processing Databases in Environment
- GIS Applications in Environment;

2. Second Year
- Modelling of Hazards in Environment
- Monitoring and Protection in Environment
- Prognostic Maps
- Environmental Atlases.

For last three years, on Faculty of Geography, there is course Geographic Information Systems. It has following subjects:

1. First Year
- Definitions and Basis in Geographic Information Systems
- Databases
- Computer Generalization of Data
- Spatial Analysis and Synthesis;

2. Second Year
- Graphic Elements in GIS
- Digital Mapping
- Remote Sensing and GIS
- GIS and Cartography.

On Faculty for Civil and Surveying Engineering there is a course Geodesy. Their students have several cartographic and similar subjects: Geodesy 1 on first year; Geodesy 2, Introduction in Computer's Applications, Programming and Mathematics methods on second; Cadastre, Fotogrametry 1, Automatization of Data Processing in Geodesy, Theoretical Geodesy, Engineering Geodesy on third; Fotogrametry 2, Geodesy 3, Theoretical Geodesy 2, Engineering Geodesy 2, Cartography 1, Spatial Information Systems, Cartography 2 on fourth; and Thematic Cartography, Engineering Fotogrametry, Remote Sensing, Information Technology in Cartography and Technology in Map Production on fifth year.

This faculty has three post-graduated (master) courses: Geodesic Cartography, Geo-information Systems and Geodesy.

Program structure of course Geodesic Cartography:

1. First Year
- Statistical Methods
- Theory of Information Systems
- Fotogrametry and Cartography
- Engineering Fotogrametry
- Remote Sensing
- Automatization in Fotogrametry;

2. Second Year
- Mathematical Cartography
- Digital Cartography
- Applied Cartography
- Geo-information Systems
- Digital Terrain Models.

Course Geo-information Systems program structure:

1. First Year
- Theory of Information Systems
- Geo-information Systems
- Organization of Land and Territory
- Information Systems in Cadastre
- Information Systems in Comasation;

2. Second Year
- Statistical Methods
- Model Analysis and Synthesis
- Multi-criteria's Optimization
- Management and Directions of Projects.

Program structure of course Geodesy:

1. First Year
- Functional Analysis and Application
- Numerical Analysis
- Methods of Mathematical Physics and Discrete Modeling
- Geo-information Systems
- Multi-criteria's Optimization and Geodesic Networks
- Physical Basis of Measurement Technologies;

2. Second Year
- Deformational Analysis
- Methodology for Establishing Objects Geometry
- Models of Referent Networks
- Gravimetrical Networks
- Mathematical Models for Geodesic Astronomy
- Measurement Methods of Astronomical and Physical Geodesy in Process of Building Referent Geodesic Networks.

In Yugoslavia, only these two faculties have post-graduated courses in Cartography and similar scientific discipline.
On both Faculties (for Geography and for Civil and Surveying Engineering) students with master degree can also working on doctorate thesis in any subjects mentioned at post-graduated courses.

Several faculties have only one cartographic subject. They are Faculty for Mining and Geology (Geological Cartography), Agricultural Faculty (Mapping the Agricultural Land) and Faculty for Foresting (Thematic Cartography). Faculty for History has Historical Cartography as a subject on post-graduated course.

Education on distance (by Internet courses)

Digital age begins with computer based systems in making maps and will end with applying digital tools in all phases of composing content, making and using maps. Among the most achievements in digital cartography are the storage of cartographic data in vector and raster form, development of database management systems and various improvements to enable efficient data storage, retrieval, combination and data transfer. For this period great importance has Internet. One of the most important uses of Internet has been for the posting of availability, and the ability to order on-line of GI data and services. For GIS and digital RS systems, convergence with Internet occurred relatively early in the Digital-Information transition period. The post-processing steps include improvements in automated feature extraction, understanding of the effects of scale, modeling and analysis tools and monitoring methodologies.

In information age is creating virtual reality systems which give new meaning to maps. Such systems not only create virtual reality world from real GIS data, but may also visualize in real GPS data to users of computer graphic representation from virtual reality world. Virtual reality hardware systems exist, incorporating powerful 3D graphic generating computers, multi-sensory display devices such as stereo vision / sound helmets and video rooms.

In Yugoslavia there is no education courses on Internet. Problem is to make good law regulation in these field. Problems are protection author's rights (we have that problem generally without connected Internet), examinations of students, relatively small numbers of home computers, access to Internet, access to particular software needed for some projects etc.

Forming Cartography course on Internet is a good idea. It is good opportunity for authors to exange ideas and new scientific knowledge. Also, it is good for students (graduated and post-graduated) to learn new things by using Internet because many of them (especially students from undeveloped countries) haven't opportunities to study at good world universities and buy all good books for scientific discipline for which they are interesting.

For laic it is convenient to learn and improve knowledge in particular field for which he/she is interested.

Maps become much more part of every day life and it would be good to learn how to use it on different ways with no matter is it on traditional (paper) media or in digital form on computers.

Conclusion

Maps are communication tools with which humankind interacts with spatial phenomena, creating them as analogues of the perceived world. Cartographic systems reflect scientific and cultural level of society, which produced them. Making maps and researching by them demand applying cartography as science, as well as a technique too.

Mapping artifacts are powerful representations of reality with the double-side nature of all technology. We use them to manipulate the way we relate to our world and they become a lens through which we see our world. On that way map author and map user become closer than ever before, because map user in particular moment become map co-author.