What is Modern GIS and Why Should I Care?
Template | Opportunities | Vision
What do you want to see in society?
How can you chart your own pathway so that you can achieve your goals and advance societal goals?
Tenets: (1) Education will continue as a powerful means to achieving a vibrant society.
(2) Geotechnologies will continue evolving as a relevant set of tools, data, and methodologies.
Joseph J. Kerski, Ph.D., GISP | Education Manager | Esri, University of Denver, NPU
Cell-Mobile 303-625-3925 | jkerski@esri.com | www.josephkerski.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/josephkerski | YouTube: http://esriurl.com/ourearth
My CV . | My CV as a story map . | My Wikipedia page .
Joseph Kerski: My pathway.
The Colorado Front Range. We are tied to space and place which gives us perspective and a grounding for why and what we teach.
Joseph's teenaged photographs.
One of Joseph's teenaged maps.
Another of Joseph's teenaged maps: What are the numbers in the right margin?
Geotechnologies: Critical for the 21st Century at all scales, themes, and disciplines.
At no time in history have maps, dashboards, and infographics been so depended upon by so many.
Using geotechnologies in many aspects of COVID-19 planning.
5 spatial approaches to safely reopening following COVID-19--every step relies on GIS.
What is modern GIS?
--Enabled and enriched by:
- SaaS infrastructure
- live data feeds from the IoT and open data portals,
- powerful spatial analytics,
- field data collection tools,
- customization through APIs, SDKs, and notebooks,
- integration with CAD and BIM: Interior and exterior spaces
- multimedia web mapping applications for communications.
The 5 forces that bring us to a pivotal moment in geospatial technology in society.
5 forces that bring us to a key moment in GIS in society (Kerski).
GIS is becoming a platform. It has endured as a way of thinking and a problem-solving approach despite major transitions in Information Technology.
GIS as a platform empowers people throughout organizations.
Organizations are adopting GIS as a platform because they perceive specific advantages in doing so.
South Dakota State University campus video, illustration of auto-capture of features through AI and ML.
Citizen science street level imagery and mapping with Mapillary.
City of Englewood Preview Video using ARGIS.
5 Key trends in GIS (Kerski).
Maps and visualizations: Increasingly a fuzzy boundary between the two. Think creatively about different ways to visualize: https://eath.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=9a27635635c940539b96fb5ef954e4d5
Do you have your elevator speech? You still need one.
Elevator speech on why GIS matters to society.
What was this doorstop in its former life? Don't get too attached to your tools.
There are many choices in GIS instruction now, but that leads to some uncertainty and unease in the community.
This helps us re-examine our goals for ourselves and our educational institutions.
3 legged geoliteracy stool (Kerski).
Hence, the tools are changing, but the workforce is also changing.
Preparing https://www.weforum.org/projects/future-of-work for the future of work.
Rapid technological innovation, globalization, demographic shifts, climate change and geopolitical transformations are having an unprecedented impact on the work and skills landscape.
On one hand--> Technologies bring with them exciting opportunities, both for businesses in terms of their productivity, and for the workforce in terms of replacing unhealthy, dangerous and repetitive tasks with high-skilled work.
On the other hand--> As cognitive abilities and tasks that were once thought to be reserved for humans are increasingly being carried out by machines, there is a growing concern about the impact on jobs and the subsequent risks for government, business and people.
Hence: Opportunity!
1. Building communities of action
This initiative brings together industry-specific taskforces, senior executives (CHROs, CSOs, CIOs, etc.), educational and reskilling experts, + reps from government and trade unions, to ID common challenges & opportunities and align on action-oriented agenda.
2. Developing guiding insights and recommendations
3. Curating action for systems change.
In 2013, Italy’s key motorsport manufacturing companies – Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Dallara – faced skills shortages while declining sectors – including the local textiles industry – were shedding jobs. To solve it: The motorsport companies partnered with each other and with the ManpowerGroup to retrain the displaced workers with new, in-demand skills. These workers went on to hold diverse set of roles in the motorsport industry – carbon-fibre laminators and fitters, aerodynamics engineers, vehicle performance analysts and chassis developers, + interns, project managers, HR and IT specialists – with average wage increase of 30%.
4 essential components in this successful transition – for workers and employers. (1) Competitors in the same industry chose to work with each other to create new pool of talent. (2) Government proactive support, (3) Coordination with third party on skills and jobs. (4) Relevant training and skilling services available locally and online.
More collaborations like these, repeated across industries and geographies, will be fundamental for proactively shaping the future of work we want. But they remain rare – and the window to act is closing fast.
The Changing World of Work
1. Industries need a shared approach to managing workforce transformations.
2. Businesses must define their companies’ augmentation strategy.
3. Governments must activate modern labour market policies.
4. Policymakers and investors need to consider a new approach to job creation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
5. All stakeholders need a common language for defining and assessing skills.
The World Employment and Industry Outlook
1. Automation, robotization and digitization look different across different industries.
2. There is a net positive outlook for jobs – amid significant job disruption.
3. The division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms is shifting fast.
4. New tasks at work are driving demand for new skills.
5. We will all need to become lifelong learners.
ICT outlook from World Economic Forum.
ICT outlook from World Economic Forum II.
The tools, the workforce, AND education is also changing.
What and how should you learn geotech in the 2020s?
Is it still just overlay, buffer, geocoding? Or is it data sharing, field and office apps, integrating models with Python? Or all of the above?
Given the wide variety of tutorials and help files containing graphics and videos, networks and the tools to collaborate, ask questions, and share ideas, students, faculty, and GIS professionals have an amazing variety of learning options at their fingertips.
Tool-based approaches vs. how to solve problems using GIS. See David DiBiase's Stop Teaching GIS essay.
Help students "learn how to learn", emulating the kind of resource gathering, networking, and problem solving that they will use in the workplace.
Traditional lesson style and tutorial still has a place in learning, as students using these go through workflow of geographic inquiry, as I did in these 10 lessons.
- As GIS evolves (ArcGIS Pro for example), it becomes more powerful and easier to use. If it does not, then you need to ask questions of your GIS provider.
- Use your own lessons or someone else's? If your own, get used to curation. But, use opportunity for improvement.
- Lessons should not include long how-to directions or screen shots. Why? (1) Workflows. (2) Resources. (3) Modern learning style. (4) Curation nightmare.
The Foundations matter. GTCM: https://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/competency-models/geospatial-technology.aspx
But - who needs to know which components?
Ricker, B. A., Rickles, P. R., Fagg, G. A., & Haklay, M. E. (2020). Tool, toolmaker, and scientist: case study experiences using GIS in interdisciplinary research. Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/15230406.2020.1748113
We have geographers, geologists, environmental scientists, and researchers and analysts from a wide variety of other fields who have been using location as essential part of their analysis for decades.
Now we are seeing more data scientists with backgrounds in computer science and statistics and programming just starting to wrap their minds around how to use location to build better models: Spatial Data Science.
Is GIS "too hard"?
Hard, yes, worthwhile, yes.
Storymap from high school student’s senior engineering capstone. UAVs and GIS to create a campus map. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0556cbdd4d894a1bb06867c5b0020b54
Drones and GIS
What is the tiny little secret? Just like GIS is too valuable for 1-2 departments in a city, GIS is too valuable for just 1 or 2 departments or programs on a school, college, or university campus!
We all do our own word processing. Many scientists do their own GIS. For GIS to expand, it needs to expand beyond the traditional core disciplines of geography, GIScience, planning, natural resource management, geo-sciences to: Civil engineering, sociology, computer science, mathematics, health sciences, business, data science, and beyond.
Rogers Diffusion of Innovations: Where are we in GIS education diffusion?
At the primary and secondary level, (1) Slow steady progress in the use of GIS; (2) 90% used as instructional tool in geography, math, history, science, and for content (teaching WITH GIS) rather than ABOUT GIS.
At the higher education level, (1) most GIS is still within GIS programs; (2) increasing diffusion (business, health programs. (3) Digital humanities, history, computer science, AEC are still relatively small.
My contention: Some students need to know a LOT of GIS. All students need to know some GIS.
Implication for all students: Work with statistics, mathematics, coding, visualization & communication tools.
- The continued importance of real-world examples.
- Goal: Creating students who can think spatially and critically, and who can apply the theory and practice across many disciplines and problems.
- The most marketable geospatial professionals can use GUI for any software, but also go a bit further.
- Don't overstress about using the latest-and-greatest version of X software, but by the same token, don't teach like it is 1999.
Methods of Expansion
Why spread GIS to other disciplines?
Don't camp out in one GIS campground forever: https://youtu.be/f61vc_O-_EY
Don't Camp Out in One GIS Campground Forever. Keep moving forward.
Use GIS as a way of increasing skills in mathematics, statistics, communications.
Work with data science programs !
The "G" is an important component in understanding and analyzing data.
Data Science I.
R-ArcGIS bridge.
Data analysis.
Coding
Gone are the days when people going into GIS can "safely ignore coding".
Continue with tutorials on the ArcGIS Developers site.
Rather than from scratch, Learn concepts by: Try to repeat a tutorial with your OWN dataset.
Rely on GeoNet , https://gis.stackexchange.com/ , and GitHub .
Jupyter Notebooks: Start with notebook in Module 1 of Data Science MOOC - copy code and go from there! Renaming, adding columns, analysis.
ArcGIS Notebooks.
Using Jupyter Notebooks.
Because GIS is a platform, consider: Connecting components of GIS for powerful teaching, research, and communications.
Example: Walkability. Story map, ArcGIS map, Survey123, Dashboard.
Walkability -- connecting components of the GIS platform.
Partnering
ArcGIS Online , ArcGIS Urban and ArcGIS Hub = perfect for partnering with local agencies for student projects. (1) Great experience for students; (2) great opportunity for the agencies to have an enthusiastic student willing to learn & develop apps for the agency. (3) Gives agency peek into who they might want to hire or provide an internship to.
Rekindle innovation in Micro-credentials and certifications.
Many colleges can provide a jumpstart for Esri, GISP, and other certification programs and credentials: https://www.esri.com/training/certification/
Use current disruption in education to incorporate cloud-first solutions.
Cloud-first: Create feature layer > Edit. Then > collect data > Summarize within, Join, or Enrich.
Campus map data collection zones, digitized in ArcGIS Online.
Tell your research communities about survey tools.
Are you working with your campus administration?
Campus safety, facilities management, marketing and communications, and alumni network. Particularly during this time of disruption, to build support for GIS.
Work with your campus and community sustainability initiatives.
Use the Esri Campus Mapping Program as (1) project; (2) client; (3) internship-generator.
Examples from CalPoly San Luis Obispo:
- CPSLO Basemap phase 1 Storymap: https://arcg.is/04mKjb .
- CPSLO Basemap phase 2 Storymap: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/886dfc3e88024cac9319d1d9f087e2bd
- CPSLO Basemap phase 2 Poster: https://calpoly.maps.arcgis.com/sharing/rest/content/items/30162f5e99e244e29e3d1d32a4b91f85/data
- CPSLO COVID prototype V1: https://arcg.is/1f0GG5 .
- CPSLO Food Bank Directions web app: https://guides.lib.calpoly.edu/SLOFoodBank
Partner with your campus or public library.
Use library to expand interest in GIS across campus.
What can you do to advocate for a new or existing library to become a force for GIS on your campus?
Other non-traditional forces for GIS in education:
Professional Societies
Never too early to engage with (1) Mentors; (2) professional societies. But also think outside traditional professional societies (ASPRS, AAG, etc) and conferences (NACIS, Esri, Geo Ed, etc) such as: https://www.cur.org/what/events/students/ncur/ .
The 5 Top Skills for GeoTechnology Professionals AND instructors and students.
1. Be curious. Tenacity. Asking Good questions. Inquiry Process.
2. Be able to work with data and be critical of it!
Geospatial data book and blog: http://spatialreserves.wordpress.com
Understand the ethical implications of what you are doing! Be critical of data that even YOU generate! For more, see my recent presentation on data quality. And my article in Directions Magazine. Maps are easy to create, maps tend to be believed, maps are often used to generate views on web pages, maps are often attached to fun posts, maps are representations of reality.
3. Know your Geographic and Geotechnical Foundations: Skills (spatial stats, coding, web, projections, analysis, classification, etc.), but content knowledge as well AND the geographic perspective (scale, systems thinking).
4. Adaptability. Be flexible; be willing to go international; or at the very least, outside of your "disciplinary comfort zone"!
5. Good Communications. Do you have an elevator speech?
This decade will be exciting for geotechnologies, and you have a key role in achieving the goal.
The goal: That wise decisions will be made with the spatial perspective and the use of geotechnologies for a healthier, happier, and more sustainable future.
Geo love geography awesomeness!
Guess where? Place matters.
