The New Geospatial Technology Competency Model: Bringing Workforce Needs into Focus

Just as nobody likes a wiseguy, nobody likes a definition. --Michael Davis, Profession, Code, and Ethics INTRODUCTION At its best, higher education prepares students to make a living in a way that improves the quality of life. In the geospatial technology field, which provides so many opportunities in so many different fields and occupations, the responsibility is both exciting and challenging. The breadth and diversity of geospatial has made it difficult to reach consensus about what the field really entails, who geospatial professionals are, and what they should know and be able to do. This paper recounts a decade-long quest to define the U.S. geospatial industry and its workforce, as well as recent achievements that have brought these into sharper focus. The term geospatial means different things to different people. For some stakeholders, it denotes a science. For others, it is a collection of tools used in various fields. Still others consider it a profession characterized by distinct standards of competence and codes of ethics. For the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as many educators, geospatial means a rapidly growing industry that generates employment opportunities for qualified workers. From this perspective, preparing U.S. workers to compete for opportunities in a global economy is an urgent challenge. To this end, the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) launched a High Growth Job Training Initiative in 2003 (DOLETA n. d.). "Geospatial technology" was one of 14 high-growth "sectors" it highlighted. Beginning in 2004, the DOLETA made $6.4 million of investments intended to identify workforce needs and to make the nation's "workforce training system" more "demand-driven" (DeRocco 2004). Among others, these investments led to two important outcomes: In late 2009 and 2010, the DOLETA issued definitions of six new geospatial occupations (National Center for O*NET Development 2009-2010) and a new Geospatial Technology Competency Model (DOLETA 2010). This paper describes these developments and discusses their meaning to the geospatial field and the professionals who work within it. DEFINING THE INDUSTRY From the outset of its engagement with the geospatial field, the DOLETA sought to clarify the opportunity: There is not yet an industry-wide definition of the scope of the disciplines or the training and credentials required to work in the industry. There is no single organization tracking all relevant jobs within the geospatial industry and there are no comprehensive job descriptions or salary information for all relevant job opportunities.... There is a lack of public awareness of the impact of geospatial technology applications on daily professional and personal activities. With greater understanding will come greater interest in entering the profession, as well as greater demand for geospatial capabilities and applications across a wide range of other sectors. (DOLETA 2005, 1) The DOLETA's early conception of the field appears in a 2004 speech by former Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco, who referred to the geospatial technology industry as "a cluster of commercial activities growing out of the Global Positioning System [GPS]." She went on to observe: This new and still undefined industry has a current worldwide market of about $5 billion, and is growing by 10 percent to 13 percent per year, a growth rate that is expected to continue throughout this decade. The market is projected to have annual revenues of $30 billion by 2005. A survey of geospatial product and service providers revealed that 87 percent of respondents said they had difficulty filling positions requiring geospatial technology skills. (DeRocco 2004) Emerging Consensus Among the first grants awarded by the DOLETA in 2004 was $695,362 to the Spatial Technologies Information Association (STIA) for a project called Geospatial Industry Awareness and Opportunities. …