1. A Geospatial Industry Perspective on Becoming a Data Professional
Dawn Wright, Ph.D.
Esri Chief Scientist
Slides:
SciDataCon 2016
Session 98: Defining Data Professionals
September 12, 2016

2. Maps for Solving the World’s Biggest Problems
Helping to guide the science behind the maps and the science done with them.
This is why Esri is in business and how we look for great talent (data science or otherwise) accordingly.
Esri focuses on mapping and data for conservation, disaster aid and relief, climate change mitigation and adaptation, “geodesigning” land and ocean space use to more closely follow natural systems, protecting freshwater resources, in short, ‪using maps and geographic analysis to make the world a better place.

3. Building GIS as Part of “Open Science”
Providing a Platform for Open and “Intelligent” Access Will Require Data Scientists
Digital Applications
Research
Data, Materials
Source
Code
Access for Scientists,
Companies,
the Public
Scientific Pubs
Re-Asserting
Science as a
Global Public
Good
A very encouraging INDUSTRY trend is that GIS is becoming more and more OPEN, and we need the perspectives and expertise of data scientists
Twitter reference:
Providing an Open Platform for Collaboration and Innovation
Open Services
Open Data
Academia/Government/Industry/Non-Profit
Thanks to Carthage Smith of OECD, Heidi Laine of U. Helsinki, RDA Plenary 7

4. Open Trend of Open Platforms Industry Formats Open Software
Ensuring Interoperability
Industry Formats
Imagery
DBMSs
DXF
DWG
COLLADA
OLEDB
FileGDB
AIXM
WaterML
CityGML
INSPIRE
OneGeology
Hadoop
DGN
Web Scene (I3S)
LERC
Shapefiles
Open Standards
Open Software
WCS
KML
Extensible Architecture
Open Source Integration
Education Materials
Open Source Contributions (300+)
Embeddable Components
Open APIs
Open Data Access
GML
WMS
SQL
WWW
WFS
CSW
SOAP
OPENDAP
WMTS
ISO
IFC
SLD
WPS
NetCDF
GeoPackage
LAS
REST
AutoCAD
SAP HANA
IBM Cognos
Adobe Creative Cloud
AWS
Azure
MS Office
JSON
Open
Product
Integration
. . . Integrated into Thousands of Systems

5. Recent Esri Job Ad esri.com/careers
Maps for Solving the World’s Biggest Problems
esri.com/careers
PLUS:
databases
data structures
algorithms
data infrastructures
C++, Python
spatial coding
machine learning
natural language search
One of Esri’s first ads with the words “data science” in the job title, so that we can readily attract top talent

6. esri.com/careers, university@esri.com
This is where the prior job ad and all others come from

7. Data Science and Data Centric Geography
Keeping up training of potential applicants.
We tend to look for people with geography expertise and so are following data science trends within that discipline.
We know that data professionals may be trained in at least one of two ways TRADITIONALLY (left) or what is still considered to be non-traditional (right) where data science is concerned.
Jake VanderPlas, University of Washington eScience Institute

8. Issues Faced at Universities
… and by future data professionals.
Recognizing that graduates will go on to work in both academia and industry, how best to prepare them for success in both worlds? What drivers might shift academia toward recognizing & rewarding “data scientists” in geography or related geospatial disciplines? Whither “data science?” Where does it fit within the structure of the university? See also my AGU poster from Peter Fox’s session: Have I Been a Data Scientist from the Start? esriurl.com/agudatasci
Some issues being discussed at universities across the US that we know of. This comes from a data science panel session at the 2016 American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting (the largest meeting of geographers in the world)
AAG Panel:

9. Esri Young Professionals Network
Connect to industry experts + peers.
Gain leadership skills, experience.
Expand personal networks.
Learn latest tech trends, innovations.
Retool, recharge, reinvent.
Esri Young Professionals Network
We also have a new Young Professionals Network. Note the faces. Not all “young professionals” need be young in age. We have a lot of mature people seeking new careers in GIS (including those with a data science emphasis), reinventing themselves, and thus participating in our network.

10. Professional Development
Open Community
Professional Development
Lifelong Learning
User Conference
DevSummit
Young Professionals Network
Esri Press
MOOC
GeoNet
Community
Esri provides resources not just for new professionals that we want to hire, but for those already in the profession seeking professional development, including those within our own company. For example, note this new MOOC on “Skills for the Digital Earth” which has quite a data science bent to it.
Home Use
Licensing
ArcUser
Online
Courses
Certification
Program

11. Thank
You
Dawn Wright
esriurl.com/scicomm
Please let people know that I am eager to answer questions should they want to contact me later. Thanks much!
Legos created by Joseph Kinyon
GIS Manager
Sonoma Land Trust