[ Home | About UCGIS | Membership | Research | Education | Opportunities | UCGIS Events ]
[ Policy | Contacting UCGIS | UCGIS Newsletter | Downloads | Links ]

University Consortium for Geographic Information Science

Educational Challenges Workshop

Minneapolis, MN — June 23, 1999

Karen Kemp provided a brief introduction and background to the workshop

Educational quality is based on the qualifications of faculty and facilities.

Three different professional cultures have different approaches of licensure/certification, which include engineers/surveyors who have a system of licensure, planners with formal certification, and geographers who have no licensure or certification.

Many issues impact the certification debate in UCGIS. With the numerous fields of GIScience use, it becomes evident that there may be a problem of disciplinary protectionism. Further problems include the effect of UCGIS, the level of GIS user (digitizer to analysis to programmer), who or where to certify, and the breadth of the field (broad number of issues) of GIScience.

Currently, market forces appear to be driving professionalism in GIS, perhaps negating the need for formal certification or professional qualifications.

How should UCGIS respond to certification? GIS is not surveying, yet Model Law is an area of consideration for an example of how to put in place guidelines for GIScience. An option includes the promoting voluntary conformance to Model Curriculum.

Perhaps an accreditation program (accrediting GIScience programs) would provide a good alternative to certification of individuals.

However, should UCGIS become involved in monitoring GIS programs or users raises the questions of cost of certification/accreditation to UCGIS, minimum level of qualification of faculty, and quality of facilities.

Further Discussion Points:

UCGIS should examine all relevant efforts and become increasingly involved.

There is little being done to certify GIS and therefore UCGIS needs to position itself to supply advice on this issue. As can be seen by the extensive definition of a GIS specialist/analysis occupation by the Department of Labor, the applications of GIS are very broad in the work force.

Based on a recent survey the demand for trained GIS specialists is growing rapidly. Based on the optimistic estimation of six analysts for each 83,000 units of local government, over one-half million GIS analysts will be needed in the near future. Of those currently using GIS in the work force, over 50 percent learned GIS on the job.

The training base for GIS in 3900 post-secondary education centers consists of 441 institutions offering GIS with 60 having formal GIS education programs.

An initial part of the problem of certifying GIS professionals is determining if GIS fits the attributes of a profession which include: specialized body of knowledge, mission, formal organization, common language, specialized training, culture and lore, code of ethics, and licensing/certification.

Should qualification be based upon people receiving the degree or the program offering the degree?

Certification of people — GIS specialist/specialist in a discipline

Accreditation of programs — Degree programs (grad/undergrad);

Certificate programs; and/or

Professional certificates.

Current programs of certification include:

AGI: Proposed standard job description and skill required for 36 GIS job titles (Oct 97)

International Organization for Standards: Proposed individual certification or institutional accreditation for Three GIS titles by country (May 98)

URISA: Working to develop professional certification in each 23-discipline areas.

ASPRS: Mapping scientist

Further Discussion Points:

How to conduct certification in diverse disciplines and businesses?

Why do certifications?

What about certification in other technical fields?

UCGIS needs a clear definition of the domain(s) of GIS profession.

The presentation is based on the findings of the workgroup involved in the construction of the Model Curriculum in GIScience.

The Model Curriculum is an attempt to provide a detailed outline of GIScience curriculum. The curriculum is a dynamic, goal based, undergraduate program, to address different possible paths and their ideal outcomes and knowledge levels for academic major and minor programs. This program is different from the NCGIS core curriculum, but segments of the core curriculum may be integrated into the model curriculum.

Further Discussion Points:

How have other fields handled the constant change of technology and knowledge in the field?

What to do with the model curriculum? Should minimum or ideal goals be set?

Examining a segment of model law having to deal with the practice of surveying finds that there are many issues that must be addressed if certification and/or accreditation are to be applied to GIS.

Under the 1995 model law the definition of the practice of surveying includes the establishment or reestablishment of boundaries, subdivision of land, photogrammetry, geodetic survey, and the application of GISystems (tools) thereto. Broad language contained in a portion of the model law has also been interpreted by others to include fields such as geography and urban planning and has raised concerns of where the boundary between these fields and their regulation exists.

Levels of interest in regulation are a function of areas such as theme, base layers, absolute coordinates, and expertise of the producers and users of data.

Using the example of the North Carolina implementation of the Model Law, guidelines have been prepared to address areas not covered by Model Law that have a direct bearing on the function of persons using GIS. Areas not covered in North Carolina include common road maps, atlases, maps used in curriculum, transcription of existing geo-referenced data into GIS/LIS systems, NIMA maps, Census Bureau maps, and maps depicting the distribution of natural resources prepared by foresters, geologists, soil scientists, geophysicists, biologists, archeologists, historians and other professionals besides surveyors. The areas regulated by N.C. Model Law include maps and geo-referenced databases of any man made or topographic features by either terrestrial survey methods developed by land surveyors.

Based on recent discussions among the GIScience community, the existing taskforce is being expanded to address GIS issues related to the Model Law. Invitations have been extended to NSGIC, UCGIS, URISA to participate in the expanded task force.

Further Discussion Points:

UCGIS needs to participate in Model Law taskforces.

The International Organization for Standards committee on spatial data standards (ISO TC211) has approved the establishment of a work group to consider the topic of international standards for certification of GIS professionals. The establishment of the work group was motivated by Canada’s geomatics industry, but it appears that Canada may give up leadership. This raises two points, one: should Canada give up leadership, there is the possibility the issue might die; two: if Canada gives up leadership, should US offer to take up the leadership role in order to play a strong role in the definition of the language of the certification standards?

Further Discussion Points: Should UCGIS Education Challenges Workshop recommend participation and leadership in ISO/TC211 work group on certification?

A significant portion of NIMA's workforce will be in the Geospatial Analyst occupation. This is a newly created occupation designed to create an employee capable of providing global, regional, and tailored geospatial information, products and services for the Department of Defense, the national intelligence community, and the federal and civil sectors of the United States of America. The Geospatial Analyst will play a key role enabling NIMA's customers to secure the information dominance they seek and must have in the Twenty-First Century.

The Geospatial Analyst training program is being developed by the NIMA College (NIMC). The NIMC/Defense Mapping School has the lead for course development and course management. Major contributions, by other key NIMC schools (Imagery Analysis, Technology, and Leadership), Geospatial Analyst Occupation Council, and key NIMA Business Units are vital in the overall success of the program. --The training program is designed for implementation in 7 distinct modules and is adjustable on whether the student is a new hire or converted from another NIMA occupation. A brief description of the modules follow - all times indicated are instructional days: Entrance on Duty (2 days - new hires only); Introduction to NIMA and NIMA's Customers (8 days - intro to NIMA business units, NIMA's products and services, profile of NIMA customers missions and use of NIMA products and services - includes tours to several NIMA customer organizations); Geospatial Analyst Core Skill (48 days - all aspects of digital data source material, production, manipulation, and dissemination in a distributed environment to meet customer need); Imagery Analysis (13 days); Information Management (3 days - digital geospatial libraries); Leadership and Professional Development (12 days - leadership, briefing, and writing skills); and a Capstone Exercise (5 days - exercises student knowledge and applies knowledge and skills learned in all modules which is customer and scenario based). The pilot training program will be initiated in July 1999 and will run until December 1999. NIMC/Defense Mapping School would be happy to report to the UCGIS of the results of the pilot program and where the next step takes NIMA.

Continued exchanges between NIMC/Defense Mapping School and the UCGIS would be beneficial and valued to exchange ideas, share, and collaborate on mutually supporting goals relating to GIS applications and its education and training.

UCGIS members are invited to visit NIMC/Defense Mapping School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

Attached: NIMA Definition of the The Geospatial Analyst: a skilled analyst who uses knowledge of cartography, geodesy, geography, mathematics, photogrammetry, remote sensing, and advanced GIS technologies to locate, identify, and convey the 'what' and 'where' about any object -- natural or man-made that can be referenced to a specific location on the earth.

The Geospatial Analyst must possess initiative and leadership skills, analytical and interpretive skills, good eyesight and spatial perception, organizational and planning skills, knowledge of customer missions, and skills with GIS systems and the world-wide web.

1. Due to the success of GIS, certification and accreditation may be impossible due to the number of fields and corresponding knowledge requirements.
2. Cost of certification and accreditation could pose a problem, as institutions have to pay for accreditation from ever-smaller budgets, and certification is normally a net loss to the host organization.
3. Perhaps certification should only address groups involved in the problems of public good.
4. If there is GIS certification, who is be legally responsible?
5. The Model Curriculum could be used as the basis on which institutional GIS programs are measured. The curriculum could represent minimum UCGIS standards. However, it would need to be applied in a very general manner to allow for program flexibility and diversity.
6. With rapid advances in technology, how can programs for certification, accreditation, and the Model Curriculum maintain currency?
7. Accreditation bodies can drive departments and institutions to fill needs (perhaps increase budgets).
8. Perhaps UCGIS's role should be in a advisory capacity to inform others on certification and accreditation, thus allowing UCGIS to help shape GIScience. The mechanisms for this are participation in task forces, providing the model curriculum as a foundation, and use of the UCGIS list serves as fertile areas of ideas.
9. Accreditation/certification could lead to a freeze on innovation as technology continues to change. Since, professional organizations and market forces already serve as a control, why add another level? Is accreditation/certification a top down effort dictating to others or generated a bottom up effort by members/organizations involved in generating the criteria?
10. Perhaps UCGIS take a leadership role and offer a stamp of approval for institutions.

The Education Challenges Workshop proposes that

1. Members of UCGIS participate in various certification/accreditation task forces to become informed and to inform others of these activities.
2. Look to the Model Curriculum as a contributor to curricular standards, yet to be influenced by current activities.
3. Accreditation and certification will continue to be studied by UCGIS and other professional societies.

Workshop organized by:
Richard Wright: San Diego State University
William Huxhold: University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Karen Kemp: University of California, Berkley