Ten or twenty years ago, "planning your life's career" meant just that. People tended to learn a relatively narrow set of skills and "settle in" to a professional life with a simple career path and one or two employers. Today, this traditional employment model still exists, but a current professional career might also involve multiple employment relationships, participation in a "virtual" organization, self-employment, or pursuit of many types of jobs during one's lifetime. The bottom line in today's world is that it pays to be educated broadly, yet skilled technically, to meet the challenges and reap the tremendous opportunities of an information-based global economy. More and more, this information-based global economy is becoming a geospatial information-based economy. Such tools as aerial and satellite remote sensing imagery, the Global Positioning System (GPS), and computerized geographic information systems (GIS) are revolutionizing the conduct of business, science, and government alike.
GIS emerged as a viable technology in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, it exploded into one of the fastest growing and most widely adopted technologies in the information age. GIS technology crosscuts many disciplines and applications ranging from the medical profession to natural resource management. Likewise, it spans a diverse group of user communities ranging from small villages to federal agencies. This exciting technological development integrates remotely sensed and ground-based information into powerful decision making analytical tools. Knowledge and experience or interest in one or several application areas such biology, ecology, resource management, facilities management, planning or engineering, is often desirable.
Geospatial information is increasingly becoming a driving force for decision making across the local to global continuum. For example, tasks as varied as planning urban growth, managing a forest, assessing insurance claims, siting an automatic teller machine, routing emergency vehicles, designing a cellular phone network, monitoring air quality, designing a road, or mapping wetlands can be greatly enhanced by the use of some form of geospatial technology. Geographic information systems are also enjoying greatly expanded application in business, from siting retail stores, to real estate, logistics and marketing. Together, photogrammetry, remote sensing, and GIS offer numerous employment opportunities throughout the private, governmental, and academic sectors and across the globe.
So, where can you go to get the training in GIS? Right here at your local Community College in Berlin. NHCC offers a certificate or two-year degree in Spatial Information Technology, with a specialization in GIS. Students receive training on AutoCAD and extended training in GIS theory, GIS programming, and GIS projects centered on ESRI's ArcGIS and Idrisi image processing software packages. Students also receive training in the theory and use of GPS utilizing the college's state of the art receivers and software. Support courses include cartography, remote sensing and digital image processing, database development, and survey methods.
And how well are our students trained? Just ask June Garneau, a 2007 graduate of the program. She travelled to Kansas City, Mo., this past summer, where she competed in the Postsecondary Geospatial Technology Challenge at the Skills USA National Leadership Conference and Competition and returned a Gold Medal Winner! In addition to the medal, she was awarded thousands of dollars worth of software, as well as a cash award. Garneau currently works in her field for North Country Council.
Geospatial Technology has been identified as a high growth industry by the US Department of Labor. There are great job opportunities for people with these talents and educational backgrounds.
Many things lead to a rewarding career. Monetary reward, ongoing technical challenge, opportunity for advancement, employment flexibility, the development of a local to global perspective, and the satisfaction of truly making a difference all characterize careers in the field. Geospatial information science and technology can provide many commercial, scientific, and social benefits in a broad range of settings. That’s why we like to say when you enter this career area, you not only shape your future, but the future.
Check out these websites for job opportunities:
