COVER STORIES been replaced by emerging areas, such as mobile GIS and GeoWeb applications, which keep the course on the cutting edge. The current curriculum introduces GIS across four Year 1 modules: Digital Earth, GIS Techniques, Applications of Geoanalysis, and Fundamental Programming Concepts. In Year 2, modules offered include Digital Mapping, Remote Sensing, Spatial Databases, Geographical Analysis and Modelling, GIS Software Development and Customisation, GIS for Enterprise and Research, and Mobile GIS. The final year promotes specialties in a wide range of options, including geovisualization, GeoWeb applications, crime pattern analysis, GIS and health, GIS and hazards, systems analysis and design, high-definition surveying, and geodemographic analysis. The bachelor’s degree course now also has Joint Honours options where students can combine a major in GIS with a minor in computing, Web technologies, business administration, or landscape architecture. This provides tremendous scope for linking GIS with a range of other subjects at KUL. In 2003, fieldwork was embedded into the programmes to take GIS out of the classroom, and this has since provided a focus for some innovative work in mobile GIS, fast becoming a contemporary area of expertise at KUL. Current curriculum initiatives are focusing on serverbased GIS both in class and for mobile GIS and high-definition surveying with terrestrial lidar for data gathering, handling, manipulation, and visualization. Alongside the bachelor’s degree course, KUL has successfully delivered a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) distance-learning training course for professional in-service training since 1994. This is a nonaccredited option that many hundreds of employees have studied part-time in distance-learning mode. Despite preeminence in the provision of a bachelor’s degree course, it wasn’t until 2002 that KUL added a master’s programme to its portfolio. The Masters in Applied GIS combined a major in GIS with a minor in environmental science. In 2008, provision was extended by the addition of a distance-learning Masters in GI Systems and Science. Both programmes are recruiting strongly as GIS becomes ever more pervasive in a wide range of activities that require professionals to retrain and seek professional development and qualifications in GIS. KUL will continue to support state-of-the-art GIS education and make it available to all those who join the world’s first GIS course as it embarks on the next 20 years. Esri Development Center KUL is also extremely proud of its recent accreditation as an Esri Development Center (EDC), which provides recognition and special status to university departments that have exemplary programs. Being an EDC site brings a number of benefits, including an annual student of the year award that was conferred for the first time in 2009, suitably commemorating 20 years of the course. The 20th Anniversary Celebration To celebrate the 20th anniversary, KUL will be holding a reunion reception for past and present GIS staff, alumni, and current students in 2010. For details of the event, contact Dr. Kenneth Field through the Kingston Centre for GIS Web site (www.kingston.ac.uk/centreforGIS). Changing Faces of GIS Faculty, Keeping Pace with Change, and Recognition and Rewards Many people have contributed to GIS at KUL. Some remain, while some have moved on and made other significant contributions in academia and business, leaving openings where new faculty have taken up the reins. KUL has also benefited from its relationship with a number of major figures in GIS over the years. A substantial financial commitment was made in terms of staffing and computer technology to launch the course. This was vital to success, and resourcing remains a vital aspect of quality course provision. Over the years, the Kingston Centre for GIS has frequently been recognized and honored. Visit 5 www.esri.com/arcnews or www.kingston. ac.uk/centreforGIS for a list of key individuals, important technology, and awards. Acknowledgments Many thanks to all those past and present faculty members who contributed to this review. As ever, it’s a team effort. About the Author Dr. Kenneth Field is course director and principal lecturer at Kingston Centre for GIS, Kingston University London. He has been editor of The Cartographic Journal since 2005 and is a member of the Council of the British Cartographic Society. His teaching and research focus areas are cartography and geovisualisation, as well as mobile GIS and mobile mapping. More Information For more information, contact Kenneth Field (e-mail: Ken.Field@kingston.ac.uk). AN GIS and lead curriculum initiatives in the science and delivery of GIS. Core modules in GIS are now delivered to all students of geography, environmental science, geology, and forensic science in Year 1 (approximately 250 students). This reflects the maturation of GIS as a discipline and the enabling role it plays for all geoscience subjects. It also reflects the philosophy of embedding GIS as a framework for study across a range of subjects in the university that extends to landscape architecture, computing, business, and surveying. Modules in photogrammetry and topographic techniques have long gone but have