I've been working on some smallish projects that I can eventually add to my portfolio when I apply for internships next summer. Is there anything I can improve? Are there any other good project ideas I could work on that would look good in a portfolio? I have decent proficiency in Python and SQL, so I'd like to utilize them as well, not sure how though.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated :)
I'll be starting a GIS masters and I'd like to upskill in ways that will allow me to use this masters for good (even though that's subjective, for me it means absolutely no military, oil/gas, exploitative things). I know that's hard to do for many people, sometimes you just need to take a shitty corporate job and I get it, but I'm really curious what is out there!
My bachelor's was in cultural anthropology and developmental sociology + urban and regional planning. So I have the sociological base already. I speak a few languages. I am also a published writer + magazine designer. It can be anywhere from humanitarian work to conservation. Or whatever else!! Would love to hear about your career and why you feel good about doing it.
Last year I was in a situation where remote-only wasn’t a preference, it was the only thing I could do. After a while the usual GIS career advice started driving me insane because so much of it basically boiled down to “just move” or “go network in person.”
At first I kept applying to every “Remote GIS Analyst” posting I saw. Hundreds of applicants, insane requirement lists, zero responses.
I eventually realized a lot of remote jobs weren’t even called GIS jobs. They were buried under stuff like permitting support, asset data cleanup, planning tech, environmental reporting, emergency management support, random utility data roles, things like that.
I also got way more picky about the kinds of organizations I applied to. Bigger utilities, state agencies with multiple offices, consulting firms that already had distributed teams. Small local governments saying “remote possible” usually meant “maybe after we trust you and also please come in twice a week.”
At some point I had this depressing little command center going: spreadsheet of applications, keyword buckets, follow-up dates, salary guesses, notes about which resume version I used.
I even took the coached career test because spending weeks staring at GIS job boards starts making you question your entire personality and whether you even want the field anymore. Weirdly it did help me notice I kept applying to roles heavy on project coordination and client stuff when the work I actually enjoy is more technical/data cleanup focused.
The other thing that helped was making a tiny portfolio with stuff I could safely show publicly. Fake parcel workflows, open-data dashboards, little QGIS scripts. Nothing fancy. Just proof I actually knew how to work through problems without needing proprietary data.
Still took way longer than I expected though. Remote-only job hunting kind of messed with my head after a while.
Anyway, just hoping this bit of unsolicited advise helps other job hunters out there. Good luck.
Hello! I am a current GIS Technician who basically does all the work of a GIS Analyst with little pay. I got through the first interview process of GIS solution engineer for local government at Esri. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with this position? I am curious how sales-heavy this position is. Is it front end sales, or more so finding solutions for salespeople to then present to customers? Is the stress load heavy? etc.
Thanks!
This is my first GIS project. I'm currently self-learning GIS and hoping to start a degree in Environmental Science (UK) this year, with an aim to work in conservation (preferably marine) in the future.
I live in Wales and wanted to create a portfolio piece to start learning GIS, something relevant to me and the field i'd love to work in.
QGIS was used to make the map with data from JNCC (OGL v3.0), EMODnet Bathymetry 2024, Esri World Imagery, OS Open Data, Natural Resources Wales.
After I imported the map into Affinity Designer to add the details.
As this is my first attempt I'd really appreciate any feedback.
Im only posting this because I see so many doom sayers in this thread. I recently received a job offer that will pay me $90K and I graduated with a geography degree and data science minor two weeks ago. I’ve heard a lot of people say that GIS/geography degrees will lead to lower middle class careers, but that doesn’t have to be the case if you put the effort in.
The job is a junior data engineer position, so it’s not necessarily a GIS job, but I will be responsible for managing some spatial data. There is no nepotism or any close relationships that helped me get the job at this company. I don’t know anyone there personally. I worked extremely hard at my internship through my last year of school and some people I worked with put me in contact with another company as there wasn’t a full time position available for me at the time. I did 2 interviews and received the offer all within about 10 days.
For anyone interested this is what helped me land the job:
- I took as many computer science related classes as I possibly could to enhance my understanding of GIS and managing data
- I maintained a 4.0 GPA
- I automated 2-3 processes at my internship that really turned some heads. These were major talking points during my interviews as well
- This one is probably the most important one: I talked to everyone around my office and made a point to connect with them on some sort of personal level. Being personable and making friends at work goes such a long way. If people like you, they will help you out.
Anyways, I’m super excited about this new job and I wanted to say that if I could do it anyone can! Hard work pays off!
Edit: Sorry if I sound arrogant or cocky or something, but in my experience the hard work I put in paid off after 3+ years of dedicated effort. Just trying to share a success story, not trying to be insulting to anyone. Geography and GIS has been an amazing path for me that helped me land this position, even though it is not a GIS specific role.
Hello there,
I'm a Planner who transitioned into GIS. Furthermore, a little background about myself is that I do have a degree in Planning but I also completed an intense GIS graduate certificate.
I wanted to know, how do you guys deal with AutoCAD files? Also, why don't they teach this in programs? But it also makes me question why don't these utility company engineers just learn it on their own instead of having someone else convert these stupid files all day?! Just why AutoCAD?!
Even some municipalities who heavily rely on their utilities require GIS analysts to use AutoCAD which I find very dumb. But please let me know.
I'm very new to gis so I'm ngl idk what seperates a good map from a bad one so be honest w me please!!
Hi! I'm an archaeologist who uses ArcGIS Pro for work and personal use. I've been using a roommate's desktop for the last few months to do ArcGIS work from home, but I wanted to get my own device. The reason behind wanting a laptop is that I could use it when I am out in the field as well. Any suggestions?
I've developed a cheap alternative one time pay app for viewing PDF Maps, simple bare bones app for those not wanting to pay the yearly sub apps. Any feedback in the screenshots for the app store would be much appreciated.
I want to take the test for ArcGIS Enterprise Administration Professional 2025 certification. I did the instructor-led training sessions included in the Esri learning plan.
I do quite a bit of Enterprise Admin work at my current job, but altogether I would say I only have ~1 year of applicable admin experience. The exam page says the test is directed towards professionals with minimum 4 years experience.
Has anyone taken the exam? Is it passable with more limited experience than recommended? Any feedback would be appreciated. TIA!
Hi r/gis,
I’m one of the people building a US parcel/property map app, and I’d really appreciate blunt feedback from people who work with GIS, land records, parcels, or local government data.
The basic idea is simple: a mobile-first parcel map where you can search addresses/places, tap parcels, and see property boundaries plus related public-record data in one place.
Some of the things we’re trying to make easier:
- parcel boundaries on top of satellite imagery
- owner / mailing address info where available
- property and sales/tax-related data where available
- nearby context for land buyers, brokers, hunters, survey-adjacent workflows, etc.
- some integrations/enrichment from sources like Zillow where it’s useful
I know parcel data is messy, local, and often better at the county level than in any nationwide product. That’s actually the main reason I’m asking here rather than just guessing.
What I’d love feedback on:
For people who use parcel viewers regularly: what is usually missing or annoying?
What data would make a parcel app actually useful for your work, not just a nice-looking map?
How important is mobile UX vs desktop/web for parcel workflows?
Are owner contact details useful, or does that make the product feel too “lead-gen” and less GIS-focused?
What would immediately make you distrust a parcel data product?
The iOS app is here if anyone wants to try it:
And if you don’t want to install anything, there’s a limited web version here:
Not trying to pitch this as a replacement for county GIS portals or professional GIS software. I’m mostly trying to understand where a consumer/prosumer parcel app can be genuinely useful, and where the current version is weak.
Happy to take harsh feedback — especially about data quality, UX, missing layers, or anything that feels misleading.
I have a horticultural degree and recently a huge interest in GIS. If i can get proper certifications for GIS in future how could my horticulture degree benefit me further?
I am starting my masters in GIS this fall and I know my 2019 macbook won't cut it. I want to get a somewhat light and small laptop though as I will be carrying it around a lot, and I need it to run ArcGIS etc, as well as ideally some gaming. The Omen Transcend 14 is on sale right now and I am considering it but I heard it is a bit underpowered due to only charging with USB-C. Does anyone have GIS experience with it and can tell me if it will do the job?
https://nctcog.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/Posting/view/2108
FYI: NCTCOG HQ is in Arlington. Also, I have applied for several positions with this organisation (that are GIS-adjacent) and have found their communication to be quite spotty. Whether that experience is unique to me I don't know, but just a heads-up.
Okay so context: I've been using QGIS for years. Love it, respect it, it's free, I get it. But every time I open it I feel like I'm defusing a bomb. Half my onboarding time with new interns is just "no, not that panel, the other panel, yes the one hiding behind that one."
Last week someone in a Discord I'm in linked a Windows app called TerraGIS and I clicked it half-expecting another bloated enterprise GIS tool with a 45-day trial and a sales call to unlock the export button.
It's... not that.
It's a clean, modern desktop GIS built specifically for Windows and the UI actually looks like it was designed after 2012. I ran it through some of my usual stuff:
The thing that got me was the TerraAI feature it does smart boundary extraction and segmentation from raster data. I've been doing that manually for longer than I want to admit. It's not magic but it's genuinely useful.
It also supports Shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, GeoTIFF the usual suspects. Nothing exotic, just solid.
The kicker? It's a one-time purchase. Not a subscription. Not "free tier with 3 exports a month." One time. And it's on the Microsoft Store so install/update is painless.
I'm not saying ditch QGIS. I'm just saying if you've ever handed a QGIS project to someone non-technical and watched their soul leave their body, this might be worth a look.
Website's TerraGIS if you want to poke around before committing.
Has anyone else used this? Curious if others have pushed it harder than I have specifically wondering how it handles larger vector datasets.
Hi all, I’d love any feedback on my website for usability, clarity, and professionalism. I’m finishing my GIS master’s and applying to GIS/environmental jobs, so want this website to give potential employers an idea of my work.
https://caroleryu.mobirisesite.com
Thanks!
My boss and I are trying to deploy an Esri solution for a service request reporter so make it easier to track the citywide request through arcpro.
I’ve deployed everything but the issue is how will the public submit these requests without an account? Everytime I try to do a mock walk through or send the link to someone without our org log in, it requires it. I found this online but is this really the best way to go about this? We currently use SeeClickFix.
Hello everyone,
I am trying to make a gis workshop for my colleagues and one my colleague asked which formats are preferable to use?
Below follows my current understandings and experiences
Geopackage is an open standard and it's possible to have attributes that are longer than 10 characters and seems more useful than shapefiles in that regard.
Shapefiles are not preferable since you need several files. If you lose one of the files then you can't successfully import the shapefile. Another downside is that you can only have attributes with a maximum 10 character length like I mentioned above
Geosjson, I don't have much experience with it. Based on googling it appears that it's an open standard. I would not know if there are more benefits/downsides to using geosjson than other formats.
We also have CSV and Excel files and based on my experience, I would say it's fairly useful for points and at our organisation everyone has access to excel, so that's a big plus. However a big no for lines or polygons.
WFS and WMS are useful, since the source is for everyone the same and WFS/WMS is easily accessible.
Database connections seem also useful, however you can accidentally change the source which is not always expected and sometimes you don't want everyone to access databases
Based on my understandings I would assume that Geopackage, WFS/WMS would be mostly useful gis formats in qgis and if you only need points then also CSV files.
Please correct me if I am wrong