Centre of Geographic Sciences


The Centre of Geographic Sciences is located in the village of Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia.
WWW nscc.ca/cogs

History

COGS traces its history to 1948 when the Nova Scotia Land Survey Institute was established by Major J.A.H. Church as a training institution for survey and map production. NSLSI became a world leader in geomatics education during the 1970s and 1980s as it evolved into incorporating then-revolutionary technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information systems. The institute moved into its current campus during this period in the 1970s.
In 1986, NSLSI was renamed the College of Geographic Sciences as a publicly funded training college under an act of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. The name was considered to better reflect the diversity of geographic sciences taught at the NSLSI.
In 1988, the provincial government undertook a much-needed reform to its training colleges and created the Nova Scotia Community College system the following year. While still a separate college, COGS was administratively placed within the NSCC umbrella.
In 1998 NSCC created the Annapolis Valley Campus by administratively combining the geographically separate campuses at Lawrencetown and Middleton. All geomatics advanced diploma programs were grouped under the Centre of Geographic Sciences, of which the majority are delivered at the Lawrencetown site.

Organization

COGS is divided into three departments:

Programs

COGS offers 1-year advanced diploma programs in the following disciplines :
  • Advanced Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Advanced Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Advanced Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Marine Geomatics
COGS also offers 2-year diploma programs in the following disciplines :
  • Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Diploma in Geographic Sciences
  • Geomatics Engineering Technology
  • Diploma in Information Technology
  • Diploma in Information Technology
COGS also offers a joint M.Sc. with Acadia University through the Master's of Science in Applied Geomatics. A slightly different arrangement is maintained through the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Acadia where the department accepts a COGS diploma in lieu of two graduate level Geology courses at the university.
The first graduate of the M.Sc in Applied Geomatics was Koreen Millard.