I was recently invited to give a guest lecture presentation on mobile data collection for a ‘GIS In the Sciences’ course at Rensellaer Polytechnic University in Troy, NY. This course introduces upperclassmen from various majors to the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems. My presentation was 5 weeks into the course, so the students already had a pretty good grasp of the basics. They were familiar with using QGIS to display, edit, and analyze their geospatial data.
I gave a quick overview of Spatial Networks, reviewed the Fulcrum platform, and went over some best practices for data collection. During the lab portion of the class, we designed and developed an app for recording snow depth measurements at various locations on the RPI campus. The students will be using this data in subsequent classes as they learn about spatial databases, queries, and relates. They will be analyzing this spatiotemporal dataset and building animated visualizations using CARTO and Torque.
I remembered my freshman year in 2000 when my advisor said GIS courses would provide job market advantage. By my senior year in 2004, employers already expected candidates to have GIS skills for competitive positions in the industry. I spent countless hours using a digitizing tablet and working with ArcView 3x to refine my GIS expertise. I’m constantly amazed at how quickly this field evolves and how much these tools continue improving over time.
Key takeaways from RPI visit and GIS presentation
- Most traditional GIS courses don’t spend much time, if any, on “data collection.”
- College students can figure out a well-designed mobile app very quickly.
- People tend to ‘get it’ faster if you can relate technology to their particular field of interest.
- Ideally, data collection teams should pair an older, seasoned expert in the discipline with a younger, tech savvy protégé. The expert shares their knowledge while the protégé explains the technology. By the end of the project, the team is stronger and much more efficient