[Beskargam]

I am currently applying for an internship that requires 1 semester in GIS. I have not taken a class in GIS, but have taken a class in Matlab and I consider myself to be proficient in it. I was wondering if someone could explain the differences/similarities between the two or just GIS, and whether they serve similar purposes. A quick google did not turn up the information I was looking for.

Thanks for your time

[Black Wolf]

As far as I can tell, they are more or less nothing alike. Although I've not used Matlab, I use GIS software more or less every day at work (I'd consider myself pretty proficient with Mapinfo/Discover, and getting decent with ArcGIS).

GIS is Geographical Information Systems - it kind of combines geographic data with a multitude of other data types, and allows you to do a lot of cool geographically relevant data analysis. I use it for analysis of geochemical, geological and geophysical data (often simultaneously), as well as a lot of general field-prep type work (planning drilling, finding tracks, determining the locations of environmentally or otherwise sensitive areas relative to planned exploration, that sort of thing) but there's a myriad of other applications in other fields (everything from urban planning and service delivery to agriculture and environmental management to military applications and tonnes more).

[Beskargam]

welp crud. That makes it not likely for me to get the internship, but GIS sounds like a useful skill to invest in, and I should probably learn how to use the program on my own, or take a class on it anyway.

If nothing else, it was useful experience in writing a resume and cover letter

[Black Wolf]

It's not one program per say, it's more of a field in its own right (dominated by a small number of competing programs). A class in it might be cool, it really depends on cost and whether you think you'll need it again. It's got a bunch of applications, definitely, but there are also a lot of fields where you'll probably not need to use it.