Latest Contributions by KevinButler2

You probably won't be using Landsat for disaster relief. Not only is the repeat cycle too slow, the spatial resolution is too coarse to identify damage. Drones are an option, but they don't cover a very large area. If electricity is down, internet and recharging can be an issue. Sometimes they're good, but for more specific issues like "how many floors collapsed on the building at location X?" Aerial is an option (and probably the best if you can get there). High resolution satellites can work too, but only if there are no clouds. So, it depends on the context. And disaster response is one of those fields where they always have GIS people. ... View more

Yeah I absolutely agree with this. Learn a little, see where it can get you and repeat until someone wants you. If you're willing/able to relocate, you'll always have more options. ... View more

Hi Adeyemi, Congrats on getting that land cover map done. There are a few paths you can take to get the answer that you want, but I think the easiest will be to use the Tabulate Intersection tool. ... View more

If I was to make a blanket statement about the usefulness of imagery, it would be to try and map vegetation somehow. It's just so much simpler to get a solid result than mapping other phenomena. Is there anything in your area that you're interested in that is vegetation-related? ... View more

Agreed. A lot of organizations that have GIS problems don't realize that they have a GIS problem. ... View more

Hi Dominic, I think you can make a compelling argument that the part of GIS that has gone mainstream in the past 5 years revolves around networking/routing. Think about ride-sharing, delivery services, etc. It's gone from a simple question: how to get from point A to point B? and it's multiplied by a billion to route everything to everywhere. Now, we're in an environment where everything has a sensor and can communicate with all of the other sensors. People are going to figure out unique ways to leverage all of these sensors to collect even more data than their original intent and will then be able to use deep learning to find new patterns. My hunch is that these data streams will be useful for organizations that want to assess risk on a very granular scale. Imagine car insurance based on where you drive to and the other drivers that are on the road. That data will exist and the ability to make an assessment will be as well. And this data is fundamentally spatial in nature. ... View more

Hey Carmen! My experiences were pretty varied in terms of where I started and where I am today. GIS was never the goal, it just became a useful tool along the way. I got a degree in international affairs for my undergrad degree which is a fairly common degree for someone who grew up in the Washington DC area. Then I joined the Peace Corps and worked in Peru for 2 years and later rode out the financial crisis teaching English in Colombia. I came back to the US only to find out that with a degree in my field, 3+ years of international experience and fluency in two languages that I could not get a job. That's when I started looking at technical skills that I could pick up that would differentiate me and a graduate degree in GIS made a lot of sense. GIS develops so quickly that if you're really good at picking up new developments, you can have a career that is focused primarily on doing GIS work. You'll need to be able to code, build apps, and do some other IT type stuff to hold this down. Or you can be a person who understands GIS and finds that techy person to implement your ideas and goals. The majority of my contacts on linkedin are still from the international development field. If you want, I'd be happy to facilitate a connection with any of my contacts there. ... View more

Sure, the bears have a height advantage, but those short arms have no reach. JD is gonna hit them with jabs all day long. Dangermond retains title. ... View more

Hey Sahar--this is a great question! I tend to think of GIS as a tool rather than a field/industry unto itself. Most of the people I've gotten to know who do GIS in some capacity have tied it into a bigger field of study. For instance, if you want to map vegetation, you have to have expertise in both remote sensing as well as plant biology to be effective. There are a ton of free resources for stuff like this. Esri has a suite of offerings through the MOOCs program. A google search will also bring up other free options. These kinds of courses are a great start, especially in helping you understand what's possible with the technology. If you want to be a professional who specializes in GIS, then you'll need some kind of accreditation/certification/university degree. I think that GIS opportunities are only going to increase in the future. Everything has a spatial component now. Now that everything is "smart" or connected, the ability to speak to different devices is going to become part of GIS as well. My guess is that the international growth will far outpace the US growth since there is so much room to leap frog in terms of technology. ... View more