Pinpoint

My background is computer science and I have worked as a sofware developer for 10+ years. 4 years ago I started working in the City-wide GIS group for New York City. Until I started the PSU GIS Certificate program, I had no formal background in GIS, so my view of things really is technical.

So, how do I spend my days? I use SQL every single day. If you know no programming languages at all, I think that SQL would be a very useful starting point for a GIS analyst.

Python is also very useful in that you can script little tasks to make your life easier, or automate processes, but honestly, I don’t utilize this as much as I should.

Another really important thing to know is XML, although not strictly a language, a working knowledge of XML is going to be helpful when working with many OGC standards like SLD, WFS, GML, WMS, KML. This is a very valuable thing to know whether developing applications or just doing desktop analysis.

If you plan to actually develop applications, you’ll need more than just SQL, Python, and XML. For web application development, there are 2 routes you could go. If you work in a Windows/ESRI/SQLServer shop you’d want to learn .NET, HTML, and JavaScript. If on the other hand you aren’t tied to ESRI or prefer to work with open source technology you’d want to learn Java, HTML, and JavaScript.

My current web application is built using Java on the server-side and HTML/JavaScript/Dojo on the client-side. We have an Oracle Spatial database which we access using OGC standard WFS. In our case we use Geoserver from OpenGeo as our WFS (http://geoserver.org/) There is no reliance on ESRI products for this particular web application.

OpenGeo has an entire stack of software from the database level through desktop and even into the web application layer which is all free and open source. OpenGeo offers an online workshop to introduce you to their “stack”. If you’ve only ever been exposed to ESRI, you might enjoy going through this just to see what else is out there… http://workshops.opengeo.org/stack-intro/

Happy coding!

I’ve only been enrolled in the Penn State online GIS Certificate program for a month or so, but I have to say that so far it has exceeded my expectations. The course is challenging, but the material is conveyed in a way that makes it easy to learn online. It’s not something where you scan a text in one browser while filling out answers to graded quizzes in another browser. The practice quizzes and the graded quizzes require that you think and internalize the material.

Another reason I enjoy the program is that there are over 100 students enrolled in my class and the course forums provide a way for us to share course questions and real-world experiences with each other. This is a great resource because most of the students have some kind of GIS background and are simply trying to get a more formal GIS education, like myself.

I can see why the Sloan Consortium has selected the World Campus Master of Geographic Information Systems as Most Outstanding Online Teaching and Learning Program. Read their full report here: http://www.sloan-c.org/node/2611

Hey everyone, Sarah here. I’ve been a Java developer for over 10 years, but about 4 years ago I started developing GIS applications. I have no formal background in GIS, so it has been an interesting learning experience. This year I decided to get a more thorough foundation in GIS and started the GIS Certificate program at Penn State.

I love what I do because every day I learn something new and there is no end in sight to what I have yet to learn. I hope to use this blog to share interesting information, problems, solutions, thoughts with other GIS professionals who might find them interesting.