Geographical science and geographical information science are both geographical science majors under the category of Neo-Confucianism. From the name, the difference between them lies in whether there is the word "information", but from the professional connotation, there are still great differences between the two majors in training objectives and application fields.

Geography is a relatively traditional specialty in geography. The main research objects are physical geography with topography, geology, climate, ocean and other natural environments as objects, and human geography with population, city, transportation and culture as objects. It pays attention to students' basic theories, knowledge and skills of geography, and at the same time has the comprehensive analysis ability of natural factors and socio-economic factors in the region, so as to cultivate high-quality professionals who can engage in teaching, scientific research and business management.

Most of the universities set up for geographical science majors are normal universities, which mainly cultivate normal geographical talents by virtue of their characteristics and advantages. For example, the geography major of Northeast Normal University is divided into two types of enrollment: public-funded teachers and non-public-funded teachers. Among them, public-funded teachers practice the combination of arts and sciences and the integration of undergraduate and postgraduate training to cultivate high school geography teachers with certain teaching and research ability, while non-public-funded teachers practice directional training to cultivate comprehensive talents in geography.

Geographic information science is a new interdisciplinary subject formed by the combination of geography and information science. With the support of computer software and hardware, it is a highly practical and multi-disciplinary subject that closely focuses on spatial related data, involving surveying and mapping, remote sensing, positioning, analysis, management, expression and other fields. The software used in our daily life, such as Didi taxi and Gaode map, belong to the practical application of geographic information science in the field of information expression.

There are many normal colleges and some engineering colleges in geographic information science major, but according to the characteristics of the colleges and universities, the major also has its own research focus.

For example, depending on the agricultural characteristics and advantages of China Agricultural University, the specialty of geographic information science has made important research achievements in agricultural disaster monitoring and early warning, dynamic monitoring of cultivated land quality, precise popularization of varieties, agricultural machinery navigation, etc. Chengdu University of Technology, as one of the earliest universities in China to establish geographic information science, relies on the advantages and characteristics of school geography to cultivate talents for the development and application of geographic information technology.

Understand the respective connotations and differences between the two majors, and finally remind candidates and parents that both geographic science and geographic information science are majors with both arts and sciences, but on the whole, the proportion of science students is greater than that of liberal arts students.

In particular, the major of geographic information science requires candidates to have not only certain knowledge and ability of geographic science, but also the ability of computer software development and programming, so it also requires candidates to have a certain mathematical foundation. For liberal arts students, if they choose this major only by interest, they may feel hard in their later study.