Yearbooks

Programme: BSc (Geoinformatics)

Kindly take note of the disclaimer regarding qualifications and degree names.
Code Faculty Department
02133393 Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences Department: Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 3 years Total credits: 425 NQF level:  07

Admission requirements

Important information for all prospective students for 2022

  • The admission requirements apply to students who apply for admission to the University of Pretoria with a National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Independent Examination Board (IEB) qualifications.
  • Applicants with qualifications other than the abovementioned should refer to:
    • Brochure: Undergraduate Programme Information 2022: Qualifications other than the NSC and IEB, available at click here.
  • Citizens from countries other than South Africa (applicants who are not South African citizens) should also refer to:
  • School of Tomorrow (SOT), Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) and General Education Development Test (GED): The University of Pretoria no longer accepts qualifications awarded by these institutions.
  • National Certificate (Vocational) (NCV) Level 4: The University of Pretoria may consider NCV candidates, provided they meet the exemption for bachelor’s status criteria and the programme requirements.

Transferring students

A transferring student is a student who, at the time of application for a degree programme at the University of Pretoria (UP) –

  • is a registered student at another tertiary institution, or was previously registered at another tertiary institution and did not complete the programme enrolled for at that institution, and is not currently enrolled at a tertiary institution, or has completed studies at another tertiary institution, but is not currently enrolled at a tertiary institution, or has started with tertiary studies at UP, then moved to another tertiary institution and wants to be readmitted at UP.

A transferring student will be considered for admission based on

  • an NSC or equivalent qualification with exemption to bachelor’s or diploma studies (whichever is applicable); and meeting the minimum faculty-specific subject requirements at NSC or tertiary level; or having completed a higher certificate at a tertiary institution with faculty-specific subjects/modules passed (equal to or more than 50%), as well as complying with faculty rules on admission;
  • previous academic performance (must have passed all modules registered for up to the closing date of application ) or as per faculty regulation/promotion requirements;
  • a certificate of good conduct.

Note: Students who have been dismissed at the previous institution due to poor academic performance, will not be considered for admission to UP.

Returning students

A returning student is a student who, at the time of application for a degree programme –

  • is a registered student at UP, and wants to transfer to another degree at UP, or was previously registered at UP and did not complete the programme enrolled for, and did not enrol at another tertiary institution in the meantime (including students who applied for leave of absence), or has completed studies at UP, but is not currently enrolled or was not enrolled at another tertiary institution after graduation.

A returning student will be considered for admission based on

  • an NSC or equivalent qualification with exemption to bachelor’s or diploma studies (whichever is applicable); and meeting the minimum faculty-specific subject requirements at NSC or tertiary level; or previous academic performance (should have a cumulative weighted average of at least 50% for the programme enrolled for);
  • having applied for and was granted leave of absence.

Note: Students who have been excluded/dismissed from a faculty due to poor academic performance may be considered for admission to another programme at UP.  The Admissions Committee may consider such students if they were not dismissed more than twice. Only ONE transfer between UP faculties will be allowed, and a maximum of two (2) transfers within a faculty.

Important faculty-specific information on undergraduate programmes for 2022

  • The closing date is an administrative admission guideline for non-selection programmes. Once a non-selection programme is full  and has reached the institutional targets, then that programme will be closed for further admissions, irrespective of the closing date. However, if the institutional targets have not been met by the closing date, then that programme will remain open for admissions until the institutional targets are met.
  • The following persons will be considered for admission: Candidates who have a certificate that is deemed by the University to be equivalent to the required National Senior Certificate (NSC) with university endorsement; candidates who are graduates from another tertiary institution or have been granted the status of a graduate of such an institution, and candidates who are graduates of another faculty at the University of Pretoria.
  • Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the Admission Point Score (APS).
  • Grade 11 results are used for the conditional admission of prospective students. Final admission is based on the final NSC/IEB results.

University of Pretoria website: click here

Minimum requirements

Achievement level

English Home Language or English First Additional Language

Mathematics

Physical Sciences

APS

NSC/IEB

NSC/IEB

NSC/IEB

5

5

5

34

Candidates who do not comply with the minimum admission requirements for BSc (Geoinformatics), may be considered for admission to the BSc – Extended programme – Physical Sciences, which requires an additional year of study.

BSc – Extended Programme – Physical Sciences

Minimum requirements

Achievement level

English Home Language or English First Additional Language

Mathematics

Physical Sciences

APS

NSC/IEB

NSC/IEB

NSC/IEB

4

4

4

28

Note:

*The BSc – Extended programmes are not available for students who meet all the requirements for the corresponding mainstream programme.

*Please note that only students who apply in their final NSC or equivalent qualification year will be considered for admission into any of the BSc – Extended programmes.

Other programme-specific information

1.1    Requirements for specific modules
A candidate who:

  1. does not qualify for STK 110, must enrol for STK 113 and STK 123;
  2.  egisters for Mathematical Statistics (WST) and Statistics (STK) modules must take note that WST and STK modules, except for STK 281, may not be taken simultaneously in a programme; a student must take one and only one of the following options:
  • WST 111, WST 121, WST 212, WST 211, WST 221, WST 311, WST 312, WST 322, WST 321, and STK 353

or

  • WST 111, WST 121, WST 212, WST 211, WST 221, WST 311, WST 312, WST 322, STK320, STK353.

or

  • STK 110, STC 122, STK 210, STK 220, WST 212, STK 310, STK 320, STK 353.
  1. registers for a module presented by another faculty must take note of the timetable clashes, prerequisites for that module, subminimum required in examination papers, supplementary examinations, etc.

1.2    Fundamental modules

  1. It is compulsory for all new first-year students to satisfactorily complete the Academic orientation (UPO 102) and to take Academic information management modules (AIM 111 and AIM 121) and Language and study skills (LST 110). Please see curricula for details.
  2. Students who intend to apply for admission to MBChB or BChD in the second semester, when places become available in those programmes, may be permitted to register for up to 80 module credits and 4 core modules in the first semester during the first year provided that they obtained a final mark of no less than 70% for Grade 12 Mathematics and achieved an APS of 34 or more in the NSC.

Promotion to next study year

A student will be promoted to the following year of study if he or she passed 100 credits of the prescribed credits for a year of study, unless the Dean on the recommendation of the relevant head of department decides otherwise. A student who does not comply with the requirements for promotion to the following year of study, retains the credit for the modules already passed and may be admitted by the Dean, on recommendation of the relevant head of department, to modules of the following year of study to a maximum of 48 credits, provided that it will fit in with both the lecture and examination timetable.

General promotion requirements in the faculty
All students whose academic progress is not acceptable can be suspended from further studies.

  • A student who is excluded from further studies in terms of the stipulations of the abovementioned regulations, will be notified in writing by the Dean or Admissions Committee at the end of the relevant semester.
  • A student who has been excluded from further studies may apply in writing to the Admissions Committee of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences for re-admission.
  • Should the student be re-admitted by the Admissions Committee, strict conditions will be set which the student must comply with in order to proceed with his/her studies.
  • Should the student not be re-admitted to further studies by the Admissions Committee, he/she will be informed in writing.
  • Students who are not re-admitted by the Admissions Committee have the right to appeal to the Senate Appeals Committee.
  • Any decision taken by the Senate Appeals Committee is final.

Minimum credits: 150

Fundamental =   14
Core              =   136

Additional information:
Students who intend to take mathematics to the 200 level, have to take the combination of WTW 114 and WTW 124 instead of WTW 134, WTW 146 and WTW 148, if they meet the entry requirements.

    Fundamental modules

    Core modules

    • Module content:

      Introducing the basic concepts and interrelationships required to understand the complexity of natural environmental problems, covering an introduction to environmental science and biogeography; including a first introduction to SDGs and Aichi targets.

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    • Module content:

      This module begins by fostering an understanding of human geography. Then follows with the political ordering of space; cultural diversity as well as ethnic geography globally and locally; population geography of the world and South Africa: and four economic levels of development. The purpose is to place South Africa in a world setting and to understand the future of the country.

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    • Module content:

      Note: Students cannot register for both GGY 166 and GGY 168.

      Investigating southern African landscapes and placing them in a theoretical and global context. The geomorphological evolution of southern Africa. Introduction to the concepts of Geomorphology and its relationships with other physical sciences (e.g. meteorology, climatology, geology, hydrology and biology). The processes and controls of landform and landscape evolution. Tutorial exercises cover basic techniques of geomorphological analysis, and topical issues in Geomorphology.

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    • Module content:

      History, present and future of cartography. Introductory geodesy: shape of the earth, graticule and grids, datum definition, elementary map projection theory, spherical calculations. Representation of geographical data on maps: Cartographic design, cartographic abstraction, levels of measurement and visual variables. Semiotics for cartography: signs, sign systems, map semantics and syntactics, explicit and implicit meaning of maps (map pragmatics). Critique maps of indicators to measure United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in South Africa.

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    • Module content:

      Introduction to information systems, information systems in organisations, hardware: input, processing, output, software: systems and application software, organisation of data and information, telecommunications and networks, the Internet and Intranet. Transaction processing systems, management information systems, decision support systems, information systems in business and society, systems analysis, systems design, implementation, maintenance and revision.

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    • Module content:

      Introduction to programming.

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    • Module content:

      Programming.

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    • Module content:

      General systems theory, creative problem solving, soft systems methodology. The systems analyst, systems development building blocks, systems development, systems analysis methods, process modelling.

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    • Module content:

      The entrepreneurial mind-set; managers and managing; values, attitudes, emotions, and culture: the manager as a person; ethics and social responsibility; decision making; leadership and responsible leadership; effective groups and teams; managing organizational structure and culture inclusive of the different functions of a generic organisation and how they interact (marketing; finance; operations; human resources and general management); contextualising Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in each of the topics.

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    • Module content:

      Value chain management: functional strategies for competitive advantage; human resource management; managing diverse employees in a multicultural environment; motivation and performance; using advanced information technology to increase performance; production and operations management; financial management; corporate entrepreneurship.

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    • Module content:

      *Students will not be credited for more than one of the following modules for their degree: WTW 134, WTW 165, WTW 114, WTW 158. WTW 134 does not lead to admission to Mathematics at 200 level and is intended for students who require Mathematics at 100 level only. WTW 134 is offered as WTW 165 in the second semester only to students who have applied in the first semester of the current year for the approximately 65 MBChB, or the 5-6 BChD places becoming available in the second semester and who were therefore enrolled for MGW 112 in the first semester of the current year. 
      Functions, derivatives, interpretation of the derivative, rules of differentiation, applications of differentiation, integration, interpretation of the definite integral, applications of integration. Matrices, solutions of systems of equations. All topics are studied in the context of applications.

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    • Module content:

      *Students will not be credited for more than one of the following modules for their degree:
      WTW 124, WTW 146 and WTW 164. The module WTW 146 is designed for students who require Mathematics at 100 level only and does not lead to admission to Mathematics at 200 level.

      Vector algebra, lines and planes, matrix algebra, solution of systems of equations, determinants. Complex numbers and polynomial equations. All topics are studied in the context of applications.

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    • Module content:

      *Students will not be credited for more than one of the following modules for their degree:
      WTW 124, WTW 148 and WTW 164. The module WTW 148 is designed for students who require Mathematics at 100 level only and does not lead to admission to Mathematics at 200 level.

      Integration techniques. Modelling with differential equations. Functions of several variables, partial derivatives, optimisation. Numerical techniques. All topics are studied in the context of applications.

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    Minimum credits: 143

    Core       =   143

    Core modules

    • Module content:

      Basic principles of law of contract. Law of sales, credit agreements, lease.

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    • Module content:

      In this module students are equipped with an understanding of the moral issues influencing human agency in economic and political contexts. In particular philosophy equips students with analytical reasoning skills necessary to understand and solve complex moral problems related to economic and political decision making. We demonstrate to students how the most important questions concerning the socio-economic aspects of our lives can be broken down and illuminated through reasoned debate. Examples of themes which may be covered in the module include justice and the common good, a moral consideration of the nature and role of economic markets on society, issues concerning justice and equality, and dilemmas of loyalty. The works of philosophers covered may for instance include that of Aristotle, Locke, Bentham, Mill, Kant, Rawls, Friedman, Nozick, Bernstein, Dworkin, Sandel, Walzer, MacIntyre, Bujo, Wiredu, and Gyekye.

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    • Module content:

      Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), theoretical concepts and applications of GIS. The focus will be on the GIS process of data input, data analysis, data output and associated technologies. This module provides the foundations for more advanced GIS and Geoinformatics topics. Practical assessments and a mini-project make use of South African and African examples and foster learning and application of concepts aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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    • Module content:

      The nature of geographical data and measurement.Application of statistics in the geographical domain. Probability, probability distributions and densities, expected values and variances, Central Limit theorem. Sampling techniques. Exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics, statistical estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation analysis and regression analysis. Examples used throughout the course are drawn from South African and African case studies and taught within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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    • Module content:

      This module aims to provide students with a working knowledge and skills to learn methods and techniques for collecting, processing and analysing remotely sensed data. Throughout the module, emphasis will be placed on image processing, image analysis, image classification, remote sensing and applications of remote sensing in geographical analysis and environmental monitoring. The module is composed of lectures, readings, practical exercises research tasks and a project or assignments of at least 64 notional hours. In particular, the practical exercises and research tasks incorporate South African examples using satellite remotely-sensed data, as well as field spectral data measurements, to promote understanding of the state of land cover and land use types (e.g. spanning agricultural resources, water resources, urbanization) and how changes over time could impact on the changing climate in accordance with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

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    • Module content:

      Database design: the relational model, structured query language (SQL), entity relationship modelling, normalisation, database development life cycle; practical introduction to database design. Databases: advanced entity relationship modelling and normalisation, object-oriented databases, database development life cycle, advanced practical database design.

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    • Module content:

      An overview of systems infrastructure and integration.

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    • Module content:

      Database management: transaction management, concurrent processes, recovery, database administration: new developments: distributed databases, client-server databases: practical implementation of databases.

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    • Module content:

      Descriptive statistics:
      Sampling and the collection of data; frequency distributions and graphical representations. Descriptive measures of location and dispersion.
      Probability and inference:
      Introductory probability theory and theoretical distributions. Sampling distributions. Estimation theory and hypothesis testing of sampling averages and proportions (one and two-sample cases). Supporting mathematical concepts. Statistical concepts are demonstrated and interpreted through practical coding and simulation within a data science framework.

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    • Module content:

      Students can only get credit for one of the following two modules: STK 120 or STK 121.
      Analysis of variance, categorical data analysis, distribution-free methods, curve fitting, regression and correlation, the analysis of time series and indices. Statistical and economic applications of quantitative techniques: Systems of linear equations: solving and application. Optimisation, linear functions, non-linear functions. Marginal and total functions. Stochastic and deterministic variables in statistical and economic context: producers' and consumers' surplus. Supporting mathematical concepts. Statistical concepts are illustrated using simulation within a data science framework.
      This module is also presented as STK 121, an anti-semester module. This is a terminating module. 

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    • Module content:

      Adjustment and use of following instruments: Plane table, level, compass and theodolite. Elementary site surveying and leveling, tachometry. Definition of survey. Co-ordinate systems and bearing. Connections and polars. Methods of determining points. Elevation. Tachometry.

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    Minimum credits: 132

    Core             =   132

    Core modules

    • Module content:

      Advanced theory and practice of Geographic Information Systems; GIS applications; design and implementation of GIS applications. A project or assignments of at least 64 notional hours. Diverse South African examples will be used to expose the students to various data sources, geospatial analyses, and data representation to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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    • Module content:

      Advanced geoinformatics topics in geovisualisation and geocomputation. A project or assignments of at least 64 notional hours. The topics will be discussed using various local and international examples with the project focusing on at least one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

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    • Module content:

      Construction of Raster Geovisualisations, spatial model construction and use, multi-criteria decision analysis. Factor analysis: Principle component analysis. Geostatistics: Spatial dependence modelling, ordinary kriging. Markov chains and cellular Automata, combined models. Examples using data from South Africa are implemented. A project or assignment of at least 64 notional hours.

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    • Module content:

      This module aims to provide students with a working knowledge and skills to learn methods and techniques for collecting, processing and analysing remotely sensed data. Throughout the module, emphasis will be placed on image processing, image analysis, image classification, remote sensing and applications of remote sensing in geographical analysis and environmental monitoring. The module is composed of lectures, readings, practical exercises research tasks and a project or assignments of at least 64 notional hours. In particular, the practical exercises and research tasks incorporate South African examples using satellite remotely-sensed data, as well as field spectral data measurements, to promote understanding of the state of land cover and land use types (e.g. spanning agricultural resources, water resources, urbanization) and how changes over time could impact on the changing climate in accordance with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

      View more

    • Module content:

      Spherical trigonometry. Geometrical Geodesy: Datum surfaces and coordinate systems in Geodesy, Calculations on the ellipsoid, Datum transformations. Map projections: Projection principles, distortion determination, construction of conformal, equivalent and equidistant projections, the Transverse Mercator projection and UTM projection of an ellipsoidal earth, projection transformations. Space Geodesy: Time systems, Celestial and observer coordinate systems, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Satellite orbits and orbital parameters, 3¬ D positioning. A project or assignments of at least 64 notional hours. Examples using data from South Africa are implemented.

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    • Module content:

      A project focusing on a local community which is approved by the lecturer and in which one or more of the studied techniques of data acquisition and processing are used to produce an output of spatially referenced information. The project must be fully described in a project report.

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    The regulations and rules for the degrees published here are subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information.

    The General Academic Regulations (G Regulations) and General Student Rules apply to all faculties and registered students of the University, as well as all prospective students who have accepted an offer of a place at the University of Pretoria. On registering for a programme, the student bears the responsibility of ensuring that they familiarise themselves with the General Academic Regulations applicable to their registration, as well as the relevant faculty-specific and programme-specific regulations and information as stipulated in the relevant yearbook. Ignorance concerning these regulations will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression, or basis for an exception to any of the aforementioned regulations.

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