How To Become A Geospatial Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a geospatial technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Geospatial technicians are skilled professionals that assist scientists in creating, maintaining, and modifying geographic information systems (GIS). Their specific duties generally include identifying cartographic elements needed in the presentation of information, analyzing geospatial data, reviewing data for accuracy and quality, and designing graphic representations of GIS databases.

Apart from these duties, geospatial technicians also broaden their knowledge by reading literature, communicating with colleagues, and attending industry events. Moreover, they suggest recommendations for upgrades or replacements to optimize the efficiency of existing GIS databases.

To become a geospatial technician, you would need to have at least a bachelor's degree in geography, geology, environmental science, or a similar field. Employers may not require prior experience, but it is definitely an advantage, especially if you have worked in a similar role. If you don't have work experience, you need to exhibit high trainability and adaptability to increase your chances of job placement.

When you succeed in attaining this role, you can expect an average salary of around $89,000 per year, depending on your level of education and experience.

ScoreGeospatial TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.3

Avg. Salary $42,643

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.1

Growth rate 21%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.51%

Asian 11.99%

Black or African American 6.24%

Hispanic or Latino 8.82%

Unknown 4.70%

White 67.73%

Gender

female 25.36%

male 74.64%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

4.1

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.4

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a geospatial technician

Explore geospatial technician education requirements

Most common geospatial technician degrees

Bachelor's

78.3 %

Associate

9.4 %

Master's

8.5 %

Start to develop specific geospatial technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	16.91%
Visualization	10.38%
Production Tasks	8.29%
Remote Sensing	7.63%
Esri	7.37%

Complete relevant geospatial technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New geospatial technicians learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a geospatial technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real geospatial technician resumes.

Research geospatial technician duties and responsibilities

Manage mapping-grade GPS operations for field crews and map all data.
Lead projects and report to management the status of co-workers feature extraction.
Generate GIS database updates manually and manage automated unix-base system to apply records to client database.
Perform imagery 3D analysis and extraction from satellite imagery using BAE SocetSet version 5.6.0 and ESRI ArcMap 10.1.

Prepare your geospatial technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your geospatial technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a geospatial technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable geospatial technician resume templates

Build a professional geospatial technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your geospatial technician resume.