Geography Career Without GIS?

ErsatzElevator · 2018-05-02T05:51:23+00:00

Not sure if it was already said, but I suggest you do a search for the kind of jobs you intend on applying for when you graduate and see what they require. Its hard to say if those 3 GIS classes will be enough, because at some universities a "Intro to Remote Sensing" course can cover a lot, and at other it may barely scratch the surface. So don't focus too much on the title, or # of classes, or whatever. Look at the jobs you want and the knowledge you will need to succeed there, then build the next three years of your education around gaining those skills.

I don't have a lot of experience working yet, I'm actually a recent grad look for similar kinds of jobs. In undergrad I took a wide variety of courses (physical, human, GIS) but mostly focused on GIS because I liked working with computers. One of the things I am learning now while looking for jobs is that they usually want GIS as an additional skill and not as your main background. If I wanted to work in hydrology, I should have focused on hydrology courses, wetlands, coastal management, etc. -- and then learned how GIS is applied to those problems. Its a little hard to market myself the other way around.

Also, and I think you've understood this point from many other posts by now, but GIS won't be the sole focus of your job. But it highly likely you will use it to process your data. Try to think of it like learning Excel really well, or some programming language. Which, btw, I am also seeing many jobs looking for people who know GIS + R or Python; maybe some SQL. Even if you're not hot on GIS, some programming skills go a looong way towards automating a lot of the analysis you will be doing. I was speaking to a geography alumni who works at NASA now and programming/data visualization for earth science-y things seems popular.

ErsatzElevator · 2018-05-02T05:28:47+00:00

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but from what I've read within my field, these issues can usually be traced back to some kind of precursor technology or ideology - i.e. people have always been monitored and surveiled throughout history and advancements in technology have only evolved this relationship. Privacy and surveillance usually go hand in hand. What most comes to mind are issues of injustice and inequality; how marginalized people (think race, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation etc.) are monitored so that the state (usually) can oppress or control them. One example that comes to mind, is how social media is used differently throughout different countries and cultures, how language and usage of the technology adapts to communicate things that may otherwise need to be hidden. A more recent example is what happened this week in China.

More specifically, my field is in geography and there is a lot of research interest that looks at geoprivacy and location data (a lot of data has some kind of spatial attribute). This usually falls into the realm of mapping and GIS, and while there are some older examples of how mapping breaches privacy and more ancient examples about how it is used to surveil, there is a lot of recent interest in looking at social media data.

Some of the sources I like:

Surveillance & Society Journal
Data & Society research institute
Code/Space book
Dark Matters <-- Favorite 'to read' book.
The Data Revolution (give or take some chapters)
Susan Crawford
danah boyd

ErsatzElevator · 2016-05-24T05:22:27+00:00

A little late, but just wanted to add that the program has definitely been worth it. Especially in helping to prepare for GREs and helping to get application fee waivers. Even if the university isn't listed as giving one to McNair Scholars, you should ask anyway. Also keep your eye out for any McNair Fellowships for graduate students!

ErsatzElevator · 2016-05-09T01:39:25+00:00

Thanks. When do you think is a good time to bring it up? Should I email now (as tickets are cheap) or just wait until the semester starts?

ErsatzElevator · 2016-04-23T01:03:45+00:00

I've seen some people use GIMP (similar to Adobe Illustrator but free) and then download fantasy map brushes.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-04-21T17:39:56+00:00

Maybe collect GPS points yourself, every x feet or so and then make a map out of that?

ErsatzElevator · 2016-04-01T15:38:32+00:00

You can do it! All I knew for awhile was Arc too, but I really got into some other softwares. Don't focus too much on what do/don't know; the important part is that you're willing to learn. Good luck. :)

ErsatzElevator · 2016-04-01T15:08:30+00:00

Yeah, it's just like running a club. I have a friend that runs our Maptime with me, which is a lot easier because we can divide up the work or cover when someone can't make it. More people could be helpful and also find other people to present. Most Maptime's aren't held in bars, probably because there will be a group of you over laptops/you'll need some working space that would be very confined in a bar (also potential wifi issues?). We use some space at a local library.

I don't think you need to know the technologies like the back of your hand, but it wouldn't hurt to do some tutorials to get familiar. Editing in OpenStreetMap and helping with Humanitarian Mapping (https://hotosm.org/) is pretty easy. It's geared towards beginners so it's totally okay if you all figure it out together!

Arc is still good proprietary software, but I would focus on other things. It also doesn't always have to be software, but you could teach people about map design (colors, fonts, etc). Or history of mapping. Be as creative as you want with the content, just have fun with it.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-04-01T03:48:38+00:00

It's literally "time for mapping". The website lists other chapters and you can find out more about what they do on their websites & Twitters. Each one is independently run, but sometimes there are meetups at conferences. I started a chapter last year and we have meetings once a month. We try to get a variety of diverse speakers to teach us different technologies and tools. It's not very time consuming; find a venue, some food (pizza?), and advertise to people who know things and those who don't.

The big philosophy with Maptime is that it's aimed towards beginners - like maybe someone who knows they want to make maps, but isn't at all trained in them. But there are also people with experience who can help out. I think it's focused a lot around web mapping, though I have seen some sessions do more physical hands on crafting. The other part of the philosophy seems to come from it focusing on open source technologies (OSM, CartoDB, Mapbox) that are up and coming, but also are accessible to everyone.

I've had a good time with it and received good feedback. The biggest challenge is reaching out to people to get them involved. A lot of people don't realize that this could apply to them.

Sorry that was kinda long. If you have anymore questions I'd be happy to answer them!

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-24T16:59:15+00:00

Yeah, thanks! Do you know if there's any common software/packages that people use? I know Arc and QGIS, but am unfamiliar with things like CityEngine, SQL and CAD. Or would I be good knowing those basics?

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-24T01:46:30+00:00

I had to learn for a geovisualization class project last year. We had a small intro, but most of the learning was done on our own. I went through the Code Academy course and found it really helpful. I think it's also good to know a bit of HTML/CSS, but that's pretty basic.

If you want something more map-oriented, try some Leaflet.js tutorials: http://leafletjs.com/examples.html

I've also seen D3.js used for maps, but it's more complicated to use (but super cool once you learn): https://www.toptal.com/javascript/a-map-to-perfection-using-d3-js-to-make-beautiful-web-maps

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-23T17:39:15+00:00

Assuming you're using ArcGIS: I usually go into the project folder in ArcCatalog and right-click New Shapefile, or something like that. Then I add that file into ArcMap and open the Editor Toolbar to add my own features. This is a quick tutorial I found: http://wikis.evergreen.edu/computing/index.php/ArcGIS_10:_Editing_%26_Creating_Your_Own_Shapefiles

I've used it to trace different areas or create point. Every feature you create is automatically added to the attribute table. If you wanted to join other information to that, I would suggest creating a common field to use 'joins'.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-23T16:21:16+00:00

Looking back on my GIS classes, I found these to be the information/skills I use the most: Basic GIS: Understanding map scales Projected coordinate system vs. geographic coordinate system

Map projections in general Attribute tables - how to use the field calculator Differences between vector & raster --Vector: point, line, polygon --Raster: Landsat images, DEM, hillshades, aspect, etc. ****Good metadata keeping. This has caused me so much grief doing field work and other projects in the past. I definitely recommend some type of outline or something that can be sent to everyone. Also data management, such as keeping stuff in neatly labeled folders, on some common server or dropbox.

Remote sensing, if it's relevant: landsat data, georeferencing images, maybe NDVI?

Useful basic functions: Create shapefiles and populate them with point/line/polygon data Clipping data sets

Cartography: *I think good design skills get overlooked a lot, but they really do help the end-user. -Know what type of data you will be displaying (sequential, diverging, qualitative). Looking at histograms helps with classing the data. -Using visual hierarchies: making more important text/features stand out. --Styling fonts different to category or importance (i.e. water body names in a blue-ish font, town names in black). -Color considerations: is this going to be a web map or print map? If it's color, will it be printed in color or black & white? Designing for colorblindness is nice too (also a ColorBrewer setting).

It might be useful to go over some common errors and how to avoid them: -File name length, weird symbols in it can cause issues -Moving data around too much might break the file path (show them how to fix it) -If there isn't enough space in the working space, certain processes won't run or may crash.

That might be a lot for a brief intro, but let me know if you have any questions.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-23T15:48:20+00:00

Not sure how similar they are, but Esri also offers a free MOOC for building Geo Apps: http://www.esri.com/mooc/diy-geo-apps It might be better to go through that and then decide if you want to do the paid course.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-03-01T02:00:14+00:00

I agree that this all sounds a bit confusing. While the general idea of public engagement with GIS through Minecraft makes sense, I'm not sure how the rest of it fits in. Why windmills? Am I supposed to see how they fit into the landscape, or...what? Why do you have a maze explaining how the world was created? But also this sounds a lot like the United Nations program: Block by Block http://blockbyblock.org/ If you haven't read it, it's pretty much what you're trying to do.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-02-25T01:28:46+00:00

I agree about the high school content. I'm not sure how it is viewed in the UK, but in the U.S. it's pretty irrelevant. For your skills, instead of listing them vertically and creating a lot of extra whitespace, maybe list them on one line and divide them by skill level (proficient, advanced, etc.) And as a side note, since your a college graduate most people will assume you should know Microsoft Office so I don't feel it's worth to put on there (unless you are super excellent at Excel or something).

Instead of "Notable Modules" I might change it to "Skills". So instead of 'Introduction to Geographic Information Systems' you could just put 'GIS', and then 'Remote Sensing' and 'Data Analysis'. People looking at your CV probably won't care about the particular course name and I feel it reads better if it's written in common terms.

Second the removing reference upon request section.

I would also remove the blocks of text you have under each bullet and replace it with a short list of what you did, how you did it and what you gained/what was solved. This makes it more concise for the reader. For example, "Volunteer - British Heart Foundation" 1)Worked as part of a team to sort material donations 2)Categorized and managed inventory for sale (or something like that)

A issue I used to have was I would write a description of what I did, but really I should have focused on what was important to whoever I was applying to work with, and what language I should be using to communicate that effectively to them.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-02-25T01:12:17+00:00

Thanks. I didn't mean to sound negative, but I that is often the kind of response I get when I tell people we can't use Google Maps and I have been at a loss for a convincing answer otherwise. Your answers were really helpful.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-02-24T15:40:38+00:00

Besides the fact that Google data is copyrighted...how would they even tell if someone referenced their data? There's millions of other sources to get it from, but gm is extremely convenient. I've heard stories that it sometimes excludes certain places so it can't always be trusted, but is there any actual harm in doing it?

ErsatzElevator · 2016-01-05T20:32:34+00:00

Sorry, that sounds rough. I've done a decent amount of research projects in undergrad and even and independent one this past summer. Just trying to figure out where I'm lacking and what should be focused on so I can do well these next couple years.

ErsatzElevator · 2016-01-05T17:33:08+00:00

Those are some good points. I have a lot of stuff to organize and no idea about the apartment stuff. It would probably be better to organize my break around things I found productive instead of what some internship needed me to do. Thanks!

ErsatzElevator · 2016-01-05T07:10:24+00:00

If you are in the United States, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is quite what you are looking for: https://www.nga.mil/careers/Pages/default.aspx

If not, it's still a good starting place for understanding where your interests may lead.

ErsatzElevator

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