I'm a one-person GIS team. Let's connect!

[brooke]

Hi everyone, 

I was hired straight out of school as a one-person GIS team, and thus I do not have many connections in the GIS community! I work for a non-profit conservation organization in British Columbia, Canada and mainly make maps centered around wildlife, ecosystems, and our research.

I would love to make some connections to chat GIS with. Please feel welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn if you are also looking to expand your network!

[RosemaryBoone]

Hi Brooke - nice to e-meet you! Congrats on starting your GIS career immediately after graduating. Amazing! My name is Rosemary and I am a Sr Marketing Manager on Esri's Education team. I'm also one of the Esri YPN Advisory Board members. 

There's a few options for you to connect more with other GIS peers or possibly even find a mentor:

• Apply to be apart of the 2024 cohort for the URISA Mentor Network managed by the @URISAVanguard 
• Browse through the Faces of YPN webpage to connect with people from a plethora of GIS backgrounds and industries.
• Join an association or organization that best fits your needs and goals for your GIS journey. Here is a blog written by @MarkRevell from AAG on some suggestions.
• If you're able to attend the 2024 Esri User Conference that would expand your network tenfold! It's the worlds largest GIS conference.

I connected with you on LinkedIn and feel free to also use me as a resource! Again, nice to meet you 🙂

[torearth]

Hi Brooke, nice to meet you! I am based in BC and currently work as a GIS analyst in forestry with a focus on landuse planning initiatives. In addition, I am involved with a few environmental non-profits where I help with a variety of GIS analysis and tasks. I will send you a connection on LinkedIn  😊

[ajzades]

Hi Brooke,

Your career sounds really interesting! I wanted to let you know of the URISA mentorship program, it was a great resource for me and I was able to develop a GIS relationship with a mentor through the program. Furthermore, there are local chapters which can help expand your geospatial community as well! 

I hope this helps! 

[Tony_DLR22]

Hi Brooke,
I too am the official go to person for GIS at my small/medium water utility in Southern California! Democratizing the GIS through the use web apps/maps has helped me stay sane through some periods.
Web maps/apps make it easy for anyone to view the data and print maps. I'm still the one that uses ArcGIS Pro for analysis and manage the backend, but allowing others in our organization to access the data through an easy to use medium has helped free up my bandwidth.
Your GIS licensing may need to be looked into, but this has helped propel my organization's GIS forward. Having frequently requested data in the organization's ArcGIS Online or Portal shares the data so that everyone is not running to me all the time when they need figures.
I'll be adding you on LinkedIn. Thanks for sharing!

[MollyCasey]

Hi Brooke! I'm a one-person team as well down in Sacramento and I do not have many GIS community connections either. It can be challenging to be the only one. I work for a survey and engineering firm that is just starting to embrace GIS. Your job sounds really interesting. I'm curious what has worked well for you with being the one-person GIS team? Thanks! Molly

[JessieBrain]

Hi! I'm also the sole GIS person at my organization in Philly. Our organization uses Asana to manage projects. I have a dedicated GIS request form, where my coworkers can submit their requests, along with data and a deadline. I've found this to be a massive help in organizing requests, so they don't get lost in my inbox.

Molly Casey also did a great webinar on how she handles being a one-person GIS team, which I highly recommend if it is still available. It's been a couple of months since your post, do you have any hacks you've found to be the GIS person at your org?

[Laura]

Hey Brooke!

I am also a one person team. I work for local government in Iowa, however I do have a background in Conservation. I've added you on LinkedIn! Go to conferences and get yourself out there, people love to talk about what is working for them