|
|
| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
| |
| Mailing List Archives |
| Subject: | [gislist] Careers in GIS |
| Date: |
12/25/2003 01:00:01 AM |
| From: |
DickBoyd .. aol.com |
|
|
Whoever does the job at an agreeable price gets the work. With more people to
do the work, there is more division and more specialization. With
specialization, comes lack of focus on the big picture. The lack of focus also creates
new jobs to maintain a focus. With modern communications, it does not matter so
much where the people are. What is important is time and performance. So what
is the job definition? What are the requirements?
Dimitri mentions the disciplined thought that mathematics provides. Another
mentions the instability of the information technology market. Taking a
slightly different path, who has the money and what do they want? Should response to
wealth be the focus? Assuming food, shelter and clothing have been satisfied,
what next? Where is there an unmet need?
Assuming food, shelter and clothing have been met may not be a good
assumption. Should there be more effort to bootstrap those in hunger, the homeless and
the naked? Or are there more valuable unfilled needs? Where are the needs?
Needs are the focus of GIS. All else is philosophy.
In addition to the dollar value of labor, there is also the time factor. As
the world turns, the sun is setting in one place and rising in another. What
are the things that must be done now? What are the things that cannot wait? A
nanosecond is a finite amount of time. A length of wire about a foot long
represents the distance light travels in one nanosecond. Transmission speed is one
of the technical limits on processing information. If coordinate
transformations are required, that takes a finite amount of time. How can the transformation
be speeded up? Or was the transformation even necessary? Or having been
transformed once, is there a need to repeat the calculation? Can you spell
Jacobian? Are view shed calculations required for every observation, or only to
present a chart for planning antenna or lookout locations? Can it wait till
tomorrow, or must it be ready by tomorrow?
Each days revenues and change in inventory could be sent around the world for
overnight preparation. Investment in warehouse stock could be reduced.
The emphasis in this group seems to be on the geography part of geographic
information systems. Geography is defined by the location of zero, a linear and
an angular measuring system based on defined coordinates. Global Positioning
System and datum translation have pretty well defined the geography very
cheaply. In comparison to previous survey methods, GPS is indeed the next utility.
Think of a tape measure as having a smart end and a dumb end. The dumb end
stays fixed at zero. The smart end is where the measurement is recorded. Every
measurement should add value. If value is not added, don't bother. But remember
where zero is.
That brings us to the information part of GIS. How do observations become
information? How are observations kneaded, blended, rolled, extruded and
manipulated to become information, maps, charts, visual aids? Why measure something if
there is no intent to control it? Someone will act on the measurement to add
value. How it is presented can make the decision makers job easier or harder.
Presenting an easier job is of more value.
That brings us to the difficult part of GIS. The information. On the farm,
they say a pig don't know a pig stinks. People that have not had access to
information don't know that they need the information. One promising area of GIS is
explaining to decision makers how to use the tools that are now available.
Another area is in defining data collection requirements. What range,
resolution, repeatability, calibration are required of the measuring tools. What is the
life of the observation? Learn big words like senescence, so people don't
confuse you with an ordinary run of the mill census taker. To understand what
people need, you need to understand what they are doing now and how they are doing
it. In my experience, it has been easier to teach someone with expert
knowledge how to use a computer than it has been to teach a computer expert the
special knowledge of some other discipline.
What is the existing organization that can most readily collect the needed
data? Is data collection part of their existing charter? What is the increase in
cost for GIS data collection and reporting? How will that cost be recovered?
Who will train the data collectors? Will that data be in the public domain?
Are there existing information processing standards? Think FIPS, Federal
Information Processing Standards. The United States Postal System uses Zone
Improvement Program (ZIP) to improve mail delivery. How would you improve ZIP? Who
would benefit from the improvement? How would you collect your wages for the
improvement? How would you control the standards? Who defines WGS 84? Or NAD 27?
Think of your automobile insurance. Do you spend about the same amount for
automobile insurance as you do for gasoline? How could GI
|
|
Sponsored by:
For information
regarding
advertising rates
Click Here!
|
