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| Subject: | RE: GISList: URISA certification - ESRI the only active vendor? |
| Date: |
05/06/2002 09:53:07 AM |
| From: |
Joe Francica |
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Glenn/David:
I do not find an outright bias and to argue that because ESRI products are
installed in nearly every academic institution that teaches GIS would be a
presumption of bias, is also not valid. I find the requirements to be more
or less an honor system which to me is more of a concern. Who is going to do
a background check? I agree that you should prove your professionalism but
who will issue an exam? I think URISA is trying to find a middle ground
between a weak certification process and a qualifications procedure
equivalent to a P.E.
Joe Francica
-----Original Message-----
From: David Nealey [mailto:dnealey@worldnet.att.net\
Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2002 8:53 PM
To: Glenn Letham
Cc: gislist@geocomm.com
Subject: Re: GISList: URISA certification - ESRI the only active vendor?
Glenn,
I have taken two looks at the site and have found nothing that suggests
that
the committee's recommendations are biased in anyway towards ESRI. When I
first
saw announcements that URISA was considering certification, I feared that
marketshare would influence the requirements but that does not seem to be
the
case.
Once the core certification requirements are accepted by the URISA Board, I
do
hope that each vendor develops their own exams for users, as Intergraph has
done. That I would suggest would encourage GIS professionals to try to get
every slot (chads to you Floridians) punched just to fill in their cards.
With
so many organizations using several software packages, that would prove to
prospective employers that a job applicant really understand how to use all
those products (apps) they list on resumes. (Now employers have to figure
out
if an applicant knows the software during the interview, oftentimes wasting
their time and the applicant's because the applicant attended one
demonstration
and put that on their resume.)
In my opinion, the committee's recommendations may be a bit skewed towards
organizational participation but that makes it easy for almost anyone to
qualify
for some level of certification if they just join URISA, GITA, or another
GIS
organization. Some of the items in the recommendation should also encourage
GIS
folks to give talks at meetings. From what I have seen this year, the
professional organizations need more attendance at their meetings if they
are
to continue being able to host them. National conferences are becoming so
poorly attended that they are attracting as many vendors as participants.
The reason that the other software companies are not on the committee is
probably that they do not consider certification important to the bottom
line.
I doubt that URISA tried to prevent any of them from participating in the
committee's activities--URISA is a stand-up organization. I am glad then
that
ESRI is committed to the industry and not just to selling product, although
it
does that very well.
Hopefully others on the list will comment.
David
Glenn Letham wrote:
> Hello all,
> I was just browsing the URISA certification details
> see
http://www.urisa.org/certification/2certific.htm#CERTIFICATION%20UPDATE
>
> and noticed that the committee is made up mostly of academics. There are
> also several consultants, and representatives from government, industry,
and
> orgs. Interesting to note that the only commercial vendor represented is
> ESRI, having 2 members.
>
> Any idea why the other vendors are absent from participation in this? What
> made me look at this was a section on the site that encouraged GIS
> professionals to take part actively in GIS events, and specifically
pointed
> out GIS Day, which is of course, and ESRI sponsored event.
>
> I wonder, were reps from Intergraph, Autodesk, GE, Mapinfo, etc... not
> interested in taking part, not invited, or ?
> Any comments, as usual, are always appreciated.
>
> Regards
> Glenn
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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