Applications and Research
What can you do with GIS? It is a tool that can be of considerable utility in many different fields. There aren’t necessarily a ton of jobs advertised as GIS Analyst, but there a wide range of applications for GIS!
Table of contents
Government
Many government positions, from municipal to federal, require GIS skills.
Urban Planning
Basic GIS and Cartography are essential for any city planner. Nearly every municipality has a planning department. City of Vancouver Planning Department
- Zoning & Development
- Accessibility
- Sustainability
Disaster Planning & Recovery
British Columbia’s floodplain maps are severely outdated, as are flood maps across the country. The province has “offloaded” responsibility of flood management onto municipalities, which is a grossly negligent action as the scale of the problem is far beyone what municipalities have the resources to address. Up to 10% of Canadian homes are in high risk flood zones. This largely needs to be addressed by provincial & federal governments (disasters don’t respect borders).
Beyond flooding … there are many other looming issues we need to prepare for:
- Fires
- Windstorms
- Earthquakes
- Tsunamis
- Volcanoes
- Permafrost Thaw
- Public Health
- Migration Crises
- War and Famine
Conservation and Resource Management
Provincial and Federal governments are responsible for managing resources, which requires managing maps and databases for:
- Mining
- Forestry
- Fisheries
- Agriculture
Private Sector
Logistics
Route mapping and optimization is largely done by algorithms, but experienced users are need at large companies like Google, FedEx, UPS, etc. to manage the applications. Global shipping and air carriers need geoanalysts as well. There many more specialized applications for navigation and logistics expertise.
- The recent flooding in BC has highlighted how important logistics operators are in modern society.
Resource Extraction & Development
Closely tied with the government resource management, industries hire employees with GIS skills or contract consulting firms:
- Mining
- Forestry
- Fisheries
- Agriculture
Consulting
Beyond resource extraction, there are a number of other projects that rely on private consulting:
- Environmental Impact Assessments
- Construction and Real Estate Development
- Political Consulting
- Freelance Applications
Research and Advocacy
Climate Change
GIS has a wide range of applications for addressing climate change. Satellite data can be used to monitor impacts and advance our understanding. Mapping can be used to work towards mitigation and develop strategies for adaptation (eg. mapping sea level rise, risk assessments for highways, assessing fire risk).
- I frequently use GIS in my own research, it was a central part of my dissertation and now I’m using it working for the UBC Micrometeorology research group.
Social Justice
GIS is a powerful tool for addressing social justice issues. Especially Open Source GIS, because access is not restricted licensing fees. I’ve used open source GIS techniques along with programming (Python) skills to start an organization tracking Police Involved Deaths in Canada.