Career Navigator: Explore careers in urban planning, geography and GIS

You see them every day on the local and national news for a few minutes as they lay out the daily and weekly forecast. But there is much more going on behind the scenes than those few minutes show. Jordan Evans, a broadcast meteorologist for KXXV in Central Texas, shares a behind the scenes look at what his day-to-day is like!

How can you combine technology with your love of the outdoors? Mark Christiano, GIS Coordinator, and Anthony Davila, GIS Specialist, with the US Forest Service's Kaibab National Forest share how they use different GIS technologies to assist in the management of a national forest.

Where should a new school be built? What areas should be zoned commercial and which ones residential? What can be done to make a town economically thriving but environmentally sustainable? These are just a few of the questions that Dan Barusch, Director of Planning and Zoning for the Town and Village of Lake George in New York, tackles in his day-to-work.

Cities in the desert need to monitor their water use – and they’d also like to plan ways to support their citizens in living sustainably, through landscaping choices, energy efficiency, composting, and so much more. Victoria Venet Caster, Water Conservation and Sustainability Manager with the City of Peoria in Arizona, sees her geography degree as the perfect foundation for this work.

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Fires, floods and other emergency situations can happen anywhere. With the location of the event being critical in developing a response, evacuation plan, and future assistance, GIS can be used to show this information in an easy to understand and visual way. Eric Shreve, GIS Application Developer with Arizona Department of Emergency & Military Affairs (DEMA), explains his job and why he finds it so rewarding.

If you’ve been to a national park you've likely interacted with a park ranger or other member of the National Parks Service. But did you know that they also work outside of the park boundaries?  Brandon Stocksdale, a Community Planner with the National Park Service, shares his experiences within the agency's Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance program, where he works with communities to help develop conservation and recreation projects.

Tornadoes can be catastrophic, leaving a path of death and destruction. Part of the issue is they can be unpredictable in their behavior. That's why researchers like Melissa Wagner, with the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, is using her geography knowledge to help create a better understanding of tornadoes.

Using the technology of today to learn more about what happened throughout history. Ryan Arp, an archaeologist with Environmental Planning Group, uses GIS technologies to assist with his work out in the field.

Bridges, highways, airports and more. There's a lot that goes into creating the cities we know and love. Private planning firms, such as Michael Baker International, often work alongside city, county and state agencies to the create plans that create our transportation systems and communities. Matt Gomez and Tristan Black, who are both ASU alumni and planners with Michael Baker International, share more about their work.

Has your cell phone alerted you to severe weather, like flash floods, dust storms or tornadoes? A group of meteorologists are responsible for identifying these weather events before they occur and work to notify those in the surrounding areas to keep people safe. This specific group are from the National Weather Service in Phoenix, and they share their experiences working as meteorologists.

Governments are responsible for specific areas. To better understand these areas, a variety of maps can be used. These maps can showcase boundaries, location of government owned lands, location of certain services, and more. Jenna Leveille, Deputy State Cartographer for Arizona State Land Department, helps to create these maps for a variety of needs for the state of Arizona.

After earning a degree and working as an urban planner, Prasoon Kumar co-founded the organization Billion Bricks to help combat homelessness around the world.

When it comes to transportation planning, most would think this is a job just meant for planners. But, this complex work also requires the skills and expertise of those trained in GIS. Patrick Whiteford is a Geospatial Analysis Section Manager for the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Streets and highways. Cars and buses. How we move through our cities and towns requires a transportation planner. Steven Sifferman, a transportation planner, explains his job and some of the projects he gets to work on across the world at WSP, a private planning firm.

Love being at the forefront of new technology? Love sharing your knowledge with others? Mark Stewart, a Higher Education Account Manager, gets to combine those two things in his job ESRI, a technology company that creates geographic information systems software used by GIS professionals around the world.