Anyone Here Work In Geographic Information Science?

Depends on what field you get your GIS degree in. I am not a GIS specialist, however you can get a Masters in community and Regional Planning with an environmental planning GIS emphasis. This could be used in to determine the effects of development on the environment. GIS is a computerized information management system that is only limited by the users ability to imagine what to do with it.

It is a very time consuming challenging system that is very fun to experiment with. Good luck in your adventure.

 

GIS is also heavily used in market research and advertising to profile neighborhoods and "audiences" geographically.

 

I work for a county government and we use GIS for virtually every mapping need we might have: street maps, utility lines, fire hydrants, emergency vehicle response routing, census tracts and other geographic subdivisions, waterways, demographic data ... you name it. It's a vital tool for a variety of governmental planning and operational functions.

I generally don't use the GIS applications themselves. I use a third-party application that blends GIS street file data with fire and EMS response data for mapping response time performance and modeling future performance based on "what-if" scenarios.

Not sure if this helps, but it gives you an idea of one application area.

Bestmapman works with GIS. If he doesn't answer up here you might consider sending him a PM.

 

Fascinating field. I am quite outside the center of it which suits me fine. The actual practioners experience steep learning curves and some degree of frustration. But it is quite a revolution in how to work with spaial data.

Going into the field, websites such as
GIS Development: Geospatial Application Papers
ESRI Training - Library: Journals

Could be useful.

 

A good employment site showing available GIS position descriptions across many fields, can be found at the GIS Jobs Clearinghouse. The site also has a clever mapping interface which will also show the location of those jobs on a world map (although this resource is mostly USA). The group I currently work with is hiring another GIS Analyst/Cartographer this month.

The field has been good to me since the mid 1980’s, offering an interesting passage from a profession in forest management into other environmental science and land management opportunities. I’m a certified GIS professional, and work with a broader set of geomatics disciplines including surveying, remote sensing, and geodesy. The development of better software, computing hardware, networks, and complementary technology (e.g. LIDAR, digital photography, GPS, etc.) have been dramatic benefits to this science.

Many aspects of life have a spatial component. Many jobs and careers face challenges with spatial problems. I think you will be positioning yourself well for many future opportunities if you choose an educational path that includes GIS.

Best of luck with your future - you’ve got a good start with the synergy that’s bundled with your Prius J

 

I'm currently taking classes toward a certificate in GIS at a local community college. I have a bachelors degree in engineering, but I'm having a hard time finding another job in engineering, so I'm taking classes at night in GIS. I cannot take classes during the day without losing my unemployment benefits, but fortunately they offer all of the classes needed for the certificate in the evenings. A lot of the people in the classes are already working in the GIS field - either for county or state gov't agencies.

I just interviewed for a state Scientific Aid position in GIS, but unfortunately I didn't get it. It would have paid less than unemployment, but I really am tired of unemployment so I would have accepted it anyway.

I think there is a lot of potential in this field, especially if you are interested in working for the public sector - a lot of gov't agencies use GIS for a lot of different purposes.