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Reasons to Choose GIS Certification Program as Your Career

Before starting a graduate program in geographic information science, most people want to know what the future of GIS jobs looks like. Fortunately, the prospects look extremely bright for GIS career growth.

So, why study GIS? Here are four compelling reasons to pursue a GIS career path:

A growing field with strong job prospects.

Competitive salaries that are rising.

A variety of work to suit all styles.

A chance to make a difference.

A Growing Field with Strong Job Prospects

With the rapidly increasing availability of geospatial data, APIs for platforms like Google Maps and integration into the Internet of Things, GIS professionals have more tools at their disposal than ever before. That growth, in turn, has made it possible for experts to address large-scale problems – from enhancing humanitarian efforts such as disease control and city planning to providing business intelligence solutions for product management and marketing.

According to P&S Market Research the global GIS market could be worth $17.5 billion by 2023. With that expansion comes greater demand for skilled surveyors, cartographers, photogrammetrists, GIS analysts and GIS experts. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected employment for cartographers and photogrammetrists to grow 19 percent between 2014 and 2024, much faster than the average of 7 percent for all other occupations.

Competitive Salaries that are Rising

The median salaries for GIS careers range from $54,170 per year for drafters to $137,943 for senior geomatics software engineers. In a 2017 URISA GIS salary survey of 3,000+ full-time GIS employees, the average salary of respondents was $71,000, an increase of 15 percent over 2010.

As GIS job opportunities and salaries continue to grow, there will be a high demand for professionals who combine the technical acumen to source accurate spatial data with the critical and spatial thinking skills to apply that information in solving complex problems.

A Variety of Work to Suit All Styles

Not the type who’s ever dreamed of sitting at a desk all day? Or are you exactly the type who wants to sit at a desk all day? The wonderful thing about GIS careers is there are ideal roles for different working styles.

Geospatial information touches many aspects of both the public and private sectors and just about every industry imaginable, from agriculture and aerospace to ecology and economics. If you want to work outdoors tracking wildlife in the Arctic, that’s one possibility. But if you’d rather spend your days tracking down insurance fraud in the Midwestern United States, location intelligence is a hot trend in the financial services industry. Or maybe you have a passion for infrastructure: Urban planning may be up your alley.

GIS professionals qualify for occupations in myriad fields. There are climate scientists who provide analyses to all sectors of the economy, health geographers who use technology to stop the spread of diseases and developers who create interactive maps and other robust GIS applications.

A Chance to Make a Difference

A career in GIS presents many opportunities to make an impact with the work you do. There’s no end to the spatial information to be mapped and analyzed.

You can put your GIS skills to use by helping develop a neighborhood, conserving a wildlife habitat or defending your nation as a service member. Whether you want to improve infrastructure, grow a business or streamline operations on a military base, you’ll have chances to shape the way humans interact with the world around them. GIS improves our understanding of the social, geological and temporal factors that contribute to some of the world’s most challenging problems.

About USC’s Online GIS Graduate Programs

The University of Southern California offers a comprehensive selection of online GIS programs, including GIS master’s degrees and GIS Master certificates. This gives our students the ultimate flexibility in tailoring their education for their career goals. Click on the programs below to learn about our leading geographic information science education.

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Mapping A New Strategy To Fight Opioid Addiction

According to statistics from the Centres of Disease Control, more than 115 Americans die each day from opioid overdoses. Additionally, the economic burden imposed by the abuse of prescription pain relievers and heroin adds up to $78.5 billion a year. As a result, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officially declared the crisis a national health emergency in 2017.

The stakes are high as healthcare providers, government agencies and non-profit organizations strive to contend with widespread addictions to narcotic, and the right information is crucial to making these efforts successful.

How Can GIS Help Drug Epidemics?

Geospatial intelligence can assist in addressing the causes and consequences of substance abuse. Geographic information science (GIS) offers a data-driven perspective that equips authorities and the public with the visibility to understand drug-related problems and evaluate potential solutions.

The use of GIS in medicine, public health services, law enforcement and policymaking connects stakeholders with powerful tools for analysis and strategy. Using GIS to document and analyze the prevalence of drug use, geospatial problem-solvers have opportunities to make a difference in an urgent health crisis.

1. Empowering Healthcare Initiatives

In recent years, geospatial medicine has emerged as a healthcare field that emphasizes how a patient’s location affects diagnosis and treatment. The application of GIS in medicine allows medical professionals to identify significant environmental factors, leading to more effective prevention and better outcomes for patients. In the case of managing addiction, geohealth can be a major advantage in situations where every second counts.

With findings drawn from GIS tools, healthcare professionals identify clusters of addiction problems in the regions that they serve and consider how distance may limit access to treatment. Geohealth leads to informed decisions about prescribing opioids to manage chronic pain and using Naxalone to prevent overdose deaths. When emergency medical technicians and first responders are aware of relevant patterns and trends, they may be more successful in saving the lives of opioid users.

2. Developing Policy Solutions

Government agencies must create and implement policies to address the public health crises that arise from drug abuse. GIS keeps officials up to date on fluctuation in vital data points, giving them a straightforward way to gauge the effectiveness of their response.

Policymakers and social services providers can adjust their strategies and meet emerging challenges by tracking indicators like:

Narcotics seizures

Drug activity reports

Overdoses

Drug-related deaths

As one of the top 10 states for opioid-related overdoses, Kentucky has committed to a collective response to the heroin epidemic in its northern counties, spearheaded by a task force called the Heroin Impact Response Team. A GIS platform documents the severe issues facing the region, presenting geographic data to track dangers and direct resources to communities that need them. USC GIS certificate programs shares information about mortality rates from overdoses and locations that have experienced increasing calls for police and emergency services due to opioids.

3. Spreading Awareness and Information

In addition to assisting community leaders and doctors, geospatial data provides the general public with important updates about the drug problems in their areas. Mapping can offer ways for individuals to get involved in fighting the opioid crisis and show those who are struggling with drug addiction where to find help.

GIS enables public-facing services like:

Directing users to drop-off boxes where they can safely dispose of narcotics

Showing the locations of facilities for addiction treatment and alternative pain management

Providing a simple way to report where drug activity may be occurring

Educating community members about the dangers of opioid addiction and overdoses

4. Supporting Law Enforcement Strategies

Local, state and federal law enforcement rely on geographic information to prevent the illicit use and sale of narcotics. Spatial data can help to formulate strategies for reducing an area’s supply of heroin and prescription opioids. Police are more successful in meeting their objectives when they have access to accurate intelligence and stay in communication with the community and healthcare providers.

That’s why the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration deployed GIS tools as part of its High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program. An area qualifies as an HIDTA if:

It serves as a center for the production, importation or distribution of illegal drugs

These drug-related activities are causing significant harm in the region or elsewhere

Local law enforcement agencies have deployed the necessary resources for an active response

Combating the local drug problem calls for greater federal resources

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The Future of GEOINT - Camelia Kantor | Spatial Sciences Institute from USC GIST

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