GIS Is Not a Job

I keep noticing this moment.

You’re sitting in a planning meeting—maybe it’s a school district, a county, or a regional group—and someone says:

“We need a GIS person.”

And you pause. Because you know… that’s not quite what they mean.

What they’re really saying is:

“We need help understanding what’s happening in our community.”

But somewhere along the way, we collapsed that into a single term.

GIS.

Here’s the truth that doesn’t get said enough:

GIS was never meant to be a job.
It’s a system.

A Geographic Information System is a way of working with data that has a location—data you can store, analyze, and visualize in relation to place. 1

It brings together data, tools, and people into a shared environment for understanding how things are connected across geography. 2

It’s the platform.

Not the person.

When the Language Didn’t Keep Up

If you’ve worked in smaller communities—or even mid-sized organizations—you’ve probably seen this firsthand.

One person ends up doing everything:

  • pulling data from spreadsheets
  • mapping infrastructure or service areas
  • building dashboards
  • explaining what it all means

And that person gets called “GIS.”

But that’s not a role.
That’s a bundle of work.

As systems scale, that bundle starts to break apart.

And that’s where the confusion begins.

What This Looks Like in the Real World

Let’s ground this in what you and I would both recognize.

Broadband Mapping in a Rural Region

A community wants to understand where service gaps exist.

They say:

“We need GIS to map broadband.”

But what’s really happening?

  • Data gets pulled from providers, public datasets, and local surveys
  • That data has to be cleaned and aligned
  • Someone maps it and identifies gaps
  • Someone else explains what those gaps mean for funding decisions

In many places across Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, that entire workflow either gets compressed into one person—or it doesn’t happen yet.

School District Connectivity

A district asks:

Which students don’t have reliable connectivity at home?

It sounds simple. It’s not.

  • Addresses need to be verified
  • Coverage data needs to be overlaid
  • Patterns need to be identified (route boundaries, income, geography)
  • Decisions need to follow (hotspots, fiber builds, partnerships)

If a district says “we don’t have GIS,” what they usually mean is:

“We don’t have the capacity to answer this yet.”

Energy and Smart Campus Systems

Now think about smart buildings, energy systems, or even Class 4 power distribution across a campus.

The question might be:

Where are we losing efficiency?

GIS can absolutely sit underneath that question.

But again, not as a single role:

  • Data has to come from sensors and control systems
  • It needs to be structured and aligned
  • Patterns have to be interpreted across buildings and systems
  • And then modeled over time

Without that layered capability, the data just sits there.

A Quick Connection to DOIN

This is exactly where the Digital Opportunities Intelligence Network (DOIN) comes into play.

If GIS is the system for understanding place, then DOIN is the next layer:

A network that connects data, infrastructure, people, and decision-making across a region.

GIS becomes one of the core sensing layers inside DOIN.

  • It grounds everything in place
  • It connects datasets that would otherwise stay siloed
  • It enables communities to move from “what do we have?” to “what should we do next?”

But DOIN also makes something else clear:

The system alone is not enough.
You need people, pathways, and capacity.

The “Not Yet” Reality

Most communities aren’t missing GIS.

They are in a not yet stage.

Not yet:

  • fully integrated
  • fully staffed
  • fully resourced

And instead of seeing that as a gap, I’ve come to see it as a starting point.

Because every system starts the same way:

  • one dataset
  • one question
  • one insight

Then it builds.

The Roles—Seen Through Real Work

When you slow it down, three distinct functions start to appear.

The Spatial Data Engineer: Getting the Data Ready

In a not yet community, this doesn’t always look like a formal role.

It might be:

  • a technologist cleaning up address data
  • someone aligning datasets that don’t quite match
  • a regional partner helping standardize formats

This is the work of making data usable.

The technical term is ETL—extract, transform, load—turning raw data into something ready for analysis. 3

Where to start:

  • Inventory what you already have
  • Clean and standardize it
  • Build simple repeatable workflows

Don’t overbuild.

Just make the data trustworthy.

The Spatial Analyst: Making Meaning Visible

Then someone starts asking better questions.

Where are the gaps?
What patterns are emerging?
Who is being left out?

This is spatial analysis—examining geographic data to uncover patterns and relationships. 4

In a not yet community, this might be:

  • the first meaningful map shared with leadership
  • a county-level dashboard
  • a regional story told through data

Where to start:

  • Pick one high-impact question
  • Map it simply
  • Share it clearly

Insight creates momentum.

The Spatial Data Scientist: Looking Ahead (When You’re Ready)

Most communities aren’t here yet.

And that’s okay.

This is the layer where we start asking:

  • What is likely to happen next?
  • Where should we invest before problems emerge?

Spatial data science combines GIS with statistics and computing to extract patterns and predictions from location-based data. 5

It moves beyond description into explanation and forecasting. 6

In a not yet community, this usually happens through partnership:

  • Partnering with a communty college or university
  • Collaborating with regional and state networks (like EUPConnect Collaborative, MSU Quello Center, Merit Network or MSU Extension)
  • Using shared models instead of building your own

Where to start:

  • Don’t try to build this alone
  • Connect to regional or statewide capacity
  • Focus on learning how to ask predictive questions

Bringing It Back to the Compass

So when someone says:

“We need a GIS person.”

I hear:

“We’re trying to find our direction, but we’re not there yet.”

And that’s okay.

Because:

GIS is the compass.
Not the traveler.

The system helps orient you.

But progress comes from people… and from communities willing to build, step by step.

Starting Where You Are

If you’re reading this and thinking, “we don’t have that yet,” here’s the reality:

You’re not behind.

You’re just not yet.

And “not yet” is where every meaningful system begins.

  • Start with one dataset
  • Ask one question
  • Share one insight

Then build.

Because over time, those small steps become something bigger:

A system.
A network.
A shared understanding of place.

And that’s where real transformation starts.

References

Ali, E. (2020). Geographic information system (GIS): Definition, development, applications & components. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ershad-Ali-2/publication/340182760_Geographic_Information_System_GIS_Definition_Development_Applications_Components/links/5e7ca93992851caef49e0835/Geographic-Information-System-GIS-Definition-Development-Applications-Components.pdf

Atlas. (n.d.). Geospatial data science definition. https://atlas.co/glossary/geospatial-data-science/

Science Insights. (2026). What is spatial data science? https://scienceinsights.org/what-is-spatial-data-science-definition-and-uses/

Spatialnode. (2023). Geospatial data engineering and ETL. https://www.spatialnode.net/articles/geospatial-data-engineeringd36ebd

University of Southern California GIS. (2024). What is spatial data analysis? https://gis.usc.edu/blog/what-is-spatial-data-analysis/

U.S. Geological Survey. (n.d.). What is a geographic information system (GIS)? https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-a-geographic-information-system-gis

Additional Reading

Kronemeyer, J. (2026). The power of yet in community growth: Navigating community capacity for digital transformation. Compass Series. https://www.jasonkronemeyer.com/papers/2026-05-20-The-Power-Of-Yet-In-Community-Growth.html

Kronemeyer, J. (2026). Digital opportunities intelligence network (DOIN): A framework for place-based infrastructure intelligence. https://www.jasonkronemeyer.com/digital%20equity/policy/data%20science/infrastructure/compass/2026/06/05/doin.html

Kronemeyer, J. (2025). The digital opportunity compass: Connecting people, infrastructure, and possibility. https://www.jasonkronemeyer.com/2025/11/07/training-the-compass-digital-opportunities-intelligence-framework.html