Before I get to an article today I thought I would go back to the government shutdown. Since my last post I realized that there was an even larger more immediate concern for GIS professionals in positions like mine. When our field techs go out on a project to record data we send them with GNSS datalogger units. These units use regular GPS signal and are augmented by base station correction. You have probably seen these base stations at some point since they are located all over the place. Different agencies administer different systems. State departments of transporation often have their own. Railroad often have them lining their rails. Larger mine districts might have one at the main office. When you add them all together you receive pretty significant coverage. With the federal shutdown many of the servers that maintain the correction data have been temporarily shutdown. This alone is not a terrible problem since most states maintain their own free systems. Where it becomes a problem is when states receive federal aid to modernize their systems. So now some state systems are down and people are not receiving the correction data that they need.
Any company that is halfway paying attention is going to word their precision/accuracy statements in such a way that they keep themselves out of hot water. I think that it is important to at least try to keep professional standards. Shoot for the best so that you can. Provide the best data to your client. So it is very frustrating that I cannot provide that professional standard for the clients of my company.
In other news this is happening.
GISCI Releases Exam Development Process Summary
I have mentioned in the past that I am in the processes of meeting the requirements for the GISCI GISP certification. I am thrilled about the progress of the exam. I think that this is another step toward legitimizing the GIS profession. What will be interested to see in the future if there are any legal concerns with the certification process. Will GISPs be the only people that can determine the accuracy of GIS data? Will GISPs be the only people allowed to make certain