Career profile Geospatial Analyst

Table of Contents

• What does a Geospatial Analyst do?
• What is a typical salary for a Geospatial Analyst?
• What personality traits are common among Geospatial Analysts?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Geospatial Analysts need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Geospatial Analyst do?

Geospatial Analysts perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for construction, mapmaking, boundary location, mining, or other purposes.

In addition, Geospatial Analysts

• may calculate mapmaking information and create maps from source data, such as surveying notes, aerial photography, satellite data, or other maps to show topographical features, political boundaries, and other features,
• may verify accuracy and completeness of maps.

What kind of tasks does a Geospatial Analyst perform regularly?

Geospatial Analysts are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Position and hold the vertical rods, or targets, that theodolite operators use for sighting to measure angles, distances, and elevations.
• Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.
• Design or develop information databases that include geographic or topographic data.
• Monitor mapping work or the updating of maps to ensure accuracy, inclusion of new or changed information, or compliance with rules and regulations.
• Produce or update overlay maps to show information boundaries, water locations, or topographic features on various base maps or at different scales.
• Determine scales, line sizes, or colors to be used for hard copies of computerized maps, using plotters.
• Identify and compile database information to create requested maps.
• Compile information necessary to stake projects for construction, using engineering plans.
• Operate and manage land-information computer systems, performing tasks such as storing data, making inquiries, and producing plots and reports.
• Compare survey computations with applicable standards to determine adequacy of data.
• Analyze aerial photographs to detect and interpret significant military, industrial, resource, or topographical data.
• Research and combine existing property information to describe property boundaries in relation to adjacent properties, taking into account parcel splits, combinations, or land boundary adjustments.
• Trace contours or topographic details to generate maps that denote specific land or property locations or geographic attributes.
• Calculate latitudes, longitudes, angles, areas, or other information for mapmaking, using survey field notes or reference tables.
• Compare topographical features or contour lines with images from aerial photographs, old maps, or other reference materials to verify the accuracy of their identification.
• Provide assistance in the development of methods and procedures for conducting field surveys.
• Trim, align, and join prints to form photographic mosaics, maintaining scaled distances between reference points.

The above responsibilities are specific to Geospatial Analysts. More generally, Geospatial Analysts are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Geospatial Analyst salary?

What personality traits are common among Geospatial Analysts?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Geospatial Analyst are usually higher in their Conventional and Realistic interests.

Geospatial Analysts typically have very strong Conventional interests. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Also, Geospatial Analysts typically have strong Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Geospatial Analyst tend to value Support, Independence, and Relationships.

Most importantly, Geospatial Analysts moderately value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Second, Geospatial Analysts moderately value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Lastly, Geospatial Analysts moderately value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Geospatial Analysts must consistently demonstrate qualities such as attention to detail, dependability, and cooperation.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Geospatial Analysts, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Geospatial Analysts need?

Geospatial Analysts often have training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Geospatial Analysts usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Geospatial Analysts

• 4.6% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 29.8% completed high school or secondary school
• 33.4% completed some college coursework
• 22.4% earned a Associate's degree
• 8.1% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 1.2% earned a Master's degree
• 0.5% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Geospatial Analysts

Important Abilities needed by Geospatial Analysts

Geospatial Analysts must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Geospatial Analysts need abilities such as near vision, written comprehension, and mathematical reasoning in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Geospatial Analysts, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Geospatial Analysts

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Geospatial Analysts frequently use skills like reading comprehension, critical thinking, and mathematics to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Geospatial Analysts, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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