The authors consider current trends in teaching students to work with remote sensing data and geographic information systems at the Institute of Earth Sciences of St. Petersburg State University. The authors of the publication give examples of projects that on methods of working with space images are based: compiling of maps of urban areas, vegetation, relief, as well as dynamic maps. Currently, there is a shortage of GIS specialists in the national labor market; this conclusion is also of particular interest. Teachers and staff of the department of Cartography and Geoinformatics at St Petersburg University focus on a practice-oriented approach in teaching students, working with “open-code” GIS, and additional self-education during term and graduation qualification papers. The authors draw attention to the increasing trend of using automated processing of spatial information by employees of executive bodies to manage territories at any level in order to make decisions on rational nature management.Keywords: geoinformation systems, geoinformation mapping, GIS, remote sensing data, space images, cartography and geoinformatics, training programme.