AI is opening up massive opportunities for geospatial professionals - but not necessarily in the way you might think.
I'm finding that so many companies would love custom mapping applications but they haven't had the resources or time to build them. With AI, mapping MVPs can be developed much faster - but firms still want dedicated geospatial expertise to lead this charge.
Also, everyone is talking about how "AI" can benefit their businesses right now. Peel back the layers a bit, and what a lot of people mean by "AI" are deterministic or mostly-deterministic automations.
For geospatial or geospatial-adjacent tasks, this means that your Python (or even ModelBuilder!) skills are more valuable than before.
As I've said elsewhere, this requires a mindset shift for geospatial professionals.
The conversation around AI / automation is your opening to be more than just the "GIS" person: instead, be someone who applies geospatial expertise to mission-critical operations.
Or better yet, be the person who leads those operations yourself.