Geospatial specialist vs gis technician

The differences between geospatial specialists and gis technicians 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 technician takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a gis technician has an average salary of $58,307, 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 technician are patients, patient care, and GPS.

Geospatial specialist vs gis technician overview

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Technician
Yearly salary	$52,208	$58,307
Hourly rate	$25.10	$28.03
Growth rate	16%	9%
Number of jobs	6,427	8,922
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	2	6

Geospatial specialist vs gis technician salary

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

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Technician
Average salary	$52,208	$58,307
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $76,000	Between $39,000 And $86,000
Highest paying City	-	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	-	Massachusetts
Best paying company	-	American Water
Best paying industry	-	Utilities

Differences between geospatial specialist and gis technician education

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

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common major	Environmental Science	Geography
Most common college	University of California, Berkeley	University of California, Berkeley

Geospatial specialist vs gis technician demographics

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

	Geospatial Specialist	GIS Technician
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 74.3% Female, 25.7%	Male, 68.4% Female, 31.6%
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 technician 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 technician example responsibilities.

Manage computer programming and maximize enhancements to GIS database.
Generate GIS database updates manually and manage automated unix-base system to apply records to client database.
Provide application development and support, infrastructure maintenance, and license management.
Update attribute information and reconcile as-built construction record drawings with corresponding GPS data.
Trouble shoot ArcGIS relate issues.
Create site-specific map sets utilizing ArcMAP, ArcTools.

Geospatial specialist vs gis technician skills

Common geospatial specialist skills

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

Common gis technician skills

Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 9%
GPS, 7%
Database Management, 5%
Spatial Data, 5%
CAD, 4%