GIS Learning Useless in the Future?

Friday, April 20. 2007

GIS Learning Useless in the Future?

The Ranger, a website supporting community colleges around San Antonio, offers an article about the value of GIS education in getting a job in the field. I agree with the title: "Expert says GIS careers require preparation." I'm less comfortable with this statement: "People interested in working in geographic information systems must understand that everything learned today will be useless in the future because technology constantly changes, the geographic information systems manager for the city of San Antonio said April 12." I'll suggest that the intended message is that software and technology will surely change, but the core concepts of GIS/geography won't.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in GIS Jobs at 07:23 | Comments (7)

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

"everything learned today will be useless in the future because technology constantly changes".. are you kidding me.. what kind of fool would make such a statement! Obviously you need some foundation to build on... I guess moving forward technology will replace the need for professionals to know anything about map projections, coordinate systems, scale, and any other principle of cartography and geography for that matter... amazing

#1 glenn (Link) on 2007-04-20 09:22 (Reply)

There is actually a lot of truth in the statement of the GIS manager of San Antonio although this viewpoint reflects the perspective of hiring GIS technicians. What is left out is that someone with thorough knowledge and skills in the core compentencies (math, science, etc.) can quickly enough learn and effectively utilize new technologies as they come along. Alas, how often are GIS staff hired because they possess a good knowledge of GIS science versus how well they know how to use a vendor's product XYZ. If you look at most (but certainly not all) GIS programs, a very substantial amount of the training time is spent simply learning how to use a particular single vendor's software. My own impression is that too many students think GIS = vendor and they consider of GIS applications only in terms of the vendor's software commands. Students (and GIS programs) also know that hiring is based primarily on specific vendor training, and only secondarily on core GIS knowledge.

#2 Josh on 2007-04-20 14:57 (Reply)

There is truth to the comments made by the GIS manager. GIS is just another tool for professional to such as land planners, environmental scientists, engineers, etc. to do their job. There will still be a need for GIS professionals, but the land use planners, scientists and engineers will be using GIS for their projects rather than handing GIS applications off to "GIS Professionals" to do geospatial analysis. GIS technicians will fall into the same category as CAD technicians and at some point CAD and GIS techinicians will be one and the same.

#3 Ron on 2007-04-21 10:12 (Reply)

This goes back to the subject of GIS education vs. training -- something I wrote about in Directions Magazine back in 2005. Education gives you the foundation; training gives you the skills.

http://www.directionsmag.com/editorials.php?article_id=1972&trv=1

#4 Atanas Entchev (Link) on 2007-04-21 14:42 (Reply)

Kirk at The Memory Leak offers input on this matter.
http://ambergis.wordpress.com/2007/04/25/learned-helplessness/

#5 Adena Schutzberg (Link) on 2007-04-26 10:18 (Reply)

This kind of thinking is at the root of a problem I've been experiencing with student interns in our GIS shop lately - when faced with a problem that goes beyond which software button to push they are often at a loss because they think the software has the answers and they need not apply other scientific skills.

#6 Sue on 2007-04-26 13:24 (Reply)

Sue and Glenn have it absolutely right! Being a GIS professional means so much more than learning which buttons to push. No one should be hired to do GIS work without first learning the fundamentals of geography, coordinate systems, computer science, statistics, etc. This does not change depending on the technology used to implement them.

If you are wed to a particular piece of software to compensate for your lack of knowledge in these fields, then yes, everything you learn today will be useless. However, if you learn the fundamentals, you will be prepared for any technological change in the foreseeable future.

#7 Matt Perry (Link) on 2007-05-06 02:52 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email
Homepage
In reply to
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. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above:
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry