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What Is GIS: A Profession, Niche, or Tool?
GITA White Paper

What is GIS? Is it a profession unto itself? Is it simply a niche technology inside the broader discipline of information technology (IT)? Or is it a tool that cuts across numerous professional and technological boundaries?

This debate raged over a period of weeks on GITA’s GEOXchange list server, where members routinely exchange information and discuss topics relevant to the geospatial industry. This particular thread touched off such a firestorm that the association developed a panel discussion on the topic at GITA's Annual Conference in Denver in March 2005.

Vince Rosales, vice president of Idea Integration in Denver, moderated the panel of four industry representatives who spoke before a packed meeting room. Rosales alternated between comments from the panel and the audience. While no definitive answer to the debate was reached-as was the case on GEOXchange-it became clear that this discussion was far more than an exercise in extemporaneous speaking. The geospatial industry is passionate about this topic as both a matter of professional pride and a concern over where the industry is heading.

Specifically, many involved in the debate see an accurate definition of GIS as critically important to the future because it relates directly to the issue of professional certification and licensing, which has been causing equally stirring discussion within the industry in recent years.

The Great Debate

If a conclusion has to be drawn from the discussions at Annual Conference 28 and on GEOXchange, it is that there is no consensus regarding the basic question. Rosales summed it up as follows: “The argument over whether GIS is a profession, niche or tool will continue because it is all of those things É it simply depends on your perspective.”

He noted that strong arguments were made for each of the positions, and interestingly, most participants in the discussion argued from two or more perspectives. Few felt GIS could be pigeonholed into a single definition. Two of the most prevalent comments, for example, were that GIS could easily be considered a profession or tool depending on the context.

Since there are individuals who are trained and employed specifically in the capacity of performing GIS work, it must be considered a profession. Likewise, how can GIS not be considered a tool in some circumstances when there are geologists, urban planners, and environmental scientists-with no particular training in GIS-using geospatial functionality in the course of their daily work?

One GITA member summarized this point succinctly on GEOXchange: “GIS software is, in and of itself, a tool. The ability to utilize, extend and improve the software, as well as the ability to infuse the system with intelligence, to guide decision-making processes, for a variety of disciplines, is the central task of the GIS professional.”

Speaking at the panel discussion, Peter Batty, CTO of Ten Sails, Greenwood Village, Colo., cautioned against trying to define a GIS professional because the technology is so diverse. In order to get anything remotely meaningful, a number of different specific roles and skill sets need to be defined. The alternative is ending up with a definition that is too broad to be useful, which is what has happened with existing certification programs, he said.

Ian Fitzgerald, GIS coordinator at Truckee-Donner PUD in Truckee, CA, and a panelist at the discussion, took the debate a step further by clarifying precisely what a GIS professional is: “A GIS professional is a person who maintains the geospatial data and the interface through which the data is converted to information. The professional, therefore, must have a cartographic background, understand database administration, and be an application developer. Someone who uses GIS is not necessarily a GIS professional.”

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