Occupation: 15-1290

Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians

Statistics
National
State
City
State
City
$116580
Median Wage (USD, 2025)
31300
Projected Job Openings (2025-2035)
8.2%
Projected Growth (2025-2035)
Assist scientists or related professionals in building, maintaining, modifying, or using geographic information systems (GIS) databases. May also perform some custom application development or provide user support.

Experience Requirements Overview

  • Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
  • A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
  • Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
  • Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Education, Training and Experience

Required Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree

Related Work Experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

On-Site or In-Plant Training: Up to and including 1 month

On-the-Job Training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month

Detailed Work Activities

  • Prepare graphics or other visual representations of information.
  • Prepare analytical reports.
  • Create databases to store electronic data.
  • Update computer database information.
  • Provide technical support for software maintenance or use.

Work Values

Achievement

Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

Working Conditions

Recognition

Relationships

Support

Independence

Tasks

  • Review existing or incoming data for currency, accuracy, usefulness, quality, or completeness of documentation.
  • Produce data layers, maps, tables, or reports, using spatial analysis procedures or Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, equipment, or systems.
  • Maintain or modify existing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases.
  • Select cartographic elements needed for effective presentation of information.
  • Enter data into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) databases, using techniques such as coordinate geometry, keyboard entry of tabular data, manual digitizing of maps, scanning or automatic conversion to vectors, or conversion of other sources of digital data.

Work Styles

Innovation

A tendency to be inventive, to be imaginative, and to adopt new perspectives on ways to accomplish work.

Achievement Orientation

Intellectual Curiosity

Tolerance for Ambiguity

Initiative

Adaptability

Self-Confidence

Perseverance

Leadership Orientation

Humility

Sincerity

Empathy

Cooperation

Optimism

Social Orientation

Cautiousness

Attention to Detail

Dependability

Integrity

Stress Tolerance

Self-Control

Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.