Cartography Master Programme

The objective of the Master programme is to train Cartographers with a professional cartographic approach based on high level theoretical and practical knowledge. They are trained to be able to manage and coordinate cartographic and geoinformatic research projects as well as to have the knowledge and skills to solve traditional cartographic or information technology-based problems. The best students can continue their studies in our PhD programme.

The programme provides the students with a broad scale of knowledge in Cartography and Geoinformatics in combination with geography, other earth sciences, information technology, database management, web-based mapping services, etc. Students acquire the theory as well as the methodologies in the development and implementation of the latest visualization technics.

The Institute offers a renewed course list and content from 2025 September! 

INFORMATION ON THE PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF THE MASTER’S THESIS

• Every student has to prepare a master’s thesis. The students are free to choose the topic of their master’s thesis, but it must fit in the scope of the Cartography MSc degree programme. The title and the problem statement of the master’s thesis, and the name of the supervisor have to be reported on the MASTER’S THESIS SUBMISSION FORM (see in Neptun) and approved by the director of the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics six months prior to the state exam. The state exams are usually organized in late January in the winter semester, and in late June in the summer semester. The deadline of submitting the form depends on the date of the state exam: for a summer exam it is 15 October, for a winter exam it is 15 May. This form has to be accepted by the supervisor too. It is also possible to have an external consultant from outside the Institute, but even in this case a supervisor from the Institute is needed.
• During the preparation of the master’s thesis, the student must have continuous contact with the supervisor. The final paper has to demonstrate that the student has acquired the skills of processing various sources and working with international literature as well as the professional rules of analysing and assessing information self-reliantly.
• In the master’s thesis, the student has to follow the general rules of using sources and giving references. The suggested length of the paper is minimum 25 pages without annexes, but including the figures, maps, illustrations, references. The master’s thesis has to clearly define the problem the student studied and has to end with a summary.
• The logical structure, correct grammar and professional style are important requirements. Further information on the form of the paper is annexed.
• Before submitting the master’s thesis, the supervisor has to approve it. If the student had no consultations, the deadline was not met, or the professional content and the formal requirements are not acceptable, the work cannot be submitted. The final master’s thesis is examined, reviewed and graded by the supervisor. If there is an external consultant too, this person also writes a review. The student has to receive the review(s) three days before the defence at least. (see FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS).
• The successful master’s thesis will be placed on the EDIT system of the library of the University.

• FORMAL REQUIREMENTS AND STRUCTURE OF THE MASTER’S THESIS

• Pages: size A4, white colour.
• Letter size: 12 points (Times New Roman).
• Spacing of lines: 1.5, hyphenated and justified lines.
• Margins: 2.5 cm on each side.
• Page numbers: continuous in Arabic numbers.
• Figures, tables, pictures: numbered and inserted in the text. Large size figures, maps etc.: in annex after the references section.

• Cover page. It includes the title; the level of the programme; the name of the student; the name, position and academic degree of the supervisor (and the consultant if any); the name of the department/institute of the supervisor; the name of the university; the year of making the master’s thesis (see sample document)

  Contents

• Introduction. This chapter presents the theme of the work and positions it in the profession; summarizes the importance of studying the topic; outlines the objectives and content of the work; may include the student’s motivation of dealing with the topic.
• Development of the topic in several chapters. The processed technical literature (also in foreign language) should not be one-sided or biased. References to earlier and latest sources should be in balance. There should not be second-hand references taken from other sources. The caption of figures coming from publications has to give reference to the origin. The lettering of figures, tables etc. have to be given in English.
• Summary. One-page summary of the theme and conclusions.
• References
• Acknowledgement
• Declaration. An original document, in which the student declares that the work is an original intellectual product of the student. This declaration (see DECLARATION) with the original signature of the student has to be the last page in the bound master’s thesis. According to the regulations of the ELTE, the supervisor tests the master thesis with Turnitin plagiarism detector, and evaluates the result. If the percentage of the similarity report is significant, and there is a grave suspicion of committing plagiarism, disciplinary action may be taken against the author of the master’s thesis.

• The state exam consists of two parts. First, the student has to present the master’s thesis (diploma project) in ten to twelve minutes and has to answer the questions on the thesis from the examination board. Second, the student has to answer two professional questions to demonstrate that the student has acquired the necessary knowledge of the profession. The list of professional questions has to be publicized on the departmental homepage at least by the time of registering for the state exam. Students get two questions, one from Question Set A and one from Question Set B. 
• The exam starts with drawing two questions: one from Question Set A and one from Question Set B. See the list of topics below. Students have 30 minutes for preparation in the presence of an invigilator from the department's staff. We will give you as many blank white paper as you need to do the preparation. The usage of mobile phones or other smart devices is not permitted in the preparation room. 
• After the preparation, students start the defence in the examination room, where – in front of the examination board – first they have to present their thesis work using ppt or pdf. The presentation cannot contain notes in the Presenter View of Power Point. The students have to upload the presentation on the computer provided by the institute one day before the final exam. No other computers are allowed to use at the exam! Please consult with your supervisors about the defence, since there are some rules you need to keep in mind. Students have 10-12 minutes to present their diploma project, which is normally about 8-10 slides in ppt. (The board will stop the student after 15 minutes, so please take it seriously). The presentation should contain as little text as possible, the slides should rather illustrate and support what you say. Students may receive written questions from their supervisor at least one week before the final exam, which they can answer during defence or after. Students may receive questions on their diploma project from the other board members too. 
• Finishing the defence of the thesis work, the student starts answering the two professional questions, in any order. The student has 10-10 minutes to answer Question A and B. The students should explain everything that they can about the topic in the given time. The board may have questions about the topics, but it will give a very negative impression to the examiners if the board can only assess the student’s knowledge through questions. (However, even if the board does not ask you any questions, it does not mean that you will get an excellent mark for the professional topics.) 
• When every student finished the exam, the board discusses the exam grades. The examination board will announce the grades of all students at the end of the day.