Article by Christopher Vella-Bone
Over the past decade there have been major advancements in technology and software. One such advancement is that of GIS. Consequently, the number of GIS jobs in the UK offered by companies is on the rise. This article will help to give you a greater insight into GIS and how you can get a GIS related job.
What is GIS?
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a complex technology displaying the digital representations of specific geographic areas. Satellites are a popular method of capturing such images of larger areas e.g. a country or continent. A primary use of GIS is for scientific investigations, examples of which many of us will have seen in motion pictures such as “2012″ and “The Day After Tomorrow.” GIS use spatial patterns to display data on maps. There are three main types, point patterns, line patterns and area patterns. Point patterns can be used to identify the number of Electronics stores in a certain area for example, line patterns are ideal for mapping rivers and roads using GIS, and area patterns show how data varies across certain areas e.g. the population density of specific areas across a country.
GIS Job Roles and Responsibilities
Technojobs currently feature GIS Jobs online that can be found at GIS Jobs.
GIS is now a major part of how many organisations operate on a day to day basis thanks to the introduction of revolutionary GIS software such as Google Earth. As a consequence, there are number of GIS Jobs available, with many firms now looking to incorporate GIS into their business model and practices.
Due to the wide range of organisations that use GIS there are a variety of different responsibilities for GIS workers depending on the industry their employer operates within. Some of these roles and responsibilities could include developing internet applications to present GIS data and tools on corporate websites as well as converting paper maps into digital representations using GIS.How can I get a GIS Job?
As mentioned earlier, GIS is a highly complex technology to operate and therefore it is essential that you have some form of experience working with GIS when trying to gain employment in the field. The best way to gain such experience is through some form of internship. Whilst these are usually low paying temporary positions, the experience you gain is invaluable. Having undertaken a GIS internship will put you in a good position when applying for a full-time job as you should already have gained some relevant knowledge foundations.
Once you have gained some experience working with GIS, the most appropriate role to apply for is a GIS Technician/Specialist as they require around 1 years experience working with the technology. The main responsibilities in this position are to edit vector data and create data in a GIS software application. The next step up after Technician/Specialist is a GIS Analyst, job descriptions for which can be found online performing a simple Google search or looking on Technojobs for our GIS Jobs .
Useful Resources
GIS Jobs Java JobsSQL Jobs
