geography major?

Question

what cities have a hot job market for geography majors (gis and cartography)

Answer 1

Almost every city is hot for GIS. Even smaller towns are getting into GIS. You do not need to limit yourself to capital cities or coastal cities. In fact I am a good 1500km away from the coast where I am and working in one of the hottest GIS markets in the world right now.

Some places that I can name off the top of my head that are very hot for GIS are:

1) Edmonton Alberta Canada
2) Calgary Alberta Canada
3) Fort McMurray Alberta Canada
4) Ottawa Canada (very soon to explode again)
5) Houston Texas USA
6) Redlands California USA
7) Dubai UAE
8) Vancouver British Columbia Canada

If you really want an experience, the Middle East is a burgeoning place as well as Africa. Australia is about 10 years behind Canada/USA except for the geology GIS sectors. Europe is about 3-5 years behind North America.

So your options are very widely based, GIS is a very mobile field and in high demand almost everywhere you go. You just need to find what part of GIS you want to work with and cater to it and move from there. For example I went into GIS Consulting, very mobile.

Good luck to wherever you go though.

Answer 2

Just about anywhere you want to work you can find find jobs in the GIS field. Everybody uses GIS now even if they dont realize it. State capitols would be good citites to start because of state sponsered GIS data bases and many gov agencies using different GIS data. I would first look at some of the Geo job sites available on the web, and then you can determine which area has the most available GIS, Cartography, remote sensing jobs. Yes even in Kansas GIS specialists are needed.

Answer 3

Capitol cities are best because of the various government agencies located there. Ex. State Highway Department.

They pay good salaries and have excellent benefits. Most states are similar to the military in that you can retire in 30 years.

Also, cities like Washington D.C. have careers for Geography majors. Ex. CIA

Urban Planning is popular. Land use in cities. Most cities use urban planners.

Answer 4

You'll need to stick to coastal cities. Most companies that would use this sort of help would be looking for development type scenarios. For example; oil companies would need direction in placing rigs. Reclaimation projects for housing would also be an example of coastal development.

Aside from that, you might have a harder time in areas like Kansas where it isn't typical to have changing or challenging land issues.