Is it our job to spatially enable the people around us?

September 24, 2009 by 3 Comments

This weekend I attended one of my favorite events: the Birmingham Artwalk. First of all I’m sure many of you have trouble believing that Birmingham, Alabama has a local artist community and that it’s large enough to spend an entire weekend going from gallery to loft admiring the new works. Come on down next year and I’ll even buy you a slab of Dreamland ribs to make sure you feel welcome.

I was particularly interested in seeing my friend Jess Walker’s Mountain Maker Cohort’s, which is an effort to capture the spirit of the world’s most beloved mountains. I almost never found her. Instead of a map they had a hand-drawn “schematic” (I use the word generously) that I could barely interpret, and I’ve worked with some ugly maps in my day.

My first urge was to find the event organizer and plead, “Please let me help you next time!” But then I thought of all the community events I attend that need the same kind of help and by the time I finally fought my way out of my own head I was facing an insurmountable task that no single GIS Geek could ever accomplish.

I know most of you have had the same experience. What should we do? A little bit of our collective skills could be an immense contribution to our communities.  So is it just a matter of individual conscience where each of us makes some contribution when moved?  Or should the local chapters of our professional organizations add this to our geographic literacy mission? Or is there a way to crowd source, making organizations aware of what can be done and give them a vehicle to reach out to the local Geek community?

These aren’t rhetorical questions and I’d love to hear your personal or local experiences. I would like to make a difference, but this problem is beyond my problem solving skills. Please feel free to use this forum to share your personal or local experiences. And I really don’t want to feel guilty at the next community event.

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GIS or Geospatial?

September 9, 2009 by Leave a comment

It’s a busy time of year in the Federal Business Unit.  In addition to the end of year sales and contracting barrage, we have several projects coming to a close, and many more just beginning.  All of this also means we have another task at hand – one of my favorites – recruiting!  In the course of talking to folks about new opportunities I get to meet lots of bright and interesting individuals, which can be both exhausting and energizing (more frequently the latter), but an endeavor that is always informative and thought-provoking.   So I thought I’d take a minute to share a few thoughts on one of the many interesting questions I’ve been getting more and more lately from those job-seekers in the industry – “Are you a GIS or a geospatial company?”

This isn’t a new concept – our DoD clients underwent the GIS to geospatial transformation years ago, rebranding their GIS people, technologies and programs under the IGI&S (Installation Geospatial Information & Services) banner.  And, while I suppose the question can mean a lot of things to different people, I have answered recruits without hesitation ‘geospatial’, because I believe that being a geospatial company involves incorporating many different technologies to solve problems in many different ways (through existing systems, new development, people, training, etc.).  I see it as including GIS as one of the tools in the toolbox, but not as the overarching driver for everything we do.  That said, why do I think the question is interesting?  First, I’m impressed that we’ve even gotten to the point where folks are asking this question of prospective employers at all, that it is being asked by much more than 1 person out of 100, and that  people with diverse backgrounds and levels of experience are thinking about this.   And second, I get the feeling that ‘geospatial’ is the answer people are looking for AND that they understand the difference!  I can remember when interviewing people (and this was in the not too distant past) was like pulling teeth to find out how and why they’ve applied technology for clients versus just the number of years they have been pushing buttons.  So here’s to all those folks I’ve spoken with recently that are really thinking about what we do, how we do it and why.  I look forward to having you as colleagues (either at GISi or in our larger GIS family) and I appreciate the thoughtful questions.  You guys keep me smiling!

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GIS for Non-GIS People

September 2, 2009 by Leave a comment

When I joined the company a couple of years ago, I was pretty much fresh off the college campus with my liberal arts degree in hand and had never heard of GIS.  After my interview with GISi, I went home, got on the internet, and searched for “GIS.”  I was bombarded with a wealth of information and wasn’t sure where to start with my quest for GIS knowledge. 

I soon discovered that the best way to learn was through day-to-day observation.  I read project descriptions, listened to conversations about the technology that were going on around the office, and asked questions as I thought of them.  I picked up the lingo and a working knowledge of GIS after a few months.  And since my job is to market a GIS company, I looked at how other people were doing this by perusing GIS news sites, visiting GIS blogs, and seeing what other companies were displaying at tradeshows.   

Though I still have much more to learn about the GIS industry, I feel comfortable being a voice for a GIS company.  The only times I tend to have trouble explaining what GIS is occurs when a friend or relative asks what my company does.  Explaining the industry to a person who—much like me two years ago— has no idea what I am talking about has not gotten much easier.  Does anyone else have trouble with this? 

So keep in mind when you read posts by me in the future, that they are from the perspective of a right-brain, non-GIS person who is still trying to figure out what this GIS stuff is all about.

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Additions to the GISi Team

August 28, 2009 by Leave a comment

GISi is proud to announce the addition of six new employees to the company: Todd Rowan, Ryan Kistler, Mike Haggarty, Neal Welbourne, Eric Polerecky, and Jim Moeller. Read more of this post

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Welcome to Down to Earth

August 26, 2009 by Leave a comment

Aloha, ni hao, namaste, shalom and ¡hola! – or simply said, hello and a warm and respectful welcome to GISi’s new weblog.

I know what you’re thinking…” just what the world needs, another blog!”.   And you’re right, it seems like everyone has a blog or some type of social media channel they’re using to stand on a digital soapbox and share their thoughts with the world.   But the amazing thing about blogs (along with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other similar tools), is that it’s a big, big world out there.  And more noteworthy is that just like my welcome to you using different languages or cultural notions, the GIS world is very diverse.  Our industry includes analysts and programmers, project managers and administrators, executives and visionaries (which are not always synonymous!); there are people who use GIS in as many different workflows and markets as you or I could list.   The point?  At GISi we believe our talented employees likely have a point-of-view to share that will be of interest to someone, somewhere. Read more of this post

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