About

Cartography M.Sc. is a four semester Master of Science Programme of four universities in Munich, Vienna, Dresden and Twente. It focusses on a broad education in cartography and geoinformatics.
The four partner sites represent centers of excellence in the field of cartography, recognized at the European and global levels. 

The Chair of Cartography and Visual Analytics of TUM, the Research Unit Cartography of TUW, the Institute of Cartography of TUD and the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation of UT complement each other in an ideal way to provide an exceptional programme with excellent job employment prospects in this interdisciplinary field.

The composition is a complementary approach of the partners’ different research and educational profiles in an area where each partner is a leader in their own country and recognized internationally. With a very high concentration of scientific competence in cartography and cartography-related fields, the programme is outstanding not only in Europe. 

The programme takes place at all four cooperating universities and is completely taught in English. Students stay together as a group during the whole time and have to spend their 1st semester at TUM in Germany. Then they have to study the 2nd semester at TU Vienna in Austria. After that they study their 3rd semester at TU Dresden in Germany. During the first and third semester, online modules from the University of Twente are integrated in the curriculum. In the 4th semester students prepare their Master’s thesis at one of the four participating universities.

Accreditation

The Cartography Master programme is awarding a joint degree. The joint degree of all four universities has been accredited without requirements following the European Approach by ASIIN on 18 June 2021 and is valid until 30 September 2026.
In addition, TUM was system-acc­re­dited by the Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assu­rance in Higher Edu­cation (OAQ) on 14 May 2014, with no stipu­lations im­posed. The system-accreditation was renewed on 26 June 2020 and is valid through 30 September 2028. It applies to all degree programs that have passed TUM's in­ternal quality management assessment pro­cedures like the MSc Cartography.
Partner universities
Find out more about the four involved universities.
Programme structure
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Entry requirements
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How to apply
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The professors

Modern cartography is not only the last mile along the value-adding chain of geodata, but also the best mile supporting us to gain insights into the black box of networked geodata handling processes. Maps grow with the planet earth, so does our life.
– Liqiu Meng, Technical University of Munich
Prof. Liqiu Meng, Technische Universität München
Prof. Georg Gartner, Technische Universität Wien
Everything happens somewhere. To know about this "everything", a lot of (geo) data is produced. Data is good for computers, but hard to deal with for humans. In order to make data accessible for humans they need to be translated into something humans can easily perceive, understand and deal with. When it comes to geo data, the most powerful of such translations is through maps. Because of that, maps are produced and used by governments, big industry, media, volunteers, science as well as many of us. This International Master Programme on Cartography will allow you to become a "player" in this domain by learning the most contemporary theories, methods and technologies of cartography.
– Georg Gartner, Technische Universität Wien &
President of the International Cartographic Association
The International Master of Cartography serves students and scientists as an excellent stage to discover and share diversities and parallels in a cross-cultural community, in addition to the programmes exchange of education and research. Established networks between the participants create the foundation for scientific exchange in research and applied projects as well as for cooperation with project partners.
– Dirk Burghardt, Technische Universität Dresden
Prof. Dirk Burghardt, Technische Universität Dresden
Prof. Menno-Jan Kraak, ITC, University of Twente
Have you ever met someone who did not like maps? I doubt. That is the beauty of working as a cartographer. Our object of study, the map, is loved. However, a good map design is more complicated than one might think when looking at an informative map. There are many challenges we face: how to understand the characteristics of the data at hand, how to select clear symbology such that the map becomes efficient and effective in telling the story behind the data for the user group you aim at. Many more questions have to be asked, and when you graduate you will be able to answer most of them, but also you will formulate new questions for the next generation of students.
– Menno-Jan Kraak, ITC University of Twente

Students and student life

Intakes
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Testimonials
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Student life
We collected information on what to expect when living & studying in each city.
News
Follow news and updates from our programme in the blog section.