Geospatial Technology at Texas State Technical College

From: TSTC4u , Added: December 11, 2007

What rapidly expanding technology is integral to nearly every industry, business and government service? Geographic Information Systems (GIS).This technology enables you to gather data, integrate it into computer systems and analyze it to help an organization make better, more informed decisions.As a student majoring in TSTC Waco's Geographic Information Systems, you can learn about GPS—a satellite positioning system that can allow you to determine latitude, longitude, and altitude, as well as speed, direction, and length of time to destinations. You can also learn about GIS—mapping software you can use to analyze data by GPS locations.Professionals in this field gather and manipulate data vital to businesses, industries and nearly all government entities. All these sectors benefit from GPS/GIS information, resulting in a demand for technicians to fill these high-tech jobs—jobs now opening up in nearly every sector of employment. As a Geographic Information Systems graduate, you can expect a career filled with lots of excitement, daily challenges and continuous growth!These GIS graduates' job responsibilities may include: conducting a wide range of analysis (including site selection, drainage design, traffic planning, impact analysis, site monitoring, property assessment and facilities management); tracking customer sales; and analyzing crime patterns.GIS technicians may hold responsibilities for routing delivery trucks; displaying soil types; finding the best location for an expanding business; helping an organization develop planning models; and evaluating possible future scenarios such as studying easement alternatives for widening a road or evaluating the economic impact of new zoning on a community.As a graduate of the program, you may hold career positions with titles such as geographic information systems specialist, global positioning specialist or logistics specialist.Geomatics Technology... A specialization in Geospatial Technology at Texas State Technical College.The Geomatics Technology is a crossroads of land usage by civil engineering, GIS, GPS, municipal and corporate planning, residential development, architectural planning, construction, and drafting. Land surveying is the second oldest profession in the world and today there is still a growing demand for survey technicians. New technology is changing the way surveyors and surveying technicians do their work. Surveyors are still measuring the distance and determining spatial relationships, but the why and how has changed. The surveyor's instrument and chain have given way to electronics. Distance is measured with an electronic clock and the speed of light. Angles, distances, and notes are automatically recorded in a "data collector" to be down loaded, plotted, and analyzed later. One purpose is still location of private property lines, but that purpose has been broadened to cover infrastructure and public well-being.The surveyor is a collector of facts and disseminator of usable information. The collection may be bounced from a satellite using Global Position Systems (GPS), scanned in from GIS data he generated last week, or raw data obtained by more conventional methods. With the use of lasers in an electronic angle and distance-measuring device the data is more precise. The data is linked to an automatic recorder, making it more reliable. It may also be connected with wireless communications equipment and transferred to an office computer where a rough map plot is made as fieldwork progresses.GIS Web Specialist... A specialization in Geospatial Technology at Texas State Technical College.The explosive use of web-based GIS applications in almost every industry is providing exciting new opportunities for the world of information analysis. This specialization meets specific requirements for the rapidly growing markets seeking employees with both strong GIS analysis and web-based skills. GIS and GIS Web are projected to be the high paying jobs of tomorrow.