Issues in the Qualification and Certification of Geoinformation Personnel

The challenges for certification of geoinformation personnel are a rapidly changing skill set, diversity in applications and a need for a deep understanding of key geographic concepts. A number of national and international organizations are currently working towards certification, e.g., URISA, AGI, ACSM, ASPRS, and UCGIS. The International Standards Organisation seeks to coordinate these efforts and this paper informs about the issues addressed, such as: the scope of the geoinformation domain, tasks (as a sequence of operations), levels of competence (i.e., technologist, professional, manager), national certifying bodies, pre-requisite qualifications, and institutional accreditation