Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) – Changes
September 2014
Tier 1: Personal Effectiveness Competencies
No competencies edited, added, or removed
Tier 2: Academic Competencies
Science and Engineering: Subject-specific Engineering Knowledge
Architecture and Architectural Engineering - design and construction of buildings; Civil
Engineering - design and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure
(roads, railways, water supply and treatment), bridges, and buildings; Environmental
Engineering - application of science and engineering principles to improve the
environment were replaced with…Familiarity with applications of science and engineering
principles
Landscape Architecture - design of outdoor and public spaces was removed
Tier 3: Workplace Competencies
Business Fundamentals: Economic/Business/Financial Principles
Characteristics of Markets; Cost and Pricing of Products; Economic Terminology; Profit and
Loss were replaced with…Basic understanding of markets, economic terminology, and
business principles
Fundamentals of Accounting was removed
Supply/Demand was removed
Business Fundamentals: Business Ethics
Practice sustainability by using processes that are non-polluting, conserving of energy and
natural resources, economically efficient, that use local materials, and safe for workers,
communities, and consumers was removed
Business Fundamentals: Entrepreneurship
Explain the entrepreneurial process, including discovery, concept development, resourcing,
actualization, harvesting was removed
Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) – Changes
September 2014
Business Fundamentals: Geospatial Business Fundamentals
Discuss the historical origins of geospatial technology was replaced with…Be familiar with the
historical origins of geospatial technology - In addition, This competency was moved to Tier 4.
Tier 4: Industry-Wide Technical Competencies
Satellite Positioning and Other Measurement Systems
Explain the distinction between GNSS data post-processing (such as U.S. National Geodetic
Survey's Online Positioning User Service) and real time processing (such as Real-Time
Kinematic) was replaced with…Explain the role of GNSS in location-based services
Plan a GNSS data acquisition mission that optimizes efficiency and data quality was replaced
with…Explain how a mobile device calculates location coordinates (e.g., GNSS, triangulation,
trilateration, etc.) - In addition, this competency was moved to Tier 5.
In addition, compare differential GNSS and autonomous GNSS was moved to Tier 5.
Identify and describe characteristics of inertial measurement systems and other geospatial
measurement systems was replaced with…Describe characteristics and appropriate uses of
inertial measurement systems
Changed the title of the critical work function category from Satellite Positioning and
Other Measurement Systems to Positioning Systems
Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry
Acquire information needed to compare the capabilities and limitations of various
sensor types in the context of project requirements was replaced with…Compare the
capabilities and limitations of various sensor types in the context of project requirements
Explain the difference between active and passive remote sensing, citing examples of each was
replaced with…Describe characteristics and appropriate uses of active and passive sensors
Use the concept of the "electromagnetic spectrum" to explain the difference between optical
sensors, microwave sensors, multispectral and hyperspectral sensors was replaced with…Use
the concept of the electromagnetic spectrum to explain the difference between sensors (e.g.
optical, microwave, multispectral, hyperspectral, etc.)
Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) – Changes
September 2014
Tier 5: Industry-Sector Technical Competencies
Positioning and Data Acquisition
Design a questionnaire and interview protocol for acquiring georeferenced socio-economic
data was replaced with…Understand how to conduct primary research and implications of
data privacy and confidentiality
Make and justify a choice between Real time Standard Positioning Service (SPS) and Real time
Precise Positioning Service (PPS) for a given objective was replaced with…Differentiate
between Real time Precise Positioning Service (PPS) and Real time Standard Positioning
Service (SPS)
Explain how an online real estate site acquires and integrates public information about nearly
100 million property parcels in the U.S. was replaced with…Explain the process of acquiring
and integrating large and heterogeneous datasets (spatial or nonspatial)
Diagram the sequence of functions involved in producing georeferenced textual information
harvested from social media sites and the World Wide Web was replaced with…Describe how
textual information can be harvested and geocoded from social media sites
Describe the components and operation of an aerotriangulation system was replaced
with…Explain aerotriangulation
Compare how land records are administrated in the U.S. in comparison with other developed and
developing countries was replaced with…Recognize that land records are administered
differently around the world
Analysis and Modeling
Assess the current state of the art in coupling predictive models and simulations with GIS
software was replaced with…Demonstrate familiarity with the existence of predictive models
and their applications
Define the sampling theorem in relation to the concept of spatial resolution of remotely-sensed
imagery was removed
Compare characteristics and appropriate uses of geospatial modeling techniques, such as neural
networks, cellular automata, heuristics, agent-based models, and simulation models such as
Monte Carlo simulation was replaced with…Explain characteristics and appropriate uses of
geospatial modeling techniques (e.g. neural networks, cellular automata, heuristics, agent-based
models, and simulation models)
Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM) – Changes
September 2014
Explain the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem in relation to the "ecological fallacy" was replaced
with… Explain the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem (e.g. ecological fallacy, choropleth mapping,
etc.) with relation to data aggregation
Software and Application Development
No competencies edited, added, or removed