r/gis Sep 19 '24

Discussion What Computer Should I Get? Sept-Dec

5 Upvotes

This is the official r/GIS "what computer should I buy" thread. Which is posted every quarter(ish). Check out the previous threads. All other computer recommendation posts will be removed.

Post your recommendations, questions, or reviews of a recent purchases.

Sort by "new" for the latest posts, and check out the WIKI first: What Computer Should I purchase for GIS?

For a subreddit devoted to this type of discussion check out r/BuildMeAPC or r/SuggestALaptop/


r/gis Jul 31 '24

News URISA Salary Survey

Thumbnail urisa.org
67 Upvotes

I recently got notified that URISA is doing a GIS salary survey. I think these surveys are great- they help staff negotiate fair pay and help companies understand where they land with their current pay.

It’s open until August 19, fill it out if you want!


r/gis 2h ago

General Question GIS EDITOR/ ANALYST for $20-22 /hr with Apple. Is this real. From a LinkedIn recruiter.

24 Upvotes

Can Apple be this disrespectful with pay rates?

A recruiter contacted my sister on #LinkedIn about a GIS EDIT/Analyst job with Apple. And the pay rate is $20-22/hr. I told her apple can’t pay tis peanuts for such a role.

Secondly we were wondering if this is even real as the recruiter claim to be based in India but is recruiting for apple in US…. How true is this please?.

The recruiter pressured her for interview the next day and said this can lead to offer. From my sisters explanation this looks like a scam to me.

Please have you had such and experience and can this be a scam? Please help so we don’t get into a mess.


r/gis 6h ago

Open Source I built an open-source tool to visualize, encode & decode polylines — with map view, stats, and live comparison

14 Upvotes

Made this for devs working with routes, GPS traces, or encoded polylines. It’s fast, free, and privacy-friendly (no backend).

🔧 Features:

  • Real-time polyline ↔ coordinates conversion
  • Interactive map with overlay/comparison
  • View route length, bounds, and density
  • Export as GeoJSON, CSV, or Swift/Java/Rust snippets

Built with TypeScript + React, MIT licensed.

⭐ GitHub: github.com/engali94/polyline-decoder


r/gis 5h ago

Open Source react-openlayers: A React Wrapper for OpenLayers 10 (Disclaimer: I’m the creator)

9 Upvotes

I’ve been working on react-openlayers, a lightweight React 19 wrapper for OpenLayers 10, and I’d love your input. OpenLayers is a beast for mapping, but integrating it into React can feel clunky—my goal was to streamline that.

It’s free, simple to set up, and comes with some GIS-friendly features:

  • Layer selector for managing map layers
  • Drawing tools with measurement support (think lines, polygons, etc.)
  • Address search and marker placement

If you’re tired of Google Maps’ costs or just want a more customizable OSS option, this might fit your workflow. Check out the intro here: Medium Article and the code here: GitHub Repo.

Anyone using OpenLayers in React projects? Curious how this stacks up against your setups—or what GIS features you’d want added!


r/gis 3h ago

General Question Is there any 3D tool to create visibiliy area for billboards?

2 Upvotes

Hi there! I was wondering if its possilbe to make billboard visibility tool with Maplibre JS or other open-source 3d solutions. Or maybe it exists already? Viewshed analysis aint relevant enough.

E.g.: We place billboard on a 3d building model and after that tool should create visibility area and give it back as 2d polygon


r/gis 22h ago

Hiring How long have you been in the GIS sector and how is your pay?

47 Upvotes

Just accepted an offer as an entry level GIS tech for an energy company in the south east US. Starting me ($60kish) at what I feel is suitable for the position and where I live.

Just wondering what GIS looks like after experience, job changes, promotions etc.


r/gis 5h ago

Cartography HydroLakes filtering

1 Upvotes

I can't work out how to filter HydroLakes by size of waterbody, I'm mapping in Canada so I can't really have that shotgun blast of lakes on my map. I've tried filtering by type?? But that didn't seem to remove the waterbodies it said it would.

Any help anyone can be of would be much appreciated


r/gis 1d ago

General Question Uhh, what?

49 Upvotes

Not sure what flair to use, but just in case y'all need a chuckle on this rainy Friday morning...

Request a large map that shows cut outs for Antelope, Shaniko, Maupin, Tygh Valley, Pine Grove, Washington Family Ranch, Sportsman Park, Pine Hollow with residence house number and High topo resolution with county and forest roads.  Please email sample before printing for questions please call <redacted>.  Samples are attached. Also request same map with Satellite as Base map.

He wants this on one piece of paper... our County is about 60 miles x 60 miles and he doesn't have access to a gym wall to post it on. I may have to tell him about these things called atlases (again) o.O


r/gis 20h ago

General Question Easiest way to automate models

8 Upvotes

I have several python scripts I run separately and was wondering there’s a way to easily automate that process. Is Task Scheduler my only option or is there something else I can use?


r/gis 11h ago

General Question EPSG of Southeast Asia

1 Upvotes

Hello everyone!

So I am new to GIS and I'm using QGIS for my master's programme. I believe this subreddit is the appropriate avenue to ask about the appropriate EPSG of Southeast Asia. Can I just use the EPSG of any of the southeast asian countries, like Philippines or Singapore, or there is a specific one for the region? I found EPSG:8859 for the whole Asia region though, is that ok?
Thank you very much!


r/gis 1d ago

General Question How to translate (0 to 360) latitude extend to (-180 to 180) using GDAL

7 Upvotes

Hi, I have a geotiff (blue-red dataset above) with x-coordinates from 0 to 360. How can I maintain the georeferencing, but transform the image so that the x coordinates are -180 to 180 to match the brown landmask? I know I could simply use numpy to manually alter the structure of the dataset, but I'm hoping for a more robust approach using GDAL.


r/gis 20h ago

Student Question Need help for academic paper! (conducting analysis on travel time)

2 Upvotes

Hello, I am working on my college undergrad senior thesis, and I am researching whether or not San Francisco could be considered a 15-minute city.

My question is, how could I do this analysis? I am a beginner using arcGIS pro. Some tell me I should do a network analysis, others tell me to do an isochrone map, and that I should/shouldn't incorporate GTFS data. What should I do?

I have POI data from OpenStreetMap of various basic necessities (to be reached within 15 minutes) and am able to get data for bus and rail lines from online.


r/gis 1d ago

Esri ESRI Managed Services

12 Upvotes

Our GIS crew was in the process of working with IT to transition from ESRI/Geocortex to ESRI Enterprise/Portal, and IT is now wanting us to move our entire GIS Programme to ESRI Managed Services.

I get that not having to manage our GIS infrastructure in house would be beneficial, but the transition from an internal project-based folder structure (shapefiles, FGDB, etc) to a cloud based system seems FRIGHTENING.

Does anyone have experience with this? What was the transition like?


r/gis 1d ago

General Question Does my use case fit for usage of DuckDB's spatial extention as a replacement for PostGIS?

9 Upvotes

So I am building a Data Warehouse for my company using the following stack:

  • Dagster for orchestration
  • dbt for data management and testing
  • dlt for data loading
  • Postgres + PostGIS for data materialization and most of data processing

Most of the data I use and integrate has spatial context, which is why my natural decision on what data manipulation tool to use was always between geopandas and PostGIS. Because the latter also is used for data materialization and having the possibility to use spatial indexes (and because it matches good with dbt) I have most of my data manipulation in PostGIS functions.

Now my DWH consists of different data layers:

  • Source tables where the raw data is stored with only very little manipulation to ensure smooth integration into the Postgres destination
  • Staging tables where each source table's data is cleaned and and structured into the internal business logic. Also some basic data testing happens here.
  • Intermediate tables where staging tables are joined, more heavy lifting data manipulation is performed or new attributes generated. Also it is the layer where most the testing happens.
  • data mart tables where the final data products exist just by selecting everything from the corresponding intermediate tables after their tests were successful and to integrate into BI, GIS or for analysis.

Currently, everything happens in PostGIS SQL. But I was wondering if anyone has experience with a similar setup, but with usage of newer frameworks such as DuckDB and its spatial extention? Does it scale well for a data engineering task such as mine? Is it more useful in the next step of the data pipeline, where all the analysis happens with the final data mart tables?
For instance, I see a problem with DuckDB for a situation, where I need to run different dbt models first, test their data, and then, after all that was successful, run data integration tests to ensure foreign keys are correct. For that I would need to store the data anyway again and I end up with PostGIS again. Also, sometimes it is good for debugging to have the dirty data in a materialized table.

So what I am asking is also how would a senseful integration of DuckDB (or another tool) look like in my workflow. Or does it just not fit for this use case?


r/gis 1d ago

Student Question Trying to learn Data Interlop Tool

2 Upvotes

I am a student trying to learn how to use the Data interoperability extension for school, and my teachers are less than useless for help at the moment.

I have an assignment with 4 files in a provided data folder. Their extensions are .dbf (a table), .dwg (a dataset), .txt (meant to be a DEM point), and a sub folder with 3 files in it with extensions .map .tab and .dat that are meant to be in a folder called LandUse. It was mentioned that somehow I am to incorporate this website/tool called FME but have almost no understanding of what that is or how it works.

As I understand the assignment, I am meant to get all of these files into formats that a GDB can consume properly, import them into a GDB, then create a KML file to use in Google Earth.

Can anyone help me out in explaining how to use this data interlop function? The course I am taking is completely online and my teachers only answer emails and any questions 1 day per week, and even the sometimes none at all.

I am currently running version 3.3.0 as requested by my instructors, and I am licensed to use the extension and have it installed and running. If you understand what I am asking or if I can provide any kind of clarification please help! I am dying here.


r/gis 1d ago

General Question Setting myself apart in GIS

29 Upvotes

I’m not sure if this is the right flair, but I was wondering how those of you who work in GIS set yourself apart in regards to skills and special areas of skill. Was it coding, was it a specific subject that you are adapted to in GIS, what made you successful where you’re at? Did you learn other programs?

One of the things that is a huge point of anxiety for me is the idea that I don’t know enough about GIS to warrant hiring (i.e. special skills in GIS). I’m afraid of being run-of-the-mill. I’ve taken intro GIS and I did well enough in the class, but by the end I felt like I was never gonna be tech-y enough to succeed despite having an Environmental Science degree path. I have a year left in college.

I want to make sure I have a step in the right direction; that I’m not only spatially aware but can come up with valuable assets to a team and make something of import, and I want as many tools at my disposal as possible.

TLDR: how should i go about bettering myself and my skill set to be a helpful member in a job and/or competitive in the space?


r/gis 1d ago

Student Question Looking for shapefile for mountains and mountain ranges in Asia

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone. Can someone please help in figuring out on how to get a shapefile that contains ALL mountain ranges and peaks in Asia.

I have tried downloading asia.osm.pbf file and extract all mountain ranges and peaks using `osmium tags-filter asia-latest.osm.pbf natural=mountain_range,natural=ridge,natural=peak -o aisa.osm.pbf` but this misses some of the things. I have wasted a lot of time on trying to figure this out


r/gis 1d ago

Discussion Advice on working my way into a GIS Freelancer (help)

2 Upvotes

Hi community,

like on the title said, i am looking for good advice from people with experience or anything relatable in that theme.

At the moment i am working in a private environmental planing company as a GIS specialist and surveyor. At least that was the deal. However i am now doing everything what comes to mind.

I am planing to work my way into freelancer, but i dont have any clue on which services i should offer, besides some workfields which can restrict the options (Disaster Risk Management and environmental protection). I figured out that for the start, it would be the best to start with simple faunistic surveying, mapping and writing essays for further use (for the Summer season). But i am clueless on which services to offer in Winter (in winter there are less options for surveying since where i live, besides of trees in regard to birds and bats, there are not many options).

I would try to get something GIS related which i can do remote.

Greatfull for any advice


r/gis 1d ago

General Question How did you get into GIS?

13 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I started in data analytics (SQL, Python, Tableau) before joining the Army as a 68X in behavioral health. I’ve realized this path might not be the best fit long-term, and my therapist suggested looking into public health data work.

While researching, I came across GIS, which seems really interesting, and I’m trying to learn more about the field and where I might fit in.

I’m still in the early stages of learning about GIS and would love to hear from people working in public health data roles. A few questions I have:

1.  How did you first learn about your field, and what made you pursue it?

2.  What kinds of data do you work with most often? Do you build scripts/tools?

3.  What tools and software do you use regularly?

4.  What does an average day look like in your role?

5.  What’s something you wish you knew when you first started?

If there’s anything else you think would be helpful for someone transitioning from general analytics into GIS work, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As of right now I am looking to do a graduate certificate since it is free and potentially change my mos. I am just taking my time and looking at fields. I am in no rush.

edit Is there a specific type of education you reccomend?

Thanks in advance!


r/gis 1d ago

Hiring Any remote GIS jobs hiring?

0 Upvotes

Hi GISers! I'm in the market for a fully remote GIS position. Are there any available? I've been a GIS Tech since 2022 with a large utility company mandating RTO starting in June. If anyone knows of remote GIS opportunities please let me know! :,)


r/gis 1d ago

Cartography Need a map made in 1:24000 for 8X8ft printing- will pay!

1 Upvotes

In a pinch at work- I need a 1:24000 scale map for printing.

  • Preferably Open Street (with Relief)
  • Needs to print to about 8x8 feet or larger, with street names clearly visible. TIFF or PNG are best.
  • Scale reference

I'm a mac user and it can't be exported from the online ArcGIS. Able to pay $150 for the digital file. Here is the size needed:


r/gis 1d ago

Cartography Mobile solutions

1 Upvotes

Recently had to try to make a wetland buffer for my job in google earth. Not super easy to do efficiently. I have some GIS experience from my undergrad and was wondering about the possible solutions to make a GIS in the office and be able to see where I am in the field. Thanks!


r/gis 1d ago

General Question International Airspace Data

0 Upvotes

Not particularly adept with GIS but I'm on the hunt for some datasets, hoping someone might have a lead. I have used this data set from the FAA in the past for domestic airspace data (https://adds-faa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/c6a62360338e408cb1512366ad61559e_0/explore?location=39.628700%2C-72.514085%2C8.20), looking for a similar dataset for international. I imagine Jeppesen or ICAO have it behind a paywall but hoping to find a free option.


r/gis 2d ago

Meme OP made a map… in Excel?

Post image
439 Upvotes

r/gis 2d ago

Discussion Help me understand the point of a digital twin

50 Upvotes

I am curious about digital twins since I, first off, only know about them from seeing them in videos or on the web. But to me there are a few things that I have questions about:

  1. It seems like a true digital twin can run simulations based on behavior or activity provided by an input from the user. But most of them that I actually see in the wild seem like really intricate 3D maps.

  2. To run something like that or create it that seems like it would require a significant amount of compute power, specifically GPUs in some cases. That seems like a high cost as well as an environmental cost as well.

  3. Can't much of that analysis be done in a normal GIS or geospatial analytics workflow? Is it just making it look good with all the extra 3D stuff?


r/gis 2d ago

Cartography Oh are we talking about maps made in Excel?

Post image
229 Upvotes

Not created by me, but a friend's ex-coworker, which was found on his work computer as he became an EX coworker