GIS Thread

>I think it would be dope if I learned all the really fucked up math behind GIS. Like all the statistics and computer science and coordinate systems and stuff.

And you should. You need to fully understand what's behind coordinate transformations, because that's basic. You need to fully understand what the WGS is all about. Consider your GIS skills to be the key that unlocks the door to an industry career. Of course, if you want to be successful you need to go beyond that, you have to be a good programmer, you need to have an angle and potentially even a specialisation (urban environments, vegetation, natural disasters?..), and you'll probably have to learn about modern database systems. GIS tools are just that - tools. And the industry is evolving quickly, so be ready for a lifetime of learning and re-learning.

I'm an environmental science major and I've been meaning to sign up to get a certificate for this but I've kept putting it off. Hopefully it's not too late.

The statistics stuff really isn't that hard. Just kind of disconnected from the remainder of the subect, as a lot is taken from econometrics, of all places.
E.g. the basic idea of kriging is pretty much the same as time series analysis.

In addition to the languages mentioned here, you definitely should have a look at R for its geostatistics stuff. JavaScript, on the other hand, is not that useful for this kind of thing.

>JavaScript, on the other hand, is not that useful for this kind of thing.

While I agree, I just want to note that Google Earth Engine uses a JS-like language, I think, and I'd bet my left nut that GEE will become an important player in the future. So far, it's mainly used in academia, but I'm sure the industrial applications will take off at some point.

Hypothetically, if I wanted to get into academia, what Gradutate/PhD programs should I pursue? I see very few suggestions online for GIS PhD programs and many for Geography/Cartography degrees with GIS integration.

Well, GIS isn't a scientific field of research, hence the lack of PhD programs. You want to look for disciplines that make use of GIS tools: number one is obviously geography. Don't worry too much about the 'name' of the department, it's more the details of the research and the working group you want to look at.

Geography, remote sensing (as part of maybe physics), earth sciences, meteorology. Check for great phd opportunities here (everything earth-science related, you'll have to dig): lists.rdg.ac.uk/archives/met-jobs/

Nice! That's actually very helpful.

Do it brosephus

>GIS is Buzzword for Cartography

Like "Data Science" Which is just a Buzzword for Statistics.

I'm taking gis currently, but i'm dropping it due to the extremee amout of time it takes to completes the labs, that and i don't need it to graduate, what do you want to know OP?

What are you expected to know and do as an undergrad? Are there any skills you regret not knowing beforehand?

Is this an attempt at invalidation or...?

What degree are you graduating with?

What are the big name companies in the field?
Is it actually employable?

Literally me (almost). Studied environmental engineering and then got a certificate in GIS. The GIS is what gave me an edge finding a job. They needed a GIS guy badly and had me doing GIS work right away.

I fucked up: can I get a master's degree in GIS/Cartography with an undergraduate in English Education?

GIS seems to niche of a major.

What other majors can enter the industry?

Enviro science masters grad here. My 4 GIS units I took were a big part of how/why I got a job. GIS mapping is essential for all enviro work and you'll stand out if you're proficient with GIS. My company is small so only uses QGIS but after learning Arcmap, QGIS is easy. Take that GIS course user.

Side recommendation: convince your employer to buy a drone and pay for you to do a commercial drone pilot's license course. I've done this and am quitting my job soon to join a friend's business doing aerial surveys and GIS mapping contracting. The demand is insatiable, the $$ are big and the work is easy

>The demand is insatiable, the $$ are big and the work is easy
Makes me feel really good

Just get a geology major and gis minor
You dont want to get stuck with GIS being your only marketable skill.

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I'm very proficient in Google image search

Just like "backpropagation" is buzzword for the chain rule we all know from highschool.

>You dont want to get stuck with GIS being your only marketable skill.
GIS/Computer Cartography is barely associated with Geology; besides, GIS expertise is applicable in nearly every industrial context that makes use of large quantities of data.

Sexy

Noice

My daily driver GIS platform for USAF intel, Google Earth be damned

Goddamn is it ever fucking boring dude. I can't stand it.

I honestly can't empathize. I love mapping.

>BIONICLE

...

GIS constitutes a multitude of skills in one: it's highly marketable on its own.

That takes me back

>GIS seems to niche of a major
Not really

r8 my map guys

more for yellowstone

Tasteful, though your title sits a little too close to your map border

>no neatline
0/10
>tfw this is what actually happens
don't go into GIS if you're a pussy

I can't tell if it's a meme, almost every professor recommends it super hard in my undergrad program. I've taken some classes and looking at the employment sites it seems really in demand but I can't shake the feeling that it's going to be oversaturated.

Another

wtf is a neatline and why do I need one?

>I can't shake the feeling that it's going to be oversaturated
That's what my dad told be in 2010 when I began my master's in Cartography/GIS. Demand is only increasing atm.

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Seems unnecessary. My maps are more informational, so maybe they are different than pure geography.

You do this for a living?

I was just being dick dude don't worry your maps are fine
Good even

You don't need a neat line don't listen to that user. Your maps are pretty cluttered, you shouldn't have anything on the maps themselves not even the scale, the distance in the solar panel map seems bigger? than the other two maps next to it and you have that same spacing issue with "Current Territories" and I would toss out the text explaining the map unless you ABSOLUTELY need it in there for whatever reason but if you can just have it be a map and then reference it. Also maybe for the wolf map use the same colors and ranges for your values, same thing goes for the solar panel map.

But yeah they're very cluttered generally.

I did it for a living for a couple years.

>you shouldn't have anything on the maps themselves not even the scale
No way. Dead space on a map is fair game.
>the distance in the solar panel map seems bigger? than the other two maps next to it
The solar panel map isn't related to the others, but it does need a scale bar.
>I would toss out the text explaining the map unless you ABSOLUTELY need it in there for whatever reason but if you can just have it be a map and then reference it.
No way. The text is totally necessary and it's standard practice for a map analysis report.
>Also maybe for the wolf map use the same colors and ranges for your values, same thing goes for the solar panel map.
I purposely avoid doing that because the values are representing different factors in the different map sections.

>dead space on a map is fair game
You shouldn't have the title of a map on top of the data you're presenting. That's common sense. You should avoid formatting your maps in a way that you have so little room that it has to go over the figure or projection. That happens in two of the three maps you showed and it's the first thing someone sees. It looks cluttered.

For the solar panel map I meant the actual spacing on the page. The box is slightly bigger than the two that are next to it, you should make them all equal size.

Having a bunch of text in a map is ugly.

For the wolf map you literally have 2 figures showing probability. There's no reason to not standardize that especially since it's using the same measurement, probability, unless you believe the people reading your map can't read the title of each.

I was thinking of getting an Associates in GIS from my local cc before I decided to study Civil Engineering, did I fuck up?

being good at GIS is like being good at coding:
It's a valuable and highly marketable skill, but on its own it loses its value. It's one of those skills that you can teach a monkey how to do. Real value comes from being able to apply GIS to an area of expertise and do data analysis on your own without needing a professor or project manager having to tell you everything they want.
Sure you can still make a living being a GIS monkey, but the real careers are in applying GIS to science and industry. Getting a real degree and a GIS minor opens up significantly better opportunities than either a GIS degree or another degree on its own.

pic unrelated (its just a random matlab figure i had saved)

bump

fuck off you're the retard faggot
IRL I'd rek you

Why did you think that it is smart to learn your own language when you're in adult age?

Because I wanted to be Tolkien.

I'll cave yer fookin 'ead in.

English is good for those who want to teach it/enter academia.

To add to that, I'd recommend downloading and using QGIS, and learn how to integrate GIS into R. Both of those are free. If you *need* esri, they have "home" use license for $100/year for *every* extension they have. It's marvelous way to learn on your own.
Next, learn to share your data using REST services. The big bucks in GIS aren't in the grunt work (though it's not bad), but in getting grunts' data up onto the web for others to see and use.

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I work at a natural resource agency, and am surrounded by biologists. They want/need to get their data from the field presented in a way that transfers information quickly and effectively. Mapping is the logical choice, but they're not GIS experts. They dabble, and I show them tools available and teach them how to use GIS for themselves. Some take to it, and are on track to becoming the "GIS guy" for the group. So my time is filled with doing big and little projects, and training too. I tell you - I'm having a blast! It's interesting, productive, I learn a lot about biology, and I'm honing my own skills through a variety of projects I wouldn't come up with on my own.

GIS is like programming in that you should learn it on your own while you pursue a broader degree. get a BS in geology, learn GIS on the side, and try to get summer internships doing surveying for a construction company or the state.

>took 4 years of environmental "sciences" at top school
>never once learned about GIS

how long will it take me to get up to speed on this program? I bought a web course on it to learn the ropes.

>smooth borders
>predicted values
angery

amsantac.co/blog/en/2015/10/31/qgis-r.html

its a huge market that no one talks about. I constantly tell the /k and /pol/ anons who whine about no jerbs for fancy new AR15 to look into it. all this shit where people want an interactive map or a location based app, example being something like pokemon Go or even uber, GIS is incredibly relevant. In Dallas the average pay is between 40K-55K for entry level GIS jobs