Geospatial specialist vs gis specialist

The differences between geospatial specialists and gis specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a geospatial specialist, becoming a gis specialist takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a gis specialist has an average salary of $65,463, which is higher than the $52,208 average annual salary of a geospatial specialist.

The top three skills for a geospatial specialist include GPS, esri and sql server. The most important skills for a gis specialist are GPS, python, and data collection.

Geospatial specialist vs gis specialist overview

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Specialist
Yearly salary	$52,208	$65,463
Hourly rate	$25.10	$31.47
Growth rate	16%	9%
Number of jobs	6,427	2,029
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	6

Geospatial specialist vs gis specialist salary

Geospatial specialists and gis specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Specialist
Average salary	$52,208	$65,463
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $76,000	Between $43,000 And $98,000
Highest paying City	-	Edison, NJ
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	The Wonderful Company
Best paying industry	-	Energy

Differences between geospatial specialist and gis specialist education

There are a few differences between a geospatial specialist and a gis specialist in terms of educational background:

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common major	Environmental Science	Geography
Most common college	University of California, Berkeley	University of California, Berkeley

Geospatial specialist vs gis specialist demographics

Here are the differences between geospatial specialists' and gis specialists' demographics:

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Specialist
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 74.3% Female, 25.7%	Male, 69.4% Female, 30.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%	Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between geospatial specialist and gis specialist duties and responsibilities

Geospatial specialist example responsibilities.

Provide employee training and manage all NDT certification records per ASNT SNT-TC-1A.
Authore user guides for training on Trimble GeoExplorer 2008 & 6000 GPS units using ArcPad 10 and TerraSync.
process and classify Lidar point cloud data.
Implement Geo-Server to display GIS data on web.
Perform quality control on GIS data and ecosystem services.
Contribute to an active case by geocoding GPS data and providing cartographic products.

Gis specialist example responsibilities.

Implement and manage ESRI ArcSDE, ArcIMS servers and web services in the GIS development lab.
Work extensively with SQL to achieve tight integration with the associated maps which include building tables, maintenance and accuracy checks.
Manage client data and perform database extraction regularly to make timely data updates.
Create python scripts, models and script tools for automation of spatial analysis and data management tasks.
Develop and implement the conversion of project data to ArcSDE.
Utilize Dojo to create and style interactive buttons within GIS application.

Geospatial specialist vs gis specialist skills

Common geospatial specialist skills

GPS, 34%
Esri, 15%
SQL Server, 15%
Data Management, 12%
GIS Data, 9%
Extraction, 8%

Common gis specialist skills

GPS, 10%
Python, 8%
Data Collection, 8%
Database Management, 6%
Geospatial Data, 4%
CAD, 4%