For this blog entry I found an interesting article from FCW.com by Aliya Sternstein about how remote sensing and other advanced mapping technologies have led to a reduced need for field surveyors in the USGS. The article says that the functions of 400 federal employees at five locations will either be eliminated or transferred to an operations center in Colorado. Employees at the Colorado operations center will provide the bulk of USGS' digital mapping service operations from now on.
USGS spokeswoman Denver Makle said no work has been outsourced yet. "All we are doing at this point is studying our organization and looking at how we can get a more efficient organization based on what our customers' needs are [and] on changes in technology," she said. However, it is evident that new mapping technologies are changing the staffing needs of one of the biggest players in geospatial data, the USGS. In a market that is always changing due to the creation and application of new, advanced mapping technologies, all businesses must stay competitive, and unfortunately that means that some positions change or are no longer required.
This article makes note of the importance of field cartographers by using the example of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. The article says "during Hurricane Katrina, USGS deployed geographic information systems and field workers to plot coordinates of flood victims' homes. As soon as the maps came off the printer, helicopter pilots grabbed them and ran to their choppers. They rescued thousands of people, including 19 teachers trapped for days on the roof of Chalmette High School in Louisiana."
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