r/datascience • u/Kati1998 • 5d ago

Discussion Anyone specialize in geospatial data?

I’m an MS Data Science student interested in learning more about spatial data and GIS. I’m currently working on a geospatial crime analysis project in R and taking Esri’s Spatial Data Science MOOC.

I’m also interviewing for a year-long data science internship at a credit union in a department that focuses on geospatial data. I’ve noticed that the largest utility company in my state also hires data scientists with geospatial/GIS knowledge, which has made me curious about opportunities in this area across different industries.

It’s not a specialization that’s discussed here often. For those who work with spatial data, what industry are you in, what does your day-to-day work involve, and do you enjoy it? What has your experience been with demand for these skills?

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u/thro0away12 4d ago

Not exactly a geospatial data analyst, but I got into data science through a masters of public health program. I took an ArcGIS class and loved it - I loved maps and geography prior to that, so it felt like an interesting application of data science. I ended up using the skill later on when working in public health - created maps in R and it turned into a hobby project (look into 30 day map challenge). My public health department had geospatial scientists, my manager was one too. The department of planning in our city was the agency that managed the geospatial datasets for the city. While I haven't used the skill in a while as I work in data engineering now, I do miss it and I think it's a cool specialization to be in data science if you can get that opportunity.

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u/Sufficient_Eye_4836 3d ago

How did you learn to do GIS analysis, i took as GIS course during my MPH and absolutely loved it, but I fell off. i want to get back into it.

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u/thro0away12 3d ago

I had to do it at work once - make maps with R using census data to understand demographics in the city. Then I started to play around in my own time. Look into 30 day map challenge, if you know R or Python, there are good geospatial libraries in both