The Final Nail in GIS's Coffin

The end of GIS is fast approaching and this video highlights the trends in the last few years that have lead to this point and more importantly, what you can do to prepare for this impending change.

0:00 Intro
0:29 The last 20 years in GIS
3:54 GIS will be automated
5:18 New roles will take over
6:49 Technology is going to change
8:45 GIS is just a technology
10:14 How to prepare

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[jonmarin]

I believe that anyone working in GIS really should not stay stagnant in knowledge regardless of years of experience. This is a tech job after all and like all tech jobs demands are always fluid and staying up to date with trends is key to remaining relevant and necessary. GIS won’t die, but the way we see and use it might. Cartographers before used to make maps by hand.

[Our__Earth]

Thanks Matt. I liked what you commented near the end touching on spatial thinking and that there is a discipline called geographers where spatial thinking is near and dear to their hearts. I am seeing a widening of the interest in spatial thinking and geotechnologies across academia and society - data science, planning, sociology, even art, economics, business. The Whys of Where will always be an important set of questions on such a dynamic planet as Earth. I see GIS as more than the tools, though, combined with spatial thinking and problem solving, it is a community of practice, with some specialization. Sure, more and more people will be using "GIS tools" a few hours a week or month in perhaps another tool entirely such as PowerBI or SalesForce or R or something else, but there will continue to be those who have geo as their main focus and it is these folks who can provide leadership and insight to those who are not grounded in things like best practices for map projections or how to classify or symbolize in an unbiased way.

[aytuggulec]

I think It’s more likely evolving rather dying. Some of the software developers start panic about overwhelming progresses with ai. We’re no different.

[Our__Earth]

Hi again Matt. Per your points near the end about that GIS is a tool to help us understand the world, I agree with you - much of my video and essay content online focuses on the whys of where and encouraging people to be curious about the world, and to solve problems using GIS. I also think that the spatial perspective on problem solving, whether or not a person is using GIS, is key - especially when you consider all the energy, water, enviro, climate, crime, security, natural hazards, and other issues societies are dealing with including all the UN SDGs - health, education, and many more. We simply must use GIS as 1 essential tool to build a more resilient and sustainable world. In my way of thinking - GIS is changing - it is not dead - though I like your title to make people think - it is evolving - with AI and other tools - and it is going to be much easier to use with big data models and analytics in the future than it has been over the past 40 years. Thanks Matt.

[Blaze]

Thank you for this video. I'm in my early 30s and have been working in GIS for a long time both as a Technician and Analyst. I recently had a reality check with GIS when I realized that my career in GIS may not be heading anywhere as every GIS job I had had very minimal upward mobility. I've been looking to expand with possibly going back to school to expand in more Data Analytics and IT-related fields

[kevindonahue]

I work in Aviation, I will never be able to trust hallucinating AI tools, nor should I. Automation is what we do, that's what GIS is and has been all about my entire career. This video seems intended to scare/aggravate people for interaction. I'm not a fan.

[beatavitasv]

GIS is more like 'Geospatial Intelligence System' now. Remote sensing provides the raw intel, GIS analyzes the case!

[lucianotorres]

I am an analyst GIS, that technologies recommend me to learn or apply to a company that markets electronic payment devices by QR. One of the objectives is to present a map where all shops are visualized that have electronic payment devices and turn data to their tables.

[UtiliTerran]

where's the link to that QGIS tracing plugin?

[sammin]

Could you please share the name of the plugin that helps with the drawing of boundaries?

[eslamfarag]

What about roles like GIS Back-End Developer that using tools like Python, GeoDjango, and GeoPandas?

[ttyjgyw]

Some good insight thanks. Best advice I got in school was to never rely on GIS as an occupation, it is a powerful analysis tool and you need to combine with another discipline to get ahead and have a decent career. AI will become more commonplace in coming years but needs to become less of a block box for average GIS users.

[zuznzww]

Thank you for your video, and clear speaking and idea layout. I thought I would feel sad after watching this from the title, but I just finished a degree recently called Spatial Data Science. I have no job. It's a huge bummer. It's hard to keep up my skills while I apply and get rejected. I hear what you are saying, and how programming languages should help, and having a niche should help. I wonder if you could at all influence the people over there at USA jobs who create the job categories. What I might be just realizing after months (or a year) of getting rejections from these job applications, is that even with a graduate degree in GIS/Spatial Data Science/Geography, they might not by default consider that you have had all of the other math and statistics prerequisites in your undergrad... but it's not true! I have been making that assumption. I am only now starting to realize that with an engineering background, I have more technical skills than many actual "GIS Analysts" and "GIS Technicians" who seem to be using a lot of plug and play dashboard and web map stuff, but I think the novelty of the newer degree title "Spatial Data Science" is a turnoff, even if it is actually a subset of Geography! It's unfamiliar, and it doesn't fit into the USA jobs categories. Well, phew... I appreciate you doing the thought experiments on things geospatial, and I'll probably watch more of your vids in the future.

[alienarachnid]

I’m really thankful my GIS course uses Ai and the latest tech. I was worried I would be super lost but I feel confident in my knowledge when I’m on the field

[vengefulfork]

Planning on getting a degree in information science with a concentration in UX/UI and data science. Going to pursue a GIS minor because it’s interesting and I want to diversify my skills

[nahrafdhom]

Its beautiful to see it developing in Python and R. Q-GIS and ARC-GIS are tools but highly outdated. The people who are scared of Python and R for spatial analysis are the ones who just know to click in QGIS and ARC-GIS, but have no deep knowledge of GIS. Its great time to live with AI and new platforms for GIS. But great to see the gated community of ESRI and QGIS going down so quickly. RIP to both of them.

[umeshsehgal]

Gis will not die it will cover many new areas, now a days it is covering 1100 areas from medical to engg it is not only for geo .

[bc]

Fascinating! I'll have to rewatch this, as I clearly was too distracted the first time... What are we really saying is replacing it? And are people using GIS and ArcGIS interchangeably? Esri's stuff is a vast sea of bloat and outdated design, so I can see why that might die, but mostly I can see it being replaced by something newer and sleeker...

[cxzbzem]

thanks for putting information into perspective!

[muhammadzeeshan]

We should have to make a commitment for taking hand on adaptation rather than seeking or changing patterns of technologies