Geospatial Analyst Responsibilities
The word geospatial analysis refers to techniques used formally to study the spatial data about geological structures and their analysis. Spatial data refers to the topological, geological or geometric properties of an object and such data is used to solve problems regarding the location, dimension and other studies of almost every visible object on earth. The science was first used for study in geology, ecology and epidemiology, but now it finds many applications in defense, medical science, mining, personal and social security and intelligence.
A geospatial analyst is a person that assists in researching and analyzing the data caught through a number of geographic systems. The data caught through these systems is real time, in terms of latitudes, longitudes, projections and positions. This data is then fed into databases for use by the clients who may include the defense system of the country, a private company or some other government agency.
Geospatial Analyst Responsibilities
As mentioned earlier, geospatial analysis has found application in many fields having diverse forms of work and diverse work cultures, and so it is inevitable that there might be different responsibilities endowed upon an analyst. Most responsibilities are mentioned properly in the job description provided by a job post or article. However, apart from the different responsibilities found at different places of work, the basic responsibilities never change. We present here some basic responsibilities of a geospatial analyst:
- Acquire, analyze, maintain and store geospatial data according to the client requirement in ways that can be assessed easily by a general human being in form of reports and graphics.
- Assign proper techniques and ways to study the object under observation in a proper way, i.e. choosing the proper devices for capturing, imaging details and the proper software tools to assess this real-time data in machine and human readable form.
- Extract the relevant information from the overall geospatial data gathered from various sources, analyze and visualize this information and apply analysis methods to enhance this information and solve problems related to intelligence.
- Divide the gathered information in the form of various data-sets to suit the needs of various forms of clients.
- Provide the information in presentable form to suffice in various meetings or presentations.
- Analyze textual sources and present them in the form of graphics for defense work, present a graphical representation of a relevant geographic area, locate a specific location or person graphically to trace it easily by compiling and studying data gathered from various sources.
- Research and development of various geospatial products for the market or for internal use.
- Immediate representation of the damages occurred due to hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural calamities to understand the extremity of the condition, the damage caused and arrange for help on an immediate basis.
- Undertake geo-coding, a process by which the geographic information is added to a file or database for further use in geographic information systems.
- Work with environmentalists to keep a track of the deteriorating icebergs, beaches and volcanoes on verge of eruption and many other things that concern the overall environment on earth.
Educational Qualifications and Skills Required
- A geospatial analyst should have a bachelor's degree in computer science engineering, geography or have done a specialization course in relevant science like cartography.
- Well versed with the software packages available for converting textual and graphics data to digital images.
- Should have the knowledge of basic cartographic techniques, well versed with computers, basic knowledge of handling latest GIS equipment, etc.
- Good presentation skills are very essential as the candidate is required to meet the clients several times to understand the project and data requirements.
- Good verbal and written communication skills are required.
- Good analytical and problem solving skills to apply gathered data in its right context in an extremely diverse set of environment.
Job Opportunities and Salary
There has been a great increase in the spatial analysis techniques developed over the last century. The applications of this field are also wide ranged. Nowadays, spatial analysis is very important in defense, weather forecast, personal and private investigation and a lot of other fields. The general population is increasingly using digital maps for a lot of personal uses and so the popularity of this field is increasing every day. An analyst in this field earns anything from $50,000 to $60,000 and there are good opportunities of getting promoted to a specialist’s position, wherein the salaries are obviously much higher.
If you feel that you have the right educational qualifications and would handle the geospatial analyst responsibilities with ease, this field presents a good career opportunity for you. The job poses good stability as no frequent traveling is required; the work is totally confined to a lab and a set of specific equipment and hence is a good career choice.
