Description of the GIS Position
- GIS is a valuable tool for natural resource management; it can be used to help make important decisions about the conservation of endangered species, restoration of wildlife habitats or selection of areas for agriculture or resource extraction. GIS positions in the natural resource fields can be found in government agencies, private companies and nonprofit agencies.
- Urban planners use spatial information to keep track of assessor parcels, land use information, road networks and many other types of important community information. GIS positions in local government offices and planning agencies may use GIS to plan for community needs such as open space, emergency travel routes and locations of public facilities.
- GIS has become increasingly important for many geospatially-based research fields. At the Remote Sensing/Geographic Information Systems Lab at Utah State University, research projects include land cover maps, digital geologic maps and maps of species distributions across the landscape. GIS-based positions at universities include professors and researchers.