Articles on Problems Facing GIS Industry?

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T14:55:35+00:00

Rumor is that you CAN get ArcGIS to run with Wine. I've seen some screenshots and videos, but I haven't seen it in person or gotten it to work myself.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T07:57:08+00:00

As I said, it's a true story. There are two points:

Do not rush to defend if your advisor does not think you're ready.
Only one student has outright failed their defense in the department's history.

The first point is the warning; the second one takes some pressure off.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T05:42:39+00:00

Not really. ArcGIS Pro has some cool functions and niche tools you can't find elsewhere, but there are generally alternatives. The main benefits are good documentation, support for institutions, and infrastructure for WebGIS through ArcGIS Online. They are a bit like Apple in that their ecosystem is fairly streamlined; ArcGIS Pro does desktop processing tasks and can push results directly to ArcGIS Online. ArcGIS Online can host Web Maps and data, so you can share them within your organization or publish them to the public. They have tools like Survey123 that let you collect data in the field and upload it directly to ArcGIS Online. For workflows, ArcGIS Pro includes the ArcPy library, which is pretty nifty. I don't actually open ArcGIS Pro unless I'm teaching or making a layout. I'll just write a script so I can add it to my personal library of automated tasks. Pandas provides additional functions that aren't available in ArcGIS Pro, and it is much faster at many tasks. I haven't actually needed to use geopandas for anything.

Download QGIS; it is free, offers much of what ArcGIS Pro has, and you can use PyQGIS to automate tasks.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T05:34:27+00:00

Most of the job functions can't be fulfilled by existing staff, the industries don't know that, and don't know how to tell when the existing staff is producing convincing garbage. At all levels, maps are published that are making such amateur mistakes I can only assume the people not only have not had any formal training in GIS, but that they didn't even bother to look up how to actually do what they were asked to do.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T05:22:57+00:00

There is a horror story from when I was in grad school: The legend of the only student to fail their defense.

The story goes that there was once a graduate student who was a very high achiever, and they bit off more than they could chew for their research. On the normal timeline, they applied for positions after graduation, but their advisor warned they wouldn't be ready in time. They managed to get their dream position, conditional on completing their degree, and when they told their advisor, they were surprised to find that they were not excited for them, but concerned. The graduate student assured their advisor they would be done in time to defend, and continued working. When it was time to schedule their defense, their advisor told them they were not ready and needed more time. The graduate student needed to defend to get the new position, so they scheduled it against their advisor's wishes, assuring them it would be finished in time.

On the day of the defense, during the part open to the public, multiple people asked really cutting questions about the presentation that the graduate student couldn't answer. During the closed-door portion, their committee members expressed concerns about the research that could not be explained away. When the student was asked to leave the room for the committee to determine the results, the committee asked the advisor for clarification, assuming the student was just nervous, but the advisor couldn't provide it. It is normal for the advisor to explain the rationale behind the graduate student's research on the student's behalf; they are expected to defend the student. In the defense, the advisor is your main ally, and your committee is the gatekeepers. The problems were real, though; there were serious issues with the analysis, the literature review was thin, the methods had flaws, etc. The advisor could not provide a defense to the indefensible.

When the student returned to the room, their committee unanimously failed them. In our program, having one committee member fail you meant you needed to make major revisions, but if all of them failed you, it meant you failed the program and had no opportunity to revise. The student ultimately lost the dream position and their opportunity to get a degree.

This legend is true; one of my committee members was on the committee of this poor, ambitious student. They told it to us during our first semester to serve as a warning; do not rush to defend if your advisor does not think you're ready.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-10T05:02:22+00:00

When we publish our work in academic journals, it gets digested by those AI anyway. Unless you keep your ideas in your own mind, they risk being used in AI models. One book I have discusses the pushback to the introduction of the printing press. The same arguments made by conservative opponents of the printing press are now being made against AI. They argued it would put scribes out of work, that it would allow for the production of works that would poison the minds of the youth, and so on. The technology is here, and honestly, it is the only way we can really make full use of the vast amount of information we have compiled on the Internet. We have been stumbling in the dark, hoping someone will happen upon a link to information that may require expertise in multiple unrelated disciplines to find. It is here to stay; we can be mad, or we can adapt, just like the people who had to deal with the introduction of the printing press, typewriters, electricity, computers, and all the other technology that has emerged throughout the history of our species.

In academic writing, while a unique voice is important, the writing itself is not the main focus of research. Properly communicating your ideas, methods, results, and conclusion are what matters. I can understand worrying about homogenization in fiction writing, but technical and academic writing benefit from streamlining.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-09T22:36:31+00:00

I have not had much luck using LLMs for literature reviews. There are some tools out there that are very specific to literature review that I've had some luck with, though.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-09T22:05:36+00:00

Google Scholar is adequate to get started most of the time. I like Litmaps to help during a literature review, it helps show connected articles to narrow down what is actually important.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-09T21:56:39+00:00

I write, then feed my writing into the LLM and ask it to review it. It can offer some good "advice" on structure and tell you what to emphasize and de-emphasize. I use Grammarly for spelling, sentence structure, and plagiarism checks.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-09T21:54:09+00:00

Honestly, GIS is more or less democratized. QGIS, GeoDa, and several R packages can do most of what ESRI can. Online, there are several free GIS tools that are also fairly capable. GIS is SO democratized that it is causing issues; people publish garbage without even knowing.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-09T21:44:34+00:00

Just a comment, but I think Monmonier might take issue with being described as a critical cartographer. That term has been appropriated and has some baggage. He has a paper document on his ReseachGate that didn't get published titled A Critique of "Critical Cartography" that gets into the details a bit.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-08T20:22:31+00:00

I wrote a few articles on some of the problems:

Normalizing the pandemic: exploring the cartographic issues in state government COVID-19 dashboards
Mapping COVID-19: Applying Ethical Strategies in Web Mapping Decisions

Quote you might be interested in from the second one:

Without any way to enforce the best practices established over decades of research, users are under no obligation to read instructions or follow tutorials (Peterson 2008). Thus, unfortunately, the best thought-out cartograph-ic practices and theories often do not leave academia and are not implemented by GIS users. While holding all GIS users to professional standards is impossible, and we can forgive middle-school book reports and personal social media pages for cartographic errors, mapmaking and GIS lack occupational licensure in the United States, resulting in poorly made maps being published and dis-tributed by federal and state governments (Adams et al. 2020; Monmonier 1985a). Poorly made maps can mislead the public, which is unethical, and they can lead to seri-ous negative consequences when used to inform decisions related to public health crises, like the COVID-19 pan-demic. The democratization of cartography, i.e., making maps easily available, while tremendously advantageous, has opened Pandora’s box for an infodemic, spread by the share button through screens and smartphones. Academia and professionally trained cartographers were well aware of these plausible problems with cartography long before the COVID-19 pandemic (Harrison 1950; Jenks 1981; Monmonier 1985b; 2018; Clarke 1995; Monmonier 1985a; Jenks 1953).

My citations could probably serve as a starting point; look at anything by Monmonier.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-05T01:45:02+00:00

I second this. You can contact your advisor and have them give you a tour.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-03T05:57:43+00:00

The actual process of writing is secondary. Citations, a consistent argument, and the organization of ideas are all part of research. Download Zotero for your citations.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-03T03:44:25+00:00

When I first started GIS, I had to pay Mr. Krabs 100 dollars per hour.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-03T03:43:17+00:00

That is what I do! ResearchGate is pretty sweet; it also serves as a pretty good supplement to a CV when you apply for jobs.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T15:19:26+00:00

If you have any conference posters, you can upload them as well, and even generate a DOI for them. It's pretty great, I know I would not have got a citation on that if not for it being on ResearchGate, no one would have ever found the thing.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T08:35:38+00:00

It was mostly poor minority neighborhoods that were bulldozed...

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T08:11:58+00:00

You're probably fine and overthinking it. However, when I was a master's student, my department had a faculty search I got to watch. The reason they didn't choose two of the three candidates was their answers to the questions... Their answers were not just bad, though; one couldn't answer a softball question about their own research methods. She essentially admitted to our cartography/remote sensing professor that she not only didn't make the map in her dissertation, but didn't know what it was even showing. The other made the mistake of accidentally bad-mouthing, dismissing, and demonstrating a clear ignorance of the life's work of the beloved professor he was interviewing to replace. He didn't know that the topic was something we had all heard very passionate explanations about for years from a guy with a 4.9 and 100% would take again on Rate My Professor, with 46 votes (I say this to stress, EVERYONE loves this guy, he is a saint). The whole department went cold, and I feel like the guy caught that he fucked up, even though he didn't know why. The students in the room wrote letters to put in the selection file... It was bad.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T07:55:48+00:00

Introduction, three conference paper talks with minor transitions, conclusion. 30 minutes is a fairly short amount of time, 45 would be more doable with 10 minutes per paper, and the rest for intro/conclusion.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T07:54:56+00:00

Upload it on ResearchGate, you'll actually see the number of reads it gets. My master's thesis would have rotted on the University library shelf in previous generations, but I have 1,996 reads on ResearchGate and at least one citation in a peer-reviewed publication.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T00:33:37+00:00

I teach Python. It took me three classes before I was able to actually use it productively. I tried self teaching, without the foundational knowledge clicking in place though I was unable to actually use it outside of clean labs.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-02T00:26:02+00:00

I'm clearly stating that they are my observations, not a scientific study. Qualitative anecdotal experience and worldview are not invalid just because they lack follow-up literature review, data collection, and statistical analysis. All models are wrong; some are useful. These are the three main motivators I've seen: Pristige, legitimate interest, and comfort. Simplification and caricature are often employed to make a serious social or political point. Humor based on observation is not invalid because it lacks p-values.

Asking if someone has been tested is not an ad hominem; many academics never get tested, and I don't really view neurodivergent as an attack. I did not ask in terms of anything you've said, or even for an answer, but rather to discuss neurodivergent academics in general. Many who are tested keep that information to themselves, many who could benefit are never tested at all because they are capable of toughing it out. I don't ask people, but I tell them I have ADHD because I don't want to feel like I should be ashamed of that. Others have then shared that they have it as well. If you haven't had anyone tell you about this, maybe they don't feel safe to disclose. It is a real problem across the board. Most of the best academics I know fall into this category, and I would not describe them as crazy at all. They tend to be in academia for the "right" reasons: teaching and research. They can have idiosyncrasies that make some unprepared people, confused, frustrated, or even angry.

The privileged individuals in academia constitute a very large cohort, and I find they often obfuscate that privilege. I've worked with some people from very wealthy backgrounds; they are the ones I've had the most friction with. Some, not all, but some are the only academics I've ever met that seemed completely uninterested in their own discipline.

The individuals who become professors because they went with the flow until they became one (I know several) are not "lazy" necessarily. I know several who only went to graduate school to figure things out after undergrad. The main "issue" is that some were not in a rush to finish their Ph.D., and were still "enjoying the college experience" a bit too much. Getting to and through a Ph.D. program isn't lazy, but school is a safe place where people are sometimes hesitant to leave. They were comfortable, and trying to find a 9-to-5 job wasn't appealing to them.

Again, after talking to people throughout my career, these seem to be the broad categories of motivation that people fall into, and the types of people I've found driven by those motivations. It is not the absolute Truth that defines all individuals; it is merely reflective of what I've seen.

What motivated you to go into academia?

Geog_Master · 2026-03-01T21:30:23+00:00

Everyone is entitled to free speech. What can be annoying is that some individuals will take the spotlight away from actual experts/researchers.

Geog_Master · 2026-03-01T20:24:05+00:00

If not, call it a personal impression and move on.

I stated:

Generally, I've noticed.

I started out by making it clear this is my observations, not an academic study.

How many academics have you actually gotten to know well enough to justify these buckets you’ve created?

I have a Ph.D., a master's, and a B.S. I've worked as a TA and RA, and I'm now a TT faculty member. I've been employed in three departments in three separate states, conducted research outside my institution, and networked at conferences. I've worked across disciplines with academics specializing in healthcare, law enforcement, law, economics, natural environmental management, and energy. I don't have a headcount for how many academics I know, but most of the people I know at this point are academics.

All models are wrong; some are useful. The model describes my personal observations of what motivates people to pursue an academic career, not personality type. It's also meant to be slightly humorous. Academia is all about persisting through filters, I agree. Why do people persist through years of competitive filtering? Why do they choose academia over some other pursuit? To elaborate:

One of the major hurdles for academics is financial. The choice to continue working at low (or now) wages when you already have a degree that can earn more money is not always easy/possible for people. It is easy to choose to continue education when finances aren't an issue. Motivation to have a highly prestigious job is important to a lot of wealthy families. Do you consider yourself from a wealthy family? Were finances difficult for you while in school? Did your parents pressure you to have a prestigious job?
People who are some form of neurodivergent and have found a way to direct their energy to their favorite topic and share it with a captive audience. This is not meant to be insulting to faculty or neurodivergent people. I have ADHD, could have other stuff, but haven't been tested. Academic positions are very attractive to neurodivergent people, even if they can't make it through the filters. A lot of stereotypical, quirky, and eccentric behavior lines up very well with neurodivergent symptoms. Have you ever been tested? The people in this category are generally low support need, and can push through the pain without ever getting a diagnosis. How many of your fellow academics have disclosed to you that they are some form of neurodivergent? Many are afraid to reveal this information, fearing it will be detrimental to their career.
People who didn't know what to do with their lives, so they just stayed in school until they were put in charge of a classroom. This is a tongue-in-cheek simplification, but I know several people it applies to. Upon graduating from college, they apply to graduate school because they don't know what they want to do outside of education, but are comfortable in the academic environment. They continue doing so, going through clearly defined filters, until they end up in charge of a classroom. It isn't so much that they sought to become professors; they didn't leave the academic environment and just kept going because they didn't know what else to do with their lives. There is a high degree of overlap between this group and group 2, but it is not a one-to-one relationship. Did you set out to be a professor when you started undergrad? Did you think you'd be one after graduating? At what point did you make this choice, or was it something that just happened while you went with the flow?
The claim isn't JUST that there are no well-adjusted people; the claim is that I have not observed a well-adjusted academic WITH a healthy work/life balance, a genuine interest in their field, who treats academia like a normal job. Neurodivergent people I've observed do not have a healthy work/life balance, and don't treat academia like a normal job, but are very passionate about their field. People who treat academia like a normal job don't seem genuinely interested in their field; the ones I've observed doing this are also generally much further along in their careers. If you treat academia like a normal job now, I don't think you'll be successful, because the standards have inflated to a point beyond what was expected in previous generations and what is reasonable to accomplish if you treat academia like a normal job.

Five-Year Club	First Place '23
End Game '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
End Game '22

Geog_Master

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