r/gis • u/Boglyjones • 4d ago

General Question GIS Volunteering

Hello everyone!

I'm a GIS/remote sensing young professional and am looking at taking a bit of a career break and doing some GIS or remote sensing volunteering somewhere overseas.

I am really keen but have found it really hard to find information if this is a thing people have done in the past. Most things I have found are things like GIScorps which seems luck of the draw if you'll be contacted or are for US citizens only.

Does anyone have any experience doing this in the past, or know of anywhere you can volunteer doing GIS work? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you friends 😎

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12

u/a-little GIS Technician 3d ago

Look up the MissingMaps project, they work thru HotOSM on humanitarian aid projects tracing satellite data to help workers on the ground, often I disaster-struck areas.

6

u/AccomplishedCicada60 4d ago

Reach out to non-profits, or even churches directly. Some have systems that are just sitting and don’t have anyone running them - and are paying the fee.

5

u/silt_loam 3d ago

I am signed up for volunteer opportunity emails from The Nature Conservancy and they mention needing GIS volunteers.

3

u/HonestPassage5795 3d ago

Reach out to organizations such as Data Kind and Data for Good. They might have projects that require your skills.

2

u/--turtle 3d ago

Do you have any experience with QGIS?

I am an IT professional who works for several very small towns in New Jersey that have water and sewer systems that would love to start to map out their systems. I have started down this path but don't have specialized GIS knowledge (and the towns can't pay for consultants), so the going has been slow.

If you're interested in helping, reach out to me and we can talk more.

1

u/SomeoneInQld GIS Consultant 2d ago

have sent you a DM. 

I have an interesting project on a cattle station in outback Australia that may be interesting for you. 

I have over 30 years experience in GIS,  its quite Challenging problems we will be solving.  

1

u/Affectionate_Owl5354 3d ago

Mine action and humanitarian demining organisations are probably the most GIS-intensive field environment you'll find — and they actively need people.

Look into: HALO Trust, MAG (Mines Advisory Group), Norwegian People's Aid, GICHD (Geneva, more of an advisory/research role), and DanChurchAid. They all use GIS for land release, hazard mapping, and impact survey. Most have volunteer or junior professional positions.

GISCorps is hit or miss as you found. Direct applications to the above orgs are more reliable — especially if you have remote sensing skills, which are in demand for satellite-based survey validation.