Higher education

Want a job? Get a degree in GIS (from The Ohio State University)!

Forbes looked at Bureau of Labor Statistics data that predicted which jobs would have the highest growth between 2014 – 2024.   The top twenty fastest growing jobs can be found at this website: http://www3.forbes.com/business/the-20-fastest-growing-jobs-in-america/.  Two careers on the list are:

  • #15: cartographer
  • #8: statistician

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) combines cartography and statistics, leading to career opportunities with tremendous growth potential! 

Where should one prepare for a career in GIS?  You can’t go wrong at the Department of Geography, The Ohio State University!  The geography program at Ohio State is consistently listed as one of the top programs in the USA for a spatial career.

More information:

Columbus is one of the top ten cities in the world for GIScience

A recent paper in the International Journal of Geographic Information Science analyzed 12,436 papers published in 20 GIScience journals during the period 2000-2014.  Here is a list of the top ten cities in the world ranked by the number of GIScience papers produced by an author affiliated with that city (usually via a university appointment), with the number of papers published during 2000-2014:

  1. Beijing, CN – 348.8
  2. Wuhan, CN – 196.9
  3. London, UK – 167.2
  4. Enschede, NL – 152.9
  5. Melbourne, AU – 150.8
  6. Hong Kong, CN – 126.9
  7. Columbus, US – 123.5
  8. Santa Barbara, US – 121.5
  9. Zurich, CH – 110.5
  10. Washington, US – 100.4

You can read the full article here: Biljecki, F., 2016. A scientometric analysis of selected GIScience journals. International Journal of Geographicale Information Science, 

Geography is the discipline of the 21st century

In an intensely brilliant editorial, The (U.K.) Guardian newspaper proclaims “A star is born.”  And that star is the ancient but dynamic field of Geography.   [The Guardian view on geography: it’s the must-have A-level]

As the editorial states, ‘…in a world that increasingly values people who can work across the physical and social sciences, geography’s all the rage.’   In the UK, 13% more took the subject at A-level (a school exit exam) this year than last, the biggest jump of any of the major subjects.  There are good career opportunities at the end of these studies: according to UK government data,  only 5.8% of geography graduates were still job-hunting six months after they graduated, against an average of 7.3%

Although speaking about Britain, the editorial speaks some universal truths about Geography being the ‘it’ discipline for our times.  Quoting from the editorial:

It is inherently multidisciplinary in a world that increasingly values people who have the skills needed to work across the physical and social sciences.

Geographers get to learn data analysis, and…geographic information systems (GIS)

They can turn maps from a two-dimensional representation of a country’s physical contours into a tool that illustrates social attributes or attitudes: not just where people live, but how, what they think and how they vote.

They learn about the physics of climate change, or the interaction of weather events and flood risk, or the way people’s behaviour is influenced by the space around them

Continuing:

All these are not just intrinsically interesting and valuable. They also encourage ways of seeing and thinking that make geographers eminently employable.

Yes, it is true.  With the proper education, including strong doses of GIS and spatial data analysis, geographers get jobs!  And there are few places better to receive this education than the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University.   For over a century, OSU Geography has been one of the top five Geography program in North America.  We have also been ranked in the top tier of Geography programs for spatial careers.