{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T07:01:10Z","timestamp":1780297270973,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":76,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":24,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777593600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Transactions in GIS"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Professional master's programs have become a primary pathway for workforce\u2010oriented training in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIS&amp;T) in the United States, yet systematic, cross\u2010institutional evidence about what these curricula emphasize and omit remains limited. This study introduces a scalable curriculum evaluation framework that aligns course offerings to the GIS&amp;T Body of Knowledge (BoK) and supports multidimensional interpretation through interactive visual analytics. We compile 532 GIS\u2010relevant courses from 57 professional master's programs across 44\u2009U.S. universities using publicly available course catalogs and program webpages. Course titles and descriptions are preprocessed and aligned to BoK Topics, Units, and Knowledge Areas using TF\u2010IDF vectorization, cosine similarity, and hierarchical evidence aggregation with proportional allocation for multidomain courses. The resulting BoK\u2010aligned course distributions are visualized through heatmap\u2010based visual analytics to enable three complementary assessments: \u201clocal\u201d program\u2010level diagnosis, \u201ccomparative\u201d benchmarking across institutions, and \u201cglobal\u201d system\u2010level pattern detection. Results indicate a strong system\u2010wide emphasis on technical competencies, particularly Data Capture and Analytics and Modeling. At finer granularity, remote sensing and spatial statistics dominate several programs, while Computing Platforms and certain foundational and societal units appear less explicitly represented. The proposed framework offers an adaptable approach for curriculum benchmarking and redesign, supporting evidence\u2010based decision\u2010making for program directors, instructors, students, and educational researchers.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1111\/tgis.70289","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T13:05:51Z","timestamp":1779714351000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Evaluating\n                    <scp>GIS<\/scp>\n                    Professional Graduate Program Curricula in the United States"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"30","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-6775-8360","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yanbing","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography University of Wisconsin\u2010Madison  Madison Wisconsin USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jonathan K.","family":"Nelson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography University of Wisconsin\u2010Madison  Madison Wisconsin USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4359-6302","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Song","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Geography University of Wisconsin\u2010Madison  Madison Wisconsin USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","first-page":"538","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Educational Data Mining","author":"Ahadi A.","year":"2022"},{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","first-page":"29","article-title":"The History and Application of GIS in k\u201012 Education","volume":"5","author":"Baker T. R.","year":"2001","journal-title":"GIS@ Development"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","volume-title":"Engaging the Curriculum in Higher Education","author":"Barnett R.","year":"2004"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","volume-title":"The Cyber Security Body of Knowledge","author":"Basin D.","year":"2021"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/03098265.2016.1144729"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","unstructured":"Calvin University.2025.\u201cMaster of Science in Geographic Information Science (GIS).\u201dhttps:\/\/calvin.edu\/majors\u2010programs\/master\u2010science\u2010geographic\u2010information\u2010science\u2010gis. Program page outlining curriculum admission requirements and career outcomes."},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-044481862-1.50083-2"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-47392-1_5"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/app10072266"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","volume-title":"Illuminating the Path: The Research and Development Agenda for Visual Analytics","author":"Cook K. A.","year":"2005"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","volume-title":"GIS and Public Health","author":"Cromley E. K.","year":"2012"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/03098265.2024.2403075"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","volume-title":"Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: A Practical Guide","author":"Diamond R. 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Technavio. Accessed February 9 2025.https:\/\/www.technavio.com\/report\/geographic\u2010information\u2010system\u2010analytics\u2010market\u2010industry\u2010analysis."},{"key":"e_1_2_10_59_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/tgis.13059"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_60_1","unstructured":"University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS).2024.\u201cGIS&T Body of Knowledge (GIS&T BoK).\u201dAccessed April 15 2025.https:\/\/gistbok\u2010topics.ucgis.org\/UCGIS."},{"key":"e_1_2_10_61_1","unstructured":"University of Arizona.2025.\u201cMaster of Science in Geographic Information Systems Technology (GIST).\u201dhttps:\/\/gis.arizona.edu\/masters\u2010gist. 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