Comments on: GIS is Dead – Long Live GIS

By: Don

Don — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:29:50 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Brian. I like your analysis of the state of the GIS profession, and generally agree with your division of it into two roles. I will, however, note a couple of things from my perspective.
1- I prefer “GIS User” rather than “GIS Technician”. The use of the word technician implies a limited role of the GIS user in his/her respective main profession. The word user (for me, anyway) implies a role that is incorporated more fully into a larger profession.
This actually leads to my second note:
2- I do not agree that ALL GIS Users are ” …relegated to the mundane day-to-day data management and routine map production tasks…”. Granted, I have met many users that fit this description perfectly. However, as the GIS profession evolves and grows, more organizations are recognizing GIS is an integral part of their respective professions. They are incorporating GIS directly into their workflows instead of relegating it to a separate department.
I am very lucky to have clients that recognize this. My expertise with GIS is usually what gets my foot in the door, but my planning background is also viewed as valuable.

By: Brian M

Brian M — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:58:06 +0000

While I agree that the GIS profession as a whole is not dying, but rather evolving, it is the way in which it is evolving (or may have already evolved) that is of concern.

The role of Senior GIS Analyst, or any related title, is seriously threatened by changes in the education system. Knowledge that was once confered only in multi-year programs at a limited number of institutions, is now available as a 15 hour certificate in most major universities, and even as an online continuing education certificate for high school graduates and other professionals at many. The principal theories and analytical processes that have protected the role of the Senior GIS Analyst are now available for the low low price of a few hours and a few hundred dollars.

Engineers, Landscape Architects, Urban Planners, Transportation Planners, Environmental Scientists – they now have the ability to log on to a certain GIS software company website, and register for any one of a wide variety of GIS training programs designed to instruct the masses – exactly as said GIS software company intended. Couple this with the aforementioned GIS continuing education certificate, and these professionals are now armed with enough basic knowledge to be relevant in the field of GIS. And contrary to what we all want to admit, they’re doing it! What these professionals have, that the straight-up GIS professional does not, is the additional knowledge of their primary career. Not only does an urban planner know how to perform a particular spatial analysis, but he/she knows WHY. Senior GIS Analysts can not claim this.

Thus, we are left with two clear roles in GIS:

-The GIS technician, who, by design or lack of professional opportunity, has not developed any programming skills. These sorts are relegated to the mondane day-to-day data management and routine map production tasks that (1) others don’t want, and (2) probably isn’t what drew them to the field of GIS in the first place. The result is rampant job dissatisfaction and high turn-over.

- The Developer – I purposefully left “GIS” out of the title. The Developer now is someone who, like the Analyst, chose an entirely different career path and has now supplemented their original knowledge with that required to program GIS. This is no different that how developers have kept up with the rapidly evolving development world, so it is foolish to assume GIS is too much for them to learn. Anyone who can learn C++, Java, Javascript, .NET, PHP, ASP, and how to develop in a variety of APIs, can learn ArcObjects, which ever platform flavor. Developers may also be someone who began in GIS, but these types are having to invest an increasing amount of time and effort in development training to acquire all the necessary knowlege on that side. But I haven’t even discussed the rising threat of offshoring development positions!

So, IMO, if you’re in GIS and don’t plan to acquire additional training outside GIS, be prepared for a career of menial work.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:14:49 +0000

So what I’ve gathered is that GIS is too complicated for most people to learn so there’s no future in it. Interesting. Maybe understanding GIS is difficult because everybody thinks they already know what it is. Yes, it IS a bunch of different things and yes, there ARE other ways to implement individual aspects of GIS through other avenues. However, GIS is not ArcMap, it is not GeoMedia, it is not GRASS or another software program; it is an entirely distinct and free-standing discipline that has been unable to be fully accepted as an extremely useful and powerful tool because…everyone obviously knows what it is…except that it’s too complicated to understand unless you’ve been doing it for long enough and have had extensive training…? I don’t understand the details of nuclear physics, so it’s obviously useless.

There were mathematicians before there was an abacus, there was a slide rule before there were calculators, there were calculators before there were supercomputers able to process mathematical problems and concepts no human could ever do in a lifetime. These computers process enough data in an hour to make someone’s head explode. On this train of thought, computers, or programmers/technicians etc. will no longer exist because we have computers.

See where this doesn’t track?

By: trekker007

trekker007 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:26:03 +0000

In no way is GIS a dying field. I work in Global Census and every govt office is strapped in terms of GIS expertise. I think people that do not understand GIS (unfortunately often statisticians) tend to say it is dying. Ive been in the field for 15 years.

BTW…I can do any calculation SAS SPSS can do using GIS.

My 2 cents

By: Reports of the Death of GIS are Greatly Exagerated « Spatial Explorations

Reports of the Death of GIS are Greatly Exagerated « Spatial Explorations — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:54:19 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:20:03 +0000

I cant say i agree that GIS is a dying profession but more a profession that continues to develop as do all professions.

I recall my job 15 years ago to my job now and how much being a GIS professional has changed in those times. I recall using GIS when there wasnt a GUI interface… my how times have changed.

Just because the tools of a profession are seen to be becomming simpler and facets of GIS are being incorporated into daily lives doesnt mean a profession is dying, nor does it mean that one shouldnt pursue a future with it. Tools of almost all trades develop, become simpler and make their way into the public arena but there will always be a need for those who really know what they are doing. Any one can make a map but that doesnt mean your working in GIS it just means you have the basic skills to use some of the tools GIS professionals use.

Very interesting to hear different points of view. A great discussion.

By: David DiBiase

David DiBiase — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:17:07 +0000

This thread leads Muki Haklay (above) to pose a rhetorical question: what is master’s level education in geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) for? The thread came to my attention while leading a graduate seminar on professionalism in GIS&T. In the seminar I stress that thought leaders should be expected to marshal evidence and solid reasoning when making claims about the professions that occupy the GIS&T field. Don’s claim–that “GIS is on it’s way out as a profession”–is provocative, and usefully so (it has provoked several responses from our class). However, the claim is based neither on evidence nor sound reasoning. No evidence is presented that the number of individuals seeking careers or already employed as GIS professionals is declining, because there is no such evidence. And in place of reasoning there is only a weak analogy to word processing. As Sean Gorman points out, statistics is a more apt comparison, and it is anything but declining as a profession. Muki concludes that the masters degree is an opportunity to “focus on principles and on improving specific skills” beyond the standard GIS driver’s license. The most basic of those principles, perhaps, is that scholarship still counts.

Thanks for the discussion!

By: Tom Huette

Tom Huette — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:02:28 +0000

GIS is a powerful tool for all kinds of occupational specializations but we will always need professionals. Maps are are often thought to reflect objective truth when in actuality, all maps lie, and we have to be careful about where we lie and where we tell the truth.

I see people using GIS all the time who don’t understand basic geospatial concepts. I also see lots of terrible cartography: un-intuitive symbolization, ineffecient use of page space, cluttered symbolization, and not understanding the limitations of the data they are using, which can lead to unintelligible or deceptive maps. I talk to a lot of people who use GIS but dont understand the basics of database theory.

Per Terry’s remark about the history professor who did not realize he was using GIS, that’s because he was using GEOGRAPHY. GIS uses automated tools to link data to spatial locations. Geography and cartography have been around a lot longer than GIS and I think we tend to conflate the tool with the underlying science and knowledge base.

Per the word processing methaphor, we all know a lot more about writing than we think we do. We were taught the skills beginning in kindergarten and they did not stop teaching us until we were done with school. Geography is a second string subject, not taught at most grade levels, rarely taught by professionals and often reduced to memorization of state captials. GIS makes it easy to make a map, but making a good map takes a lot more.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:07:06 +0000

What a fantastic discussion. Due to the number of Certified GIS Professionals, the history of the computer being used for spatially focused purposes and the evidence of a market (jobs, contracts, projects, and academic discourse); I pose the challenge that there is in fact a GIS Profession at this time. The dynamics of society and rapid change could render this to not be true at some time in the future, however, today there seems to be a readily identifiable number of people who see themselves as GIS Professionals.

By: The end of the ‘ARC/INFO driving licence’ era « Po Ve Sham – Muki Haklay’s personal blog

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:19:00 +0000

[...] up in recent days – see the comments from Sean Gorman, Steven Feldman (well, citing me) and Don Meltz among others. My personal perspective is about the educational aspect of this [...]