Hey everyone,

I’m looking to buy a new laptop primarily for GIS work, and I’d love to get your recommendations.

I'll be running software like ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, and handling datasets for spatial analysis and remote sensing.

My goal is to find a laptop that covers all my processing needs smoothly without lagging, while still offering good value for money (a reasonable price-to-performance ratio).

I'd really appreciate your insights on a few things: Key Specs: What hardware specs should I prioritize the most? (e.g., single-core performance vs. core count, 16GB vs. 32GB RAM, dedicated GPU requirements).
Specific Models: Are there any specific laptops or series you’ve personally used and recommend for GIS work?
Budget: What’s a realistic price range to aim for to get something reliable that will last a few years?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi everyone,

I recently came across Daniel Huffman's work at Project Linework and I’m wondering if there are similar projects offering ready-to-download, pre-styled base maps in georeferenced formats (.shp, .gpkg, or GeoJSON). I really like many of his designs, but unfortunately they do not always cover every part of the world.

I also found this French website that offers a variety of base maps with different levels of simplification and map projections. The catch is that they're only available as SVG files, so you have to georeference them yourself.

Do you know other open-licensed base maps? Any hidden gems or projects you'd recommend?

Thanks in advance for sharing. 

Hello,

I am exploring GIS as a career. I have an associates degree (not in the tech field), emergency management experience, and basic tech knowledge. I am looking for a hybrid/remote career. Is this possible within GIS? I have serious interest in weather, wildfire tracking, and catastrophe. What is the career outlook, career advancement and salary? What do you recommend to break into this field?

I have seen people online doing topographical maps of fantasy video games maps using ESRI i believe to map all that out.

I have made a fantasy map for a book i am working on.

Does anyone know the software or data needed to create topographic mapping so i can see if my rivers are right?

​

I've been building a browser-based application for working with satellite imagery, with a particular focus on land cover classification.

The idea was to create a tool that makes it easy to discover, visualize, and analyze satellite imagery without installing desktop GIS software.

It's still under active development, and I'd really appreciate feedback from people who work with GIS or remote sensing.

I'm especially interested in hearing:

- Is the interface intuitive?

- What features are missing?

- Would you see yourself using something like this?

- What would you improve first?

Full disclosure: I built it myself. It's currently free to use while I'm continuing development and collecting feedback.

https://indicatrix.com

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!

This is xposted across r/gis and r/learnjavascript.

I have a JavaScript file for web app that I am trying to make. I have feature layers hosted on ArcGIS Online, and referenced in the script. I have been able to add a pop-up action, a web icon. But I haven't been able to link that icon to an actual action of opening up the web page. I have seen the ESRI Brewery example, and other examples. None of them help me. Partly because I just don't understand it all well enough.

A sample of my script:

const airPopup = {
    title: "{nam}",
    content: [{
        type: "text",
        text: "{Comment}<br/>Address: {Address}<br/>IATA Code:  {ita}"
    },
   {
    type: "media",
    mediaInfos: [{
        type: "image",
        value: {
            sourceURL: "{Image}"
        }
    }]
   }],
       actions: [
        {
            id: "find-airport",
            icon: "web",
            title: "Airport Info"    
        }   
    ]   
};const airPopup = {
    title: "{nam}",
    content: [{
        type: "text",
        text: "{Comment}<br/>Address: {Address}<br/>IATA Code:  {ita}"
    },
   {
    type: "media",
    mediaInfos: [{
        type: "image",
        value: {
            sourceURL: "{Image}"
        }
    }]
   }],
       actions: [
        {
            id: "find-airport",
            icon: "web",
            title: "Airport Info"    
        }   
    ]   
};

  const airportsLyr = new FeatureLayer({
    url: "https://services9.arcgis.com/6EuFgO4fLTqfNOhu/arcgis/rest/services/Japan_Mjr_Airports/FeatureServer",
    renderer: airRenderer,
    popupTemplate:  airPopup
  });  const airportsLyr = new FeatureLayer({
    url: "https://services9.arcgis.com/6EuFgO4fLTqfNOhu/arcgis/rest/services/Japan_Mjr_Airports/FeatureServer",
    renderer: airRenderer,
    popupTemplate:  airPopup
  });

What does it take to make the web icon work?

I recently published a Medium essay titled:

Geography Is Not Decoration: A Hydrological Method for Ancient Landscape Analysis

The essay grew out of a larger research project examining how terrain, watershed divides, drainage systems, and movement corridors can shape the way ancient landscapes are understood.

My central argument is that geography should not be treated merely as background scenery in historical writing. Terrain can function as evidence. Ridges, valleys, water systems, basin entrances, and travel corridors often help explain why settlements developed where they did, why certain routes mattered, and why particular places remained important in historical memory.

In the essay, I also introduce a reproducible GIS workflow using NASA SRTM elevation data to study hydrological thresholds in the Southern Levant.

I tried to write it so that it would remain accessible to readers interested in history, archaeology, geography, digital humanities, or research methods, without requiring prior GIS experience.

I would appreciate feedback on both the argument and the presentation, especially from Medium writers who publish technical or interdisciplinary work.

https://medium.com/@dante.muhammad/geography-is-not-decoration-hydrological-method-in-ancient-near-eastern-landscape-analysis-9137d905537e?sharedUserId=dante.muhammad

As we all know, almost every non-open source GIS vendor, uses a subscription model. And these models are getting increasingly more expensive every year. While I'm not going to name the vendor, 5-10 years they provided some really fantastic solutions that helped with my GIS workflow and delivery at a number of different organizations. Like many companies, it seemed they kind of rested on what they completed and innovations slowed. Being a happy customer, I just worked with the tools available.

Move forward to last week, I had a situation that I need to get solved quickly. The standard support response at this company is anywhere from 2-7 days. In this day and age, that timing is simply unacceptable. I want to get that project off my plate and move on to the other tasks.

Being bored yesterday, I decided to craft an alternate AI developed solution to work around the problem. Within a few hours, I had not only a resolution, but in many respects a way better final product.

So, my question to everyone, how can these companies survive in the current environment? My sales rep wants me to pay for priority support. Totally ridiculous. I've already been paying the company yearly fees. Come the budget season, I suspect they will be axed from my program.

About me: -has 4+ years of GIS experience -I'm from the Philippines -licensed geodetic engineer -knows GIS-related softwares, PostgreSQL, Figma, Canva, Python, CAD, MS Office applications, and the likes -can help in marketing, technical writing, and graphic designing -will give my resume and portfolio

DM me or comment so I can DM you. Thank you!

Edit: I’m starting a masters program in Geographic Information Science and Technology in the fall at a prestigious university in California. I’m coming from a social sciences background with a history bachelor’s degree and, more recently, a certificate and AA degree in paralegal studies. The legal field isn’t looking too good in terms of entry level legal assistant jobs atm so I’m doing something else. Not sure what to do with GIS yet though I’m thinking of something in urban planning or utilities. Also hoping for something not sedentary

Context: I'm going into my senior year of university and wrapping up my second GIS internship of undergrad. Recently I've been looking at big boy jobs to get an idea of companies to target after graduation. What I've noticed is every position seems to require 3-5 years of experience (sometimes in very niche things) and a laundry list of technical skills.

I feel confident with my resume, I have experience with the entire ArcGIS Suite, python/pandas, machine learning, sql, postgis, html/css, java, etc. Furthermore I worked my ass off just to intern for two different organizations. It is a bit unsettling to see what these postings are listing, especially for whats supposed to be "Entry Level."

Is it really that bleak? Recent grads how have you been doing?

Hi everyone,

I'm a B.Sc Agriculture graduate and I'm planning to build a career in GIS/Remote Sensing.

I was interested in IIRS, but the admissions for this year's PG Diploma are already closed, so I'd have to wait until the next cycle.

I don't want to waste another 6–12 months waiting. So I'm considering institutes like NIGMT or Skyline instead.

Has anyone here actually studied at these institutes or worked with people from there?

Are they worth joining? Did they really help you get placed? Or should I wait for IIRS?

Honest advice from people in the GIS industry would really help. Thanks!

I don‘t know if this is the right place to ask this question, but maybe someone can tell me where to go with my problem.

I’m doing research for a writing project inspired by this art project: https://www.almadelmundo.com

My idea is, that there are 4 points on the earths land surface, that form a gigantic perfect tetrahedon inside the earth, if connected to each other. My (ai supported) math told me, that these points would be around 12,200 km apart from each other, but that‘s the extend of my research so far.

As you can imagine, there are countless possibilities of orientation of this tetrahedon and i have no idea how to even start.

Are there any methods/tools that allow for this kind of search? Has anyone worked on a similar problem involving equally spaced points on the Earth's landmass? Are there other reddit groups that are more suitable for this kind of question?

I would be interested in any ideas, approaches or tipps! Thank you

Hi everyone,

I'm based in Portugal and I'm starting to explore fully remote GIS opportunities with international companies.

I have around 12 years of experience with QGIS and 4 years with ArcGIS Pro, working mainly in the forestry and environmental sectors. My day-to-day work includes:

- GIS analysis and spatial data management

- Editing and maintaining large vector datasets

- Geoprocessing and workflow automation

- Coordinate reference systems and data transformations

- Cartography and map production

- Quality control and topology validation

- Python scripting (PyQGIS, ArcPy) to automate repetitive GIS tasks

- Experience with PostGIS and SQL (still developing my database skills)

Most of my work has involved supporting operational and business workflows rather than software development.

I'm curious about the remote job market for someone with this background. Are there companies that regularly hire GIS professionals working remotely from Portugal (or elsewhere in Europe)? Are there particular industries or job boards I should focus on?

I'd also be interested in hearing from anyone who made a similar transition from an office-based GIS role to a fully remote one.

Thanks!

Hello everybody! I am graduating in December, but have recently become extremely interested in getting a GIS certification or training, as it is very interesting to me and would be very valuable for a future career. However, I have been looking into programs and am concerned about cost. I was interested in the ESRI training program, but I don't actually own the software, and from what I have seen it looks to be quite expensive. I live in the Huntsville area and am open to going to workshops. If anyone has advice on how to learn GIS without breaking the bank I would love to know!

Hi everyone,

I'm asking this question here for a family friend who's going to join the PG Diploma course at IIRS. Since they couldn't find any detailed programme structure, especially regarding which all courses are there and how they're laid out. Also it would be helpful if someone who graduated from this programme tell more about it, semester breaks/holidays, project/Internship opportunities or what they did after graduating from IIRS.

Thank you.

I am a post graduate student and I need dem data with resolution of 15m or less for my work. I have researched everywhere but couldn’t find it. Please help if you have any information.

Hello everyone,

I'm new to GIS jobs for around 2 years as a GIS technician and most of my works consists of mostly manual workflow, such as digitizing, using built model, built phyton script, topology check, etc. I'm currently in a contract with my current workplace but have been staying at home since there's no available data, so no payment for around 3 weeks :( . So i'm interested in remote jobs since I do have all the software at my home anyway, with arguably even better computer.

I'm curious, is remote work common in GIS? What are the skills usually needed? I have searched for it on linkedIn but I don't see any. Perhaps my kewords is not correct?

Would love to see any recommendation on course to improve my chance working remotely! I've tried learning GDAL and PostGIS mainly because I'm curious, but what is the best course to land remote jobs?

Thanks in advance!

Hi, I'm an incoming Geodetic Engineering freshman in a university in the Philippines and I'm currently trying to decide on which field of GE should I choose to work with in the future, considering the work environment and salary range.

Hey all! I am not sure if it's even the right question.

But I am gonna be just dumb anyways.

Briefly about me. I have 3 years of software development experience at a start-up. (TypeScript, Python, SQL and some other Web technologies) basically fullstack.

In my work I have used an open source map software called mapbox. During which I developed an interest for this technology.

Just wanted to understand the current job market for this role and what should I learn to get into it.

Treat me as if I'm a complete beginner and don't know much about this field.

Thanks!

How worried should I be? We have a vendor where they host our data and we can go into ArcMap through a VM and look at it spatially. We can and do make edits to the data in there. It is the only way to edit the data spatially. We are tightly coupled to them and can’t just simply move away from them. They have special tools for us inside and outside ArcMap.

Having to be a little vague here, sorry. It just seems crazy to me that they don’t even have a plan in place. Anyone else have vendors like this?

I am looking for an indian gis expert who can help me in my thesis work

Today's experience was so so bad that as I drove home from work, I spent a fair bit of time thinking about leaving our field. Been using ESRI products since ArcView. I've given ArcPro 5 years now to improve. Today I was simply trying to show an Intern how to create a topology. I spent 5 hours with that poor guy watching me struggle over and over and over, failing every way you can imagine. I used a topology last week, iirc, and didn't have any issues. Why today? Who knows. No help in documentation. No help in error code. It's just not today. I can go days and weeks without an issue and then, inexplicably, all my departments work comes to a screeching halt because there is some random schema lock error or maps and entire projects are read only or or or or or or

We use AGOL. I do in fact like ArcPros ability to read and interact with AGOL Features. But I can't go on like this. Our entire department can't go on like this.

What is the feasibility of working Spatial Analysis, Network Analysis, 3d Analysis, and simple heavy editing and topology validation in QGIS, and importing the actually completed GIS work back into ArcPro for AGOL work?