Why not test an individual’s knowledge of GIS skills to certify competence as other professions do?
It is felt that general agreement on the skills needed for the GIS profession has not yet been achieved, given that there are so many different professions that use GIS technology. Another influencing factor is that most of the feedback received over the past two years of discussion on GIS certification was against a qualifying exam on the basis that it is very difficult to design a single examination that can fairly evaluate the basic skills needed. In addition, it was felt that formal educational programs that require tests and a minimum level of grade point average already have an established (and fair) record for evaluating skills. Thus, graduation from a post-secondary educational program, especially with a GIS emphasis, was given a high level of confidence in evaluating an individual’s GIS skill level.
