Tapping Your Superpower: The ‘G’ in GIS
A foundational component of GIS is its geographic context, with the creation, management, analysis, and visualization of geographic data being done through a spatial lens. The 'G’ in GIS is a superpower that sets GIS users and professionals apart. You have this unique ability to understand patterns and relationships through spatial thinking. That’s geography!
As you move through your career, it’s important to cultivate what makes you stand out to your employers and coworkers, so that you can excel and thrive in your professional work. It’s highly likely you’ll be a stand-alone GIS professional, or the only one performing the work that you do. Your employers and colleagues may not have the same understanding of geography or GIS as you do. To them, you know how to make beautiful things happen on the computer, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into their understanding its value. To get your foot in the door and shine, you’ll need to know how to sell your strengths.
The American Association of Geographers (AAG) sat down with professionals in the GIS space and learned the many ways in which they’ve applied spatial thinking and geography into career success. Here’s what they said about how you can emphasize your hire-ability and desirability to companies and organizations you’d like to work for.
“I believe conveying the value of GIS and spatial analysis is a skill only gained through experience on the job. I often need to explain GIS and spatial analysis methodology in layman’s terms to a diverse crowd. It is harder than it seems, and beneficial to practice with friends and family.
“Distinguish yourself by having experience and skills in another field as well such as big data, planning, programming or policy analysis.”
“I feel like geography – both physical and cultural geography – cannot be separated from GIS or geocomputation. The foundation of geospatial analysis builds upon cultural and human relation to place and space throughout time. Likewise, GIS builds upon physical geography and knowledge of our surroundings.
“Through geography, we can return people from numbers and binaries back into real life things that have special life circumstances and value to one another.”
Carmen Leedham, Senior GIS Analyst with the County of San Diego Healthy and Human Services Agency
“I want to do everything I can to make my community better. I believe I have the power to influence change when leveraging my GIS skills and can apply my geographic and computational expertise to
a multitude of different issues.”
Chaz Olloqui, GIS Specialist at the City of Oceanside Water Utilities Department
“I’m the only person at the company with a degree in GIS, so I’m the lead on any task that involves spatial analysis. ... At Azavea, I had the opportunity to work on one of our projects called District Builder, which is an online, web-based tool for drawing legislative districts. It was kind of a moment when I realized, ‘Wow, GIS is so important and fundamental to how we vote,” and that was definitely an ‘a-ha’ moment for me in realizing what I wanted to do as a GIS analyst and as a geographer.’”
Daniel McGlone, Senior GIS Analyst and Cicero Data Manager at Azavea
“My education in geography and specifically remote sensing provided me with the necessary foundation to advance my skills for the specific analytical demands of my current workplace.
“...geography is a tool that can be applied in many different disciplines. Take the time to develop some expertise in a discipline, where you can geospatially analyze relevant data. Conducting analysis goes beyond knowing how to use the tools, as it is important to also understand the data and proper data handling needs.”
Lisa Colson, GIS & Imagery Specialist at USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service
Whether you have a degree in geography or GIS, or have entered the field through computer science, business, data science, civil engineering or another discipline, your spatial thinking and grounding in geographic concepts are elemental to a large and growing variety of career pathways. Don’t be afraid to think of yourself as a geographer! You will be (and are!) a valuable contributor to making the world a better place and solving society’s most pressing issues.
To learn more about the work of the above professionals and to read their full interviews, visit the links attached to each quote. For even more interviews with GIS and geography professionals, visit the AAG Career Profiles website.
For additional resources and support on how to stand out with confidence, sign up to attend one of AAG’s many Professional Development webinars dedicated to early career professionals. Register for our fall series HERE!
To learn more about AAG, visit our website.