Close

Close
Special Announcement
Newsletter Sign Up
Calendar
Back February '10 Forward
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Syndicate This Blog
Top Referers
georezo.net (166)
planetgs.com (63)
www.thegisforum.com (41)
www.bloglines.com (25)
bit.ly (23)
Our Points
Tuesday, November 17. 2009

Podcast: The Line Between Geo Amateur and Professional

Education Geospatial Business

If anyone can make a map today, what is it that distinguishes the amateur from the professional when it comes to geospatial? Is it training? Perspective? Tools? Our editors weigh in.



Subscribe to Podcast RSS

Listen Now (to download, right click on the link at left and choose "save target as")

Read the show notes

Missed any podcasts? Want to subscribe via iTunes, Yahoo, etc? Here's the index.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Education, GIS Jobs, Real-Time/Dynamic Data, Directions on the News Podcast, Geospatial Business at 01:00 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Bookmark and Share

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I'd have to say that probably 50% of the folks who eight years ago called themselves 'professionals' are now finding their skills are equal to the capabilities of Google tools and online map portals.

Put another way - the simple act of combining layers to form a view once required a level of competency with ESRI tools that most people didn't have...and those with basic familiarity then became 'the GIS professional' in their office or workgroup or government program.

'Real' GIS pros that know how to set a schema, manage a database, and keep up with the interrelated mess of patches and updates that constitutes an ESRI system on Oracle with SQL links and a web presence - the number is probably remarkably the same.

But the bottom half of the 'professionals' are suddenly standing in the same room as any competent 23-year-old with basic mashup skills.

Welcome to the new GIS...
#1 Archie Belaney on 2009-11-17 06:13 (Reply)
The GISP Certification should define this line. If it doesn't define the line between pro and amateur, then what does it define?
#2 Matt Ruch on 2009-11-18 18:27 (Reply)
...that is not to say that if you don't have a GISP you should not be considered a professional. It should simply recognize those who have proven themselves to be a geo pro.
#2.1 Matt Ruch on 2009-11-18 18:41 (Reply)

Add Comment

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA
    
  
 
Advertisers
Polls
What's your feeling about commercial organizations that participate in kind or cash support to help in disasters and publicize those efforts?
No issues; it's good for the planet and good business.
It's ok, but does make me wonder about their motives.
It's pure marketing, and bothers me.
Have no strong feeling.

Archives
Comments
jerry sullivan about South Dakota Wastershed Data Made Available in Google Earth
February 9
"WaStershed"

also, the hotlink to [...]


Adena Schutzberg about South Dakota Wastershed Data Made Available in Google Earth
February 9
Kelly,

Sorry - just bad editing on my [...]


Kevin about Update: NAVTEQ Shutting Down Phone Map App Nav4All that Uses NAVTEQ Data
February 9
Agreed - if a user of OSM data alters, [...]


Kelly McDermott about South Dakota Wastershed Data Made Available in Google Earth
February 9
Adena,

North Dakota, South Dakota - [...]


Scott about Update: NAVTEQ Shutting Down Phone Map App Nav4All that Uses NAVTEQ Data
February 9
Besides that OSM data is not "perfect or [...]


Chris about South Dakota Wastershed Data Made Available in Google Earth
February 9
Not to be a buzz kill for South Dakota, [...]


Laptop GPS World about Hey Ontario, the new Economic Dev Mapping Site is Wanting
February 8
I don't much care where it was built, as [...]


Amazon Recommendations