Rethinking the Employee Evaluation for GIS Professionals

Rethinking the Traditional Review Process

Annual performance evaluations are often viewed as routine administrative exercises that rarely capture the true breadth of an employee’s contributions. Standardized goal forms or generic surveys frequently overlook the specialized work performed by GIS professionals, whose responsibilities span data management, spatial analysis, visualization, collaboration, and outreach. Reimagining the review process from a geospatial perspective offers an opportunity to better represent the variety and impact of this work.

Tracking Geospatial Achievements

If the geospatial field adopted a more playful, statistics-driven approach similar to sports analytics, professionals might summarize their year through meaningful metrics that reflect real accomplishments. These could include the number of datasets processed, analytical tools applied, mapping projects completed, or new technologies explored. Tracking first-time tool usage, major project milestones, or significant data processing achievements could highlight growth and innovation in a way traditional evaluation forms rarely capture.

Tool-use patterns could also reveal insights into workflow efficiency—identifying the analytical functions most frequently applied, the data formats handled throughout the year, or the technical challenges most often encountered. Rather than serving as surveillance-style monitoring, these metrics could celebrate professional achievements and provide a clearer picture of how geospatial expertise contributes to organizational outcomes.

Recognizing Diverse GIS Roles

GIS professionals often shift between multiple roles over the course of a year. Some may spend significant time collecting new data, others refining existing datasets, designing enterprise geospatial architectures, or communicating analytical findings to stakeholders. A creative classification system could highlight the dominant contributions of each professional—whether focused on data collection, data quality improvement, system design, analytical storytelling, or technical development—helping teams better understand the diverse skills required for successful geospatial operations.

Expanding What Performance Reviews Measure

A GIS-focused review framework could also incorporate activities that often go unrecognized but play an essential role in advancing geospatial work. These might include mentoring colleagues, troubleshooting data issues before they affect project results, supporting cross-departmental collaboration, or helping others visualize information more effectively. Contributions to professional communities—such as answering technical questions online, sharing open datasets, publishing workflows, or promoting geospatial awareness—also represent valuable forms of professional impact that traditional evaluations rarely capture.

Outreach efforts deserve equal recognition. Many GIS professionals routinely explain geospatial technologies to non-specialists, demonstrate mapping applications to colleagues, or assist teams in transforming tabular data into spatial visualizations. These activities help expand organizational understanding of spatial thinking and increase the value delivered by geospatial teams.

Celebrating Growth and Looking Ahead

While formal review processes will always remain part of organizational structures, adopting a more geospatial-aware approach can transform them into meaningful reflections of professional development rather than routine paperwork. Recognizing the full spectrum of geospatial contributions—from technical innovation to collaboration and community engagement—helps highlight the evolving role of GIS within modern organizations.

Ultimately, performance evaluations should do more than summarize completed tasks; they should acknowledge creativity, initiative, and the expanding influence of geospatial expertise. By capturing these dimensions, organizations can better appreciate the contributions of GIS professionals while encouraging continued growth and exploration in the years ahead.