All About Geospatial Certification

Certification Main

Certifications are an important part of any technology. They let prospective employers know your students were motivated to begin and successfully complete a process to show their value and strengths. The STARS and SPACE Certifications provide this opportunity for the geospatial industry. Our focus on process as well as skills give your students the foundation for a great career and put students on a path to future certifications to continually redefine themselves.

We believe education is a journey from early education to retirement, so we strive to put students on a path with a strong foundation and knowledge of best practices. Start here and Start now. A career that can reward your students for a lifetime begins with us!

Why You Need Certification...

Using our certifications gives your students a means to show potential employers a measured, standardized set of skills. This is a great asset for your program to attract potential students by providing a nationally competitive standard. Organizations can use this as a starting point or as a compliment to existing programs of study/certificate programs.

Certification vs. Certificate

Behind the Certification

Certifications are created with industry needs in mind. This leads to two crucial components for certification success: Standards Mapped to Industry Needs and Industry Backing. The STARS and SPACE certifications call upon a variety of sources to make sure they have the most complete requirements.

Certification standards play a crucial role in the SPACE and STARS Certification. STARS was developed in 2003 with standards in mind and mapped to the Geospatial Technology Competency Model, the base for the DOL commissioned Geospatial Technology Apprenticeship model. As standards were developed STARS was a source for the new Geospatial Technology Competency Model released in 2010 and meets the core geospatial skills as well as addressing many of the non-geospatial skills. The new SPACE Certification follows these same traditions.

On the industry side, STARS is sponsored by the Mississippi Enterprise for Technology (MsET), a Center of Excellence in Geospatial Technology at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, www.mset.org. MsET member companies consist of some of the best and brightest innovators in the geospatial technology field.

The SPACE Certification

The SPACE Certification is based on assessing an individuals basic geospatial foundation. A successful career is built upon a solid foundation, and the SPACE Certification gives students and institutions the ability to verify their foundation. It can also offer student's added recognition that they have begun to focus on a particular career path.

By combining Digital Quest's aGIS series (Career Based) or SPACE series (Community/Topic Based) with some basic geospatial concepts and application, students can receive recognition for those combinations, which result in an sessment verifying a solid geospatial foundation and ackowledgement that a student has focused on a particular topic or career. Students can choose to focus on:

• Ag, Food, & Natural Resources
• Green & Sustainability
• Homeland Security
• Health Science
• Law & Public Safety
• Marketing
• STEM
• Transportation & Logistics

How Do Your Students Become SPACE Certified?

The SPACE Geospatial Certification process consists of two parts. The first part is an application assessment that requires geospatial output (most often printed/digital maps). The second part is a written exam requiring the student to demonstrate that they have the necessary depth of knowledge that indicates a solid geospatial foundation.

Pathway to SPACE

The ideal path to SPACE consists of a combination of topic/career based curriculum and introductory geospatial curriculum. Elements of Digital Quest's aGIS, SPACE, and STARS curriculum can be combined to provide a complete balance of career-focused and geospatial curriculum. At 180 contact hours the SPACE path can easily adapt to a full school year!

For more information on aGIS, SPACE, or STARS Curriculum visit the main geospatial page. Click Here

The STARS Certification

STARS is both the name of an industry standard Geospatial Certification and also the name of a series of courses that prepare the student to take the GIS certification test. STARS is the first and only competency based, industry recognized (www.MSET.org), entry-level, geospatial certification! The certification program establishes minimum standards for entering the geospatial technology field and affords professional recognition for geospatial information personnel.

How Do Your Students Become STARS Certified?

The STARS Geospatial Certification process consists of two parts. The first part is a project that is designed to demonstrate project mangement and utilize geospatial skills required for employment. The second part is a written exam requiring the student to demonstrate that they have the necessary depth of knowledge to be employed in the geospatial industry.

Pathway to STARS

The courses delivered in the STARS curriculum series are designed to both teach and assess a student's level of competence in geospatial skills and project management. This 4 semester series of courses provides students with the skills to be an entry level geospatial technician. The introductory series covers topics from basic concepts in Project Management to GIS, GPS, and Remote Sensing. It is in this course where students learn about history of mapping, projections, coordinate systems, scale, multispectral imagery, and various other concepts that are essential to being effective in GIS/RS. The advanced series (Series Two and Three) will discuss the uses and applications of ArcGIS software and its extensions including: Spatial Analyst, 3D Analyst, Network Analyst, and ERDAS's Image Analysis extension for ArcGIS.

The fourth series is a capstone project. This project allows students to show application of geospatial skills and concepts learned in previous coursework and experiences. Upon completion this project is submitted to the STARS Certification Committee for review.

Pathway with STARS Titles and hours:

For more information on aGIS, SPACE, or STARS Curriculum visit the main geospatial page. Click Here

Beyond SPACE and STARS

Foundations are set and you are now prepared to enter the workforce or pursue advanced academic paths. With any career students will be most valuable if they continue to refine their skills and redefine themselves. Technology will develop throughout your student's professional career, and once established we want them to take time to make sure they stay that way. Further industry, manufacturer, and academic certifications are a great way for professionals to show they have kept up with the latest industry trends and advancements.

Beyond STARS and SPACE students will find multiple tracts for advancement through professional and manufacturer certifications. The well-defined geospatial worker will consider all of these options. Each one has a distinct purpose and utilizing all of these will provide you with opportunities throughout your career.