GIS Technician
SWCA Environmental Consultants
Location:
San Luis Obispo, CA
About the opportunity:
Do you thrive in the pursuit of ensuring excellence in environmental consulting services for your clients? SWCA Environmental Consultants is expanding their team and looking for dynamic individuals who are following their passion in delivering the highest-quality project work.
Our San Luis Obispo office offers a unique work environment and specializes in Planning and Natural Resources management.
Your role will be to assist Project Managers in preparing project graphics. You should be able to work two to three days per week (16-24 hours per week).
Job Requirements
What you will accomplish:
- Help support GIS/cartographic capabilities by creating complex final map products supporting natural, cultural, planning and other environmental resource projects, including the following:
- Generate EIR, archaeology and biology maps using ArcMap 10.3.1. Examples include Location, Vicinity, Land Use, Zoning, Farmlands, Soils, Geology, Floodzone, Habitat, Jurisdictional Features, etc. Full EIR’s may require creating up to 20 different figures using data from the SWCA databank as well as data downloaded from various sources on the internet or provided to SWCA by the client;
- Calculate and illustrate impacts to jurisdiction and habitats for bio reports, generally by converting CAD site plans for use in ArcMap;
- Download, process, and export GPS data from Trimble GeoXT Units to Shapefiles using GPS Pathfinder, to use in bio report figures. Upload shapefiles on Trimble GeoXT units using GPS Pathfinder for use by biologists in the field;
- Create maps and visuals for proposals using ArcMap and Adobe Illustrator, to highlight SWCA project locations and experience, as well as aerial maps for proposal covers;
- Create elevation illustrations of jurisdictional features using CAD and Adobe Illustrator;
- Create visual simulations illustrating before and after conditions of a proposed project. A multiple-step process using ArcMap, Google SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe InDesign.
- Overall coordination with staff to ensure work is completed on time and within budget. This involves a good level of communication to properly prioritize work when juggling multiple projects.
Experience and qualifications for success:
- Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Geography, Cartography, Archaeology, GIS Technology (GIST), Biology, Environmental Science or related field with an emphasis in GIS (or GIS certificate)
- Minimum of two (2) years of experience beyond university attendance with GPS technology, field data collection techniques, data integration to a GIS, and troubleshooting of equipment and digital files
- Demonstrated experience with ArcGIS 10.0-10.1 or higher as well as knowledge of cartography and computer mapping including design principles and understanding map creation procedures in ArcGIS required
- Demonstrated ability of data transfer, data analysis, data mining, and data inventory using basic spreadsheet applications (e.g., Excel, Access, ArcGIS attribute tables)
- Prior work in natural or cultural resources management, remote sensing, and prior experience working with federal land agencies such as the USFS, NPS, BLM, BOR, USGS desired
- Knowledge of ArcSDE, ArcServer, Python, .NET, Java, PHP, HTML, key markup language is a plus
SWCA Environmental Consultants is a growing employee-owned firm, providing a full-spectrum of environmental services. With offices across the United States, SWCA is one of the largest environmental compliance firms and ranks among Engineering News-Record’s Top 200 Environmental Firms.
EOE - women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply.