Geospatial Technology as a Core Tool - US News and World Report
Geospatial Technology as a Core Tool - US News and World Report
Geospatial Technology as a Core Tool - US News and World Report
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<strong>Geospatial</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> <strong>as</strong> a <strong>Core</strong> <strong>Tool</strong> - <strong>US</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Report</strong><br />
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HOME PHOTOS VIDEO<br />
<strong>Geospatial</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> <strong>as</strong> a <strong>Core</strong> <strong>Tool</strong><br />
Impacts everything from navigating to law enforcement<br />
Posted: May 11, 2011<br />
By Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation<br />
<strong>Geospatial</strong> technology affects almost every <strong>as</strong>pect of life, from navigating an unfamiliar neighborhood to locating the world’s most wanted<br />
terrorist.<br />
“They couldn’t have found Osama bin Laden without it,” says Phillip Davis, director of the National <strong>Geospatial</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> Center,<br />
referring to the recent U.S. Navy SEALs raid on bin Laden’s compound hideout in Pakistan, where he w<strong>as</strong> killed. “The world is so<br />
interconnected today, <strong>and</strong> everything is b<strong>as</strong>ed on spatial relationships. It is one of our nation’s essential core tools.”<br />
<strong>Geospatial</strong> technology refers to equipment used in visualization, me<strong>as</strong>urement, <strong>and</strong> analysis of earth’s features, typically involving such<br />
systems <strong>as</strong> GPS (global positioning systems), GIS (geographical information systems), <strong>and</strong> RS (remote sensing). Its use is well-known <strong>and</strong><br />
widespread in the military <strong>and</strong> in homel<strong>and</strong> security, but its influence is perv<strong>as</strong>ive everywhere, even in are<strong>as</strong> with a lower public profile,<br />
such <strong>as</strong> l<strong>and</strong> use, flood plain mapping <strong>and</strong> environmental protection.<br />
“You have people who work in surveying, who map out where a shopping center or street is going to be, <strong>and</strong> those involved in your local<br />
country property appraisals,” Davis says. “It’s also used in law enforcement to locate crimes <strong>and</strong> for fire response <strong>and</strong> in dis<strong>as</strong>ter<br />
management—before, during <strong>and</strong> after. It is used to locate water resources, or in public health to track the spread of dise<strong>as</strong>e. It’s used by<br />
the guys who drive around for Google Earth. It’s very high impact.”<br />
The U.S. Department of Labor considers the field a high growth industry, particularly within the public sector—federal, state <strong>and</strong> local<br />
governments—<strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> in regulated industries, such <strong>as</strong> telecommunications, utilities <strong>and</strong> transportation. The private sector also h<strong>as</strong><br />
begun to embrace the technology; moreover, its market h<strong>as</strong> been growing at an annual rate of almost 35 percent, according to the<br />
department.<br />
There are about 600,000 U.S. workers in geospatial technology today, a number expected to reach more than 850,000 by 2018,<br />
according to Davis, professor of computer science at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Tex<strong>as</strong>, where the center is b<strong>as</strong>ed.<br />
The National <strong>Geospatial</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> (NGT) Center, one of 40 Advanced Technological Education program centers of the National Science<br />
Foundation, wants to become “the voice for geospatial programs nationwide,” Davis says.<br />
The NGT Center, which NSF is funding with $1.25 million annually for four years, is a partnership of seven community colleges, a<br />
community <strong>and</strong> technical college system, <strong>as</strong> well <strong>as</strong> two four-year universities, Penn State <strong>and</strong> San Diego State, in collaboration with<br />
industry <strong>and</strong> state <strong>and</strong> local governments representing all regions of the country. About 500 of the nation’s estimated 1,200 community<br />
colleges have geospatial skills programs, according to Davis.<br />
While the center works with schools to develop faculty training <strong>and</strong> curriculum skills development in the field, it most recently drafted a<br />
“competency model” for the Department of Labor’s employment training administration to set nationwide skills st<strong>and</strong>ards for those who<br />
work in the industry. “It’s a national model of what the occupation requires, just <strong>as</strong> you would expect for any profession,” Davis says.<br />
“We’ve defined a consistent national st<strong>and</strong>ard of the skills they need. We have never had this before.”<br />
The model, rele<strong>as</strong>ed by the department l<strong>as</strong>t July, is a resource for career guidance, curriculum development <strong>and</strong> evaluation, career<br />
pathway development, recruitment <strong>and</strong> hiring, continuing professional development, certification <strong>and</strong> <strong>as</strong>sessment development,<br />
apprenticeship program development <strong>and</strong> outreach efforts to promote geospatial technology careers, the department said.<br />
It includes the broad range of services, technical <strong>and</strong> manufacturing professions, <strong>and</strong> products within the fields of geography, surveying<br />
<strong>and</strong> mapping, computer science, information science <strong>and</strong> other specialized are<strong>as</strong> of application that comprise geospatial technology.<br />
“Workers need to know about cartography <strong>and</strong> geography,” Davis says. “They need to have certain computer programming skills, <strong>and</strong><br />
scientific knowledge.”<br />
Training often starts <strong>as</strong> early <strong>as</strong> high school, with skills emph<strong>as</strong>is at the community college level, Davis says. Interestingly, even students<br />
who hold degrees from four-year colleges are returning to community colleges for skills training—<strong>and</strong> certificates—in order to get jobs.<br />
“They come to get the technical skills,” he says. “We’re having a lot of reverse transfer phenomena.”<br />
The center’s partners serve a diverse student population, including Del Mar College, where Davis teaches, <strong>and</strong> Southwestern College in
<strong>Geospatial</strong> <strong>Technology</strong> <strong>as</strong> a <strong>Core</strong> <strong>Tool</strong> - <strong>US</strong> <strong>News</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Report</strong><br />
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2011/05/11/geospatial-technolo...<br />
2 of 2 5/13/2011 12:28 PM<br />
Chula Vista, Calif., which serve mostly Hispanic students, <strong>and</strong> two in the Southe<strong>as</strong>t with significant African American enrollment,<br />
Gainesville State College in Gainesville, Ga., <strong>and</strong> Edgecombe College, with campuses in Tarboro <strong>and</strong> Rocky Mount, N.C. The center also is<br />
working with various disability agencies to attract disabled veterans into the field.<br />
“Learning to think spatially is something that society needs to do,” Davis says. “It’s something we need to encourage in our youth <strong>and</strong><br />
K-12 education. We’re not just talking about geography, or drawing maps with crayons, but learning about spatial relationships—cause<br />
<strong>and</strong> effect. When you build too many homes along the co<strong>as</strong>t, or near a fault susceptible to earthquakes, everything is spatially related.<br />
“This needs to become <strong>as</strong> fundamental to our education system <strong>as</strong> reading, writing <strong>and</strong> arithmetic,” he adds. “I like to say, ‘geospatial<br />
technology: you’re lost without it.’”<br />
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