MAPPS Seeks to Protect Professional Status of Geospatial Community

An effort to “dumb-down” the geospatial community – by referring it as an “industry” that is part of “information technology” where entry is provided through labor union-inspired “apprenticeships” – is being strongly opposed by MAPPS.

At issue is the use of certain terminology in the U.S. Department of Labor’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, which has targeted the geospatial community as one of fourteen areas where the U.S. economy will create a significant demand for new jobs in coming years. The Bush program seeks to focus on new and increasing job opportunities in high growth, high demand and economically vital sectors of the American economy.   Geospatial has been identified as one where jobs and solid career paths are left untaken due to a lack of people qualified to fill them. The High Growth Job Training Initiative targets worker training and career development resources toward helping workers gain the skills they need to build successful careers in these and other growing markets.  The Bush Administration has committed more than $6.4 million in grants to create a geospatial career development infrastructure.

While praising the job growth initiative, MAPPS has taken issue with the use of terms in some of the Labor Department’s literature including the designation of geospatial as an “industry” rather than a “profession,” use of a definition of geospatial that classifies the practice as “an information technology field,” and “apprenticeships” as a path to jobs in the field. 

In December of 2005, MAPPS Executive Director John Palatiello wrote the Labor Department, after having met with several Department officials.  In his letter, Palatiello warned the Bush Administration officials that the High Growth Job Training Initiative in geospatial could be undermined by several other issues, including government competition, prison industry competition, offshoring, and the unintended consequences of certain classifications and terminology.  Labor responded, noting differing views in the community.

A meeting was convened by the Labor Department on June 19.  Included were Labor Department officials and staff, representatives of GITA and the Association of American Geographers (who hold one of the Labor Department grants), and a delegation from MAPPS of President Kurt Allen, President-Elect Marvin Miller, Director Anne Miglarese, Executive Director John Palatiello and Government Affairs Manager John Byrd.

At the meeting, MAPPS presented a background presentation on the government’s historic classification of surveying and mapping, and its more contemporary definition of geospatial.  MAPPS noted that various government entities have considered these activities to be part of the broad field of architecture – engineering, not information technology, and that such a definition has governed how firms operate in procurement, tax policy, tort liability, economics, academics, and other critical areas.  The association went on to educate the Labor Department on the fact that changing the definition and classification of the area in which MAPPS member firms operate would have severe and unintended consequences on university programs, private firms’ cost of doing business and profitability, students, and employees.

MAPPS also noted that heretofore, the Labor Department had been primarily engaging users of geospatial data, technology and services, rather than producers, and thus were not being provided an accurate and unbiased viewpoint on the profile of the geospatial community.  MAPPS demonstrated that geospatial users represent a broad cross-cutting field with applications across many other professions and industries, but that the producer community was where the job shortage is occurring and where the Labor Department must carefully define and focus career development efforts.  MAPPS asked that the producer community be included in current and future deliberations on the Department’s geospatial workforce development program, a position supported by ACSM and ASCE.

In response to the MAPPS petition, the Labor Department has modified some of its nomenclature, eliminating the references to “information technology”.  An email was sent to all the participants in the June 19 meeting summarizing the issues on which there was a consensus and proposing new terms, and agreeing to further discussions with other Labor Department offices on the use of the term “apprenticeship”

That email promoted a rather acerbic and rancorous response from GITA.  It posted a questionnaire on its list serve that grossly misrepresented the MAPPS position and the consensus reached on June 19 and followed that with a letter to the Labor Department, including a biased and selective group of comments from the list serve that also incited letters by other organizations (URISA, UCGIS).

MAPPS has clarified and reaffirmed its position, both with the Labor Department and other associations.  MAPPS President Kurt Allen has emphasized that MAPPS is not intending to limit the market for the use of geospatial products, services and data.  Moreover, he noted that rather than espousing an opinion, MAPPS has brought to the attention of the Labor Department the body of law, regulation and legislation that is factual, and highlighting the injury that would befall private, professional geospatial firms if the new definition and classification were to be implemented.

At the recent MAPPS Summer Conference, there was discussion of the MAPPS litigation regarding qualifications based selection (QBS) for professional geospatial services, complaints about performance bond requirements on many state and local geospatial service contracts, and the curricula in colleges and universities preparing the next generation of geospatial practitioners.  All of these issues stem from misunderstanding of the professional nature of the geospatial community.  The MAPPS Board is committed to promoting professionalism, a professional image and professional standing for geospatial practitioners and the firms which they own or operate and in which they practice.

The Department of Labor is presently scheduling a follow-on meeting.