A GIS technician builds and maintains the map data behind location-based decisions: assembling, integrating and displaying location data in GIS software and keeping its databases current.
At surveying, engineering and utility-mapping firms, the survey tie-in is concrete — O*NET's task list for surveying and mapping technicians includes entering GPS data, deeds and field notes into GIS, and preparing topographic or contour maps of land surveyed.
This guide covers the job, the skills, the entry routes, pay and where the career leads.
What is a GIS technician?
A GIS technician works in geographic information systems: the software and databases that hold map data and display it.
BLS describes GIS technicians as workers who use GIS technology to assemble, integrate and display data about a location in a digital format, and who maintain and update databases for GIS devices.
In practice the data references real-world locations, so the same data can feed a map, a database query or a printed exhibit — and the technician is the person who keeps it accurate, current and usable.
The job sits in an interesting spot in the federal data.
BLS discusses GIS technicians inside its broader surveying and mapping technicians occupation (SOC 17-3031), the group the Occupational Outlook Handbook defines as workers who collect data and make maps of the Earth's surface, assisting surveyors and cartographers and photogrammetrists.
O*NET, the federal occupational database, treats GIS work as its own occupation: Geographic Information Systems Technologists and Technicians (15-1299.02), summarized as assisting scientists or related professionals in building, maintaining, modifying or using GIS databases.
O*NET retired the older detailed surveying and mapping technician codes, and both now redirect to the single code 17-3031.00 Surveying and Mapping Technicians.
The title varies: O*NET's sample titles for the GIS occupation include Geospatial Technician, GIS Analyst and GIS Coordinator.
On this site, GIS technician means the survey-tied job: the person at a surveying firm, a civil or geospatial engineering firm, a utility-mapping operation or a public agency who turns field survey data into the map layers, databases and exhibits the work product depends on.
Generic GIS work outside surveying involves the same core — assembling, integrating and displaying location data and keeping databases current.
This guide stays on the survey side of that line and treats generic GIS as the bridge it is.
What does a GIS technician do day to day?
The center of the job is the database.
BLS's task description for GIS technicians covers assembling, integrating and displaying location data, and maintaining and updating the databases behind GIS devices.
The survey connection shows up in O*NET's task list for surveying and mapping technicians, which includes entering GPS data, deeds and field notes into GIS and preparing topographic or contour maps of land surveyed.
O*NET's dedicated GIS occupation adds work on the systems themselves: assisting in building, maintaining and modifying GIS databases, with some roles performing custom application development or providing user support.
Day to day at a survey firm, that breaks down into a few recurring kinds of work:
- Bringing field data into the system — O*NET lists entering GPS data, deeds and field notes into GIS among the occupation's tasks.
- Maintaining and updating GIS databases.
- Preparing topographic or contour maps from surveyed land data.
- Building and modifying GIS databases, and supporting the people who use them.
BLS describes survey technicians helping process field data, including calculating angles and elevations and using CAD software.
The GIS technician's desk sits at the downstream end of that pipeline, where processed field data becomes the map product.
How is GIS work at a survey firm different from city or county GIS?
The occupation skews private: in 2025, 60% of surveying and mapping technician jobs were in architectural, engineering and related services, with 11% in local government, 9% in other support services and 4% in utilities.
BLS notes technicians in local government may work for highway or planning departments, and that many others work for firms providing engineering, surveying and mapping services on contract.
At a surveying or engineering firm, GIS work starts from the project.
Field data comes in from a crew, and the technician's job is getting it into the system clean — GPS data, deeds and field notes — and out as a deliverable such as a topographic or contour map.
In a county or city GIS office, BLS says these workers may be employed by highway or planning departments — so the same data-upkeep work serves the department's own planning and highway needs, rather than one project's deadline.
One step up the ladder, the public share grows: 41% of cartographer and photogrammetrist jobs were in local government in 2025, with 22% in architectural and engineering services, and those workers integrate information from land surveys and LiDAR using GIS and CAD software.
What do you need to become a GIS technician?
There is no single degree gate.
Per BLS data for 2025, the typical entry-level education for surveying and mapping technicians — the occupation that includes GIS technicians — is a high school diploma or equivalent, with no related work experience required and moderate-term on-the-job training.
O*NET rates the occupation at Job Zone Three, medium preparation, and in its education survey 33% of respondents said a high school diploma is required while 24% said an associate's degree.
BLS recommends high school coursework in algebra, geometry and trigonometry, plus drafting, mechanical drawing and computer science, and notes some employers prefer added education or GIS experience.
BLS says survey technicians often learn on the job under lead staff, starting with simple tasks such as placing markers and entering data.
Licensing is the clean line: BLS states that licensing is not required for surveying and mapping technicians, that certification is optional, and that employers may prefer candidates with a valid driver's license.
That line matters because the occupation supports licensed work: all 50 states and DC require surveyors to be licensed before providing services to the public.
Requirements vary by state and employer
What skills and software do GIS techs use?
O*NET lists reading comprehension, critical thinking, mathematics, active listening, monitoring and speaking as the essential skills for surveying and mapping technicians, with geography and mathematics as the top knowledge areas.
BLS's qualities list for the occupation adds communication, decision-making, detail orientation and problem-solving, including identifying and fixing equipment problems.
The GIS-specific craft is database care: assembling and integrating location data, keeping GIS databases current, and helping the people who use them.
O*NET's software list for the occupation includes Esri ArcGIS alongside Autodesk AutoCAD and AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bentley MicroStation, MicroSurvey Star*Net, Leica ERDAS IMAGINE and COGO software.
Read that list as the overlap the job lives in: a GIS package sits next to survey and drafting tools.
How much do GIS technicians make?
There is no GIS-technician-only wage line to cite.
O*NET's separate GIS occupation (15-1299.02) carries no separate OEWS wage.
The pay data for this work covers the broader surveying and mapping technicians group (SOC 17-3031) — the profile BLS's own materials use to describe GIS technicians, with the caveat that the group mixes field survey technicians and GIS technicians.
In that broader group, the national median was $26.08 an hour ($54,240 a year) in May 2025 (BLS OEWS, all industries), and the middle half earned between $45,430 and $66,700.
Those figures describe surveying and mapping technicians as a whole, not a GIS-specific rate — an individual offer depends on the firm, the region and the mix of database work and field support in the job.
The full table, including state medians, is on the salary page: GIS technician salary.
Where does a GIS tech career lead?
Inside GIS, the same occupation goes by several titles: O*NET's sample titles for it include Geospatial Technician, GIS Analyst and GIS Coordinator.
Toward mapping, BLS notes that mapping technicians with more education or experience may advance to cartography or photogrammetry jobs.
Cartographers and photogrammetrists typically need a bachelor's degree in cartography, geography, geomatics, surveying or a related field, and some may need to be licensed depending on the state and the job duties.
BLS projects 7 percent growth for that occupation from 2025 to 2035, with about 900 openings a year.
Toward licensure, BLS notes surveying technicians with many years of experience and formal training in surveying may be able to become licensed surveyors.
It adds that some surveyors begin as surveying technicians and become licensed after years of experience under a licensed surveyor, with specific requirements varying by state.
Both statements describe surveying technicians, not GIS technicians specifically.
All 50 states and DC require that license before a surveyor serves the public.
The occupation itself is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations: the Occupational Outlook Handbook counts about 58,800 surveying and mapping technician jobs in 2025.
BLS projects 6 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, to 62,200 jobs, and expects about 6,900 openings a year, mostly from replacing workers who change occupations or retire.
BLS also notes drones and other advances make some work more efficient while technicians remain the ones who review and interpret the output.
Find GIS technician jobs
The title varies by employer: O*NET's sample titles for the GIS occupation include Geospatial Technician and GIS Analyst, so it is worth searching those alongside GIS technician.
BLS's industry count for the occupation shows where the work sits — 60% in architectural, engineering and related services, 11% in local government, 9% in other support services and 4% in utilities (2025).
When you compare postings, the signals worth reading are the ones this guide covered: which GIS platform the firm runs, whether the work starts from field survey data, and how the job splits between database upkeep and map production.
The board's gis technician jobs page lists current openings, with filters for location, benefits and pay band.
Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice; confirm requirements with the employer and, for licensed surveying work, your state's licensing board.