Assessing professional benefits of GIS certification

ABSTRACT

The certification of geographic information system (GIS) professionals remains a contentious topic. After more than 25 years, the GIS community remains divided over the need to formally recognize GIS professionals who maintain standards of professional competency and conduct. Unfortunately, few studies have examined individuals who have become certified or the professional benefits of certification. This study explores GIS certification through a survey of 1731 geospatial professionals who became geographic information systems professionals (GISPs) between 2003 and 2014. A web-based questionnaire asked GISPs about the certification process, its influence on their compensation and advancement, and other issues. Quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that perceptions about certification fall along a wide spectrum with GISPs employed in private industry seeing fewer benefits compared with those employed in government or not-for-profit organizations. While a large number of respondents conveyed pride in completing the certification process, others expressed frustration over the program’s lack of visibility, standards that have enabled less qualified peers to become certified, and the slow progress at which GIS certification has achieved respect compared with programs administered in other fields such as engineering and planning.     

发展我国GIS高等教育的思考

简述了地理信息系统在我国高校的发展概况 ,作者对如何按照教育部的八字方针办好GIS专业作了具体阐述 ,其中包括 :需要有自身特色的支撑专业 ;严格的教学大纲和合理的课程安排 ;有雄厚的师资队伍。强调培养学生的实干和动手能力 ,大力培养掌握GIS的非GIS专业的人才。     

The Implications of Including Women's Daily Lives in a Feminist GIScience

In this paper, we argue that a feminist geographical analysis that examines women as active agents in their daily lives, pays attention to the multiplicity of women's experiences in relational space, and values knowledge for transformative purposes, provides insights as to how GIScience might develop in the near future. We draw upon our research with two different community organizations in North Philadelphia to show how a feminist geographical analysis can shape the conceptualization of a community GIS. We argue that collaborative work with community organizations based on “a view from below” necessitates alternative institutional arrangements while providing rich data to better understand the intersection of daily life and information and communication technologies (ICT) as experienced, in the particular case of our work, by poor women. Our research illustrates that understanding ICT frameworks from the perspective of women and in the context of their daily lives has important implications for GIScience.     

The Instructor Element of GIS Instruction at US Colleges and Universities

Over the last two decades, higher education has made substantial investments in GIS education through equipment and software purchases, upgrades to teaching facilities, and the creation of innovative academic programs such as certificates and degrees. However, comparatively less attention and fewer resources have been directed towards what might be called the “instructor element” of GIS instruction. In this article we look at the preparation and ongoing professional development of GIS educators through a survey of 270 individuals teaching GIS at US colleges and universities. Along with assessing the education and professional background of GIS instructors, we evaluate their perceptions concerning the importance of various GIS subject areas. Our findings demonstrate considerable breadth in the range of education and experience held by faculty members who are presently teaching GIS courses. In evaluating the importance placed on GIS teaching elements, we found little variation among individuals according to their institution type or educational attainment. However, significant differences in the perceived importance of GIS teaching areas were found across disciplinary areas.     

学科竞赛驱动下GIS专业人才培养模式改革

以地理信息产业大发展为背景,分析了GIS专业人才培养存在的问题,结合河南理工大学地理信息科学专业实际,以学科竞赛作为驱动因素,从"阶梯式"课程体系设置和"海绵式"学生兴趣小组构建两个方面对GIS专业人才培养模式进行改革,并从学科竞赛成绩、毕业生就业、考研情况和国际交流4个方面对该模式改革的实践效果进行阐述,为高校培养适应行业需求的GIS专业人才提供参考。     

高校地理信息系统人才培养探讨

从地理信息系统发展入手,依据社会对GIS人才需求,从GIS知识结构、实践教学和目前高校GIS人才培养所面临的问题对GIS人才培养进行了探讨。     

专业认证背景下的测绘工程专业课程体系优化

为了满足工程教育认证制度对高校测绘工程专业人才的培养要求,从测绘工程专业实际出发,对2014级培养方案中的课程体系进行了优化。在介绍课程体系构建背景的基础上,对照工程教育认证标准(2012版)的要求,简要说明了测绘工程专业培养目标、毕业生获取知识和能力、学位授予标准。详细阐述了课程体系优化的背景、课程体系构成与课程体系结构。经过对课程体系的优化能够满足工程教育认证标准中对课程体系的要求,为培养符合工程教育认证标准的毕业生打下扎实的基础。     

网络GIS课程全栈式层次教学体系思考与构建

国际工程教育认证中全员达标要求以及行业对网络GIS的强技术需求,给网络GIS课程教学体系带来了机遇和挑战。针对现有网络GIS课程教学体系仍以传统灌输模式为主的问题,本文分析了网络GIS课程特点和教学现状,提出了全员全栈式教学体系,设计了面向不同类型教学对象的多层次教学内容和教学方法,可以满足工程教育认证的全员达标要求;提出了以知识点为单元的细粒度技术教学设计,通过技术点的组合可以实现全栈式技术人才培养;最后,本文结合项目案例给出了技术教学设计与实施的示范。本文提出的教学体系为培养面向工程认证和行业需求的网络GIS技术人才提供了教学参考。     

我国大陆高校地理信息系统教育发展与空间分异分析

地理信息系统自20世纪60年代发展以来,已在世界范周内产生深远影响。我国地理信息系统自80年代起步,在80年代中后期地理信息系统高等教育开始起步,经历二十几年的发展,在2000年前后进人发展快车道。当前我国大陆地区开展GIS教育的高校已经从最初的几所高校扩展到百余所。尽管大陆地区地理信息系统本科阶段教育已基本普及,但各地地理信息系统教育发展并不平衡,尤其是硕士、博士学位点分布集中有限几个省市区中。因此,针对当前地理信息系统教育发展局面,对制约其发展的主要影响因素进行分析,并考虑在此情形下我国大陆地区地理信息系统教育的发展趋势,有助于明确影响地理信息系统教育发展的主要凶素,更好地指导各省市区地理信息系统教育发展。     

Critical Issues in Participatory GIS: Deconstructions, Reconstructions, and New Research Directions

In the mid‐1990s, several critical texts raised concerns about the social, political, and epistemological implications of GIS. Subsequent responses to these critiques have fundamentally altered the technological, political, and intellectual practices of GIScience. Participatory GIS, for instance, has intervened in multiple ways to try to ameliorate uneven access to GIS and digital spatial data and diversify the forms of spatial knowledge and spatial logic that may be incorporated in a GIS. While directly addressing core elements of the ‘GIS & Society’ critique, these reconstructions of a critical GIScience introduce their own ambiguities with respect to access, equity, digital representation of spatial knowledge, and epistemologies of new GIS research practices. In this paper, I examine some of the new and persistent ambiguities of participatory GIS that bear inclusion in future critical GIScience research.     

面向产业发展高端化的测绘地理信息专业人才培养路径

面向测绘地理信息产业发展高端化,高职院校如何培养技能人才成为当前研究的热点。通过开展企业调研,企业对地理信息系统技术及应用(87.5%)、无人机测绘技术(84.7%)、工程测量(79.2%)技能较为重视,学生普遍缺乏测绘及GIS软件操作与应用(68.1%)、测绘仪器使用和维护(65.3%)、操作无人机进行信息采集与处理(56.9%)能力。本文提出“岗课证赛”融通的测绘地理信息人才培养模式,把企业岗位任务、职业认证及技能大赛的能力要求融入课程,使学生具备掌握与未来职业岗位需求相吻合的技能,适应测绘地理信息产业发展高端化。     

测绘工程专业GIS实验混合式教学方法探讨

本文首先在当前GIS实验教学模式的基础上,结合笔者学校毕业生主要的就业方向、市场需求、工程教育专业认证的相关要求等,重组了测绘工程专业的“GIS原理与应用实验”课程的教学内容。然后结合当前疫情防控需要和网络教学的特点,应用“学习通”线上教学平台,开展了线上线下混合式实验教学方法的改革与探索,发展形成了新的教学方案,可以满足不同行业GIS人才培养的需要。教学实验表明,该方案具有理论基础与实践技能并重、课内与课外相结合、组合方式多等优点,不仅能提高学生实践操作能力,而且在巩固理论教学方面有显著优势,有利于发挥学生的主观能动性,可为相关专业的GIS实验教学提供借鉴与参考。     

Geospatial Agents, Agents Everywhere . . .

The use of the related terms “agent‐based”, “multi‐agent”, “software agent” and “intelligent agent” have witnessed significant growth in the Geographic Information Science (GIScience) literature in the past decade. These terms usually refer to both artificial life agents that simulate human and animal behavior and software agents that support human‐computer interactions. In this article we first comprehensively review both types of agents. Then we argue that both these categories of agents borrow from Artificial Intelligence (AI) research, requiring them to share the characteristics of and be similar to AI agents. We also argue that geospatial agents form a distinct category of AI agents because they are explicit about geography and geographic data models. Our overall goal is to first capture the diversity of, and then define and categorize GIScience agent research into geospatial agents, thereby capturing the diversity of agent‐oriented architectures and applications that have been developed in the recent past to present a holistic review of geospatial agents.     

Geographic information science as a multidisciplinary and multiparadigmatic field

Despite the fact that the field of GIScience has been around for two decades, there is still little agreement as to the exact contents and boundaries of the field. Many authors have dedicated several publications concerned with defining the field, yet little consensus has been reached. Because of the highly dynamic nature of the discipline, new areas are constantly added and rigid borders may have a constraining influence on the field. On the contrary, one agreed part of the many GIScience definitions is the search for general principles, but principles for what? Can we define one field or discipline or all potential fields using geospatial information? Probably not. Therefore, rather than attempting to demarcate exact boundaries for GIScience as a discipline or a multidisciplinary field in order to prove its respectability, we herein attempt to analyze the contents of such a dynamic field on the basis of scientific literature and to assess the multidisciplinary and multiparadigmatic nature of GIScience. Such a discussion is not purely of academic nature, but also bears implications beyond academic discourse, in terms of external scientific funding and research grants. We question whether there is a “dominant” paradigmatic approach in GIScience and identify a need for adopting a multiparadigmatic view to accommodate the multifaceted nature of space, spatial representations, and the societal implications of geospatial information.     

Seven possible states of geospatial data with respect to map projection and definition: a novel pedagogical device for GIS education

ABSTRACT

Conceptually, the theory and implementation of “map projection” in geographic information system (GIS) technology is difficult to comprehend for most introductory students and novice users. Compounding this difficulty is the concept of a “map projection file” that defines map projection parameters of geo-spatial data. The problem of the “missing projection file” appears ubiquitous for all users, especially in practice where data is widely shared. Another common problem is inadvertent misapplication of the “Define Projection” tool that can result in a GIS dataset with an incorrectly defined map projection file. GIS education should provide more guidance in differentiating the concepts of map projection versus projection files by increasing understanding and minimizing common errors. A novel pedagogical device is introduced in this paper: the seven possible states of GIS data with respect to map projection and definition. The seven possible states are: (1) a projected coordinate system (PCS) that is correctly defined, (2) a PCS that is incorrectly defined, (3) a PCS that is undefined, (4) a geographic coordinate system (GCS) that is correctly defined, (5) a GCS that is incorrectly defined, (6) a GCS that is undefined, and (7) a non-GCS. Recently created automated troubleshooting tools to determine a missing map projection file are discussed.     

工科大学生解决复杂工程问题能力的培养

测绘仪器的开发与创新不仅是当前测绘信息化阶段工程本科人才培养的重要环节,也是工程教育认证中解决复杂工程问题的基本要求。仪器系统综合设计训练能够有效锻炼工科大学生解决复杂工程问题的能力。本文在明确专业认证中复杂工程问题的基本内涵后,介绍了仪器系统综合训练实验内容的设计方法,并梳理项目设计任务与复杂工程问题间的关系,同时结合课程反馈优化实践课程设置,将解决复杂工程问题的能力培养落到实处,为测绘类、仪器类相关专业培养方案的制订提供参考,使其符合工程教育认证标准要求。     

GIS Course Planning: A Comparison of Syllabi at US College and Universities

Despite the enormous growth of college courses dealing with spatial information, curriculum planning involving geographic information science (GIS) courses and programs has received little attention within the GIS literature. As the number and variety of GIS courses expands, so too does the importance of both systematic and inclusive planning and campus‐wide coordination. In this article we explore course planning through an exploration of 312 GIS course syllabi used at US colleges and universities with the goal of characterizing the degree to which learning resources, student evaluation methods, and course topics have become standardized across institution types, academic levels, and disciplines. Our findings reveal a consensus in the use of GIS software across courses but no similar agreement in the use of textbooks. Hands‐on activities were used as evaluation methods in nearly every course in the sample regardless of institution type or academic level. However, quizzes, tests and final exams were used more often in community colleges while papers and projects were used more frequently in four‐year and comprehensive research universities. The frequency of topic categories listed on syllabi was relatively consistent across institutions, academic levels and disciplines with a few topics such as vector analytic operations, data models, and data creation/acquisition/editing included on more than 50% of syllabi.     

GIS专业计算机类课程教学改革与探索

在分析了GIS专业计算机类课程教学中存在的问题的基础上,结合实际的教学经验,并以云南大学GIS专业为例,提出了相应的解决方案,并给出了系统化的GIS专业计算机课程培养目标,以期为高校GIS专业教育提供有益的借鉴和参考。     

Mobile Mapping and Geographic Information Systems

Mobile mapping and geographic information systems may represent a new paradigm for cartography and GIScience. This short foreword to the special issue introduces the three papers that follow, briefly surveys the growing literature of field and mobile GIS, and discusses the emerging literature surrounding wearable GIS and their augmented reality display systems. The UCGIS research agenda for mobile and distributed computing is presented, as are the calls for additional research in the papers of the special issue. Calls for a comprehensive review article of the field from a cartography/GIScience perspective, and for involvement in the research agenda of mobile systems, are made.     

职业认证制度下测绘工程专业实践教学体系构建

为了满足职业认证制度对高校测绘工程专业人才的培养要求,从测绘工程专业实际出发,以注册测绘师执业能力为主线,明确专业培养目标,强化学生在工程项目中的实践技能训练,开展创新创业教育,构建职业认证制度下的测绘工程专业实践教学体系.