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This apprenticeship has been retired

Key information

  1. Status: Retired
  2. Reference: ST0957
  3. Version: 1.0
  4. Level: 7
  5. Typical duration to gateway: 24 months
  6. Typical EPA period: 3 months
  7. Maximum funding: £18000
  8. Route: Digital
  9. Integration: Degree-apprenticeship
  10. Date updated: 30/09/2024
  11. Lars code: 756
  12. EQA provider: Office for Students
  13. Review: this apprenticeship will be reviewed in accordance with our change request policy.
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Details of the occupational standard

Occupation summary

This occupation is found in public and private sector organisations working to address complex problems in which understanding location is essential. A Spatial Data Specialist uses Geographic Information Systems and other geographic technologies to capture, manage, represent, measure and analyse location data and monitor their changes over space and time. They use advanced spatial analysis and modelling to produce maps, visualisations and other communications to represent and explain relationships between location and other data. Understanding and analysing location data is a complex and specialised task. Location data analysis, spatial modelling, digital mapping and visualisation have developed through Geography and Geographic Information Science, a field of research and professional practice that stands alone from data science and data analysis. They may help organisations achieve net zero carbon emissions by identifying how location specific factors have an impact. This information can help inform strategies for good management of natural resources and environments. They may inform decision making on major infrastructure projects and provide analysis that helps to address geohazards and other risks. Their interpretation of location information may help businesses plan efficient and sustainable supply chains or provide services to communities. Their insight supports specialists in other fields to make decisions in location-sensitive ways. Depending on the sector a Spatial Data Specialist may work with a range of people. These could include environment and infrastructure managers, engineers, data scientists, planners, architects, IT professionals, insurance and risk managers, sustainability professionals, and policy makers. The Spatial Data Specialist always pays attention to the ethics, risks, limits or biases of their data and analysis when giving their insights.

The occupation initiates and leads programmes and projects which use location as the ‘golden thread’ to link, analyse and gain insight from multiple datasets. They enable stakeholders to gain greater value, insight and further opportunities from all their data by linking it to the real world. This is especially applicable to the green economy, in addressing the challenges of net zero and climate change, and in addressing inequality. For example such as green building, smart cities, noise mapping, air quality modelling and ecological assessments.

A Spatial Data Specialist differs from a data scientist in how they approach a problem. While a data scientist could identify a link between environment and health, a Spatial Data Specialist will also show you where those links have a large or small impact.

An employee in this occupation interacts with a broad range of people, often in multi-disciplinary teams. They provide location-based analysis, mapping, visualisation and insight to specialists in other fields across their organisation and sector. They may also work with external partners such as local and international businesses, governments, regulators, and academic research scientists. They are often asked to create maps and visualisations that communicate complex data for non-technical and public audiences.

An employee in this occupation will be responsible for delivering advanced spatial analysis, mapping, visualisation and insight. They will use accurate, current and well-structured collections of location data, primarily in Geographic Information Systems. They will interpret stakeholder needs and business requirements to select the most appropriate data and, spatial methods. They will produce location information analysis and products that will engage customers or stakeholders, organise and represent complex information and help solve business problems. They will provide technical authority regarding the legal, safe, secure, effective and ethical uses of location data. They will lead the adoption of international and national location data standards, frameworks and best practices at project and organisational levels. Spatial Data Specialists normally report to senior managers and decision-makers.

Typical job titles include:

Geographic data scientist Geographic information analyst Geospatial analyst Gis analyst Gis consultant Location information specialist Location information specialist Location intelligence analyst Spatial data analyst

Occupation duties

Duty KSBs

Duty 1 Initiate, plan, research, collect and collate location data using technologies and approaches that include Geographic Information Systems.

K1 K3 K4 K9 K11 K13 K14 K18

S1 S2 S4 S5 S12

Duty 2 Manage accurate and current collections of location data and related geographic information to sector specific standards and frameworks. Such collections would include vector and raster location data along with their metadata.

K1 K3 K4 K7 K9 K11 K13 K14 K15 K18

S1 S2 S10 S12

Duty 3 Evaluate user needs to ensure that the most appropriate data, tools and techniques are selected to meet the needs of the project.

K1 K2 K3 K4 K6

S1 S2 S4 S5 S10 S11 S14 S17 S18 S19 S20

Duty 4 Manipulate, analyse, model, visualise and interpret location data and related geographic information to achieve project outcomes.

K1 K2 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 K11 K15 K18

S3 S4 S5 S9 S12 S14 S17 S18 S19 S20

Duty 5 Create and maintain location data products that convey geographical significance and impact, using appropriate geographical reference systems, standards and symbolisation principles. Such products include: digital and printed maps, interactive dashboards and location data visualisations.

K1 K2 K5 K7 K9 K11 K15 K18

S3 S4 S5 S9 S12 S14 S18 S19 S20

Duty 6 Produce and maintain project related documentation, technical reports, statistics and geographical information.

K1 K2 K3 K4 K5 K6 K7 K8 K9 K11 K15 K16

S1 S3 S4 S6 S7 S8 S10 S12 S18

B4

Duty 7 Lead, and or support others in, the uses of current and emerging features of Geographic Information Systems, geographical technologies and location data to create solutions and open up new areas of application.

K2 K3 K4 K16 K19

S1 S4 S6 S7 S14 S15 S16 S19

B1 B3 B5 B6

Duty 8 Assess and mitigate the risks, limitations, biases and ethical practices associated with the use of location data, in particular its provenance and interoperability. Provide advice and courses of action for senior managers and non-specialists on these.

K3 K4 K7 K9 K10 K11 K13 K14 K15 K17 K18

S1 S3 S4 S6 S7 S8 S11 S12

B2

Duty 9 Lead and or support others in using automation and scripting tasks to improve delivery of location data tasks and provide technical expertise to geographic digitisation projects, for example through coding, modelling and machine learning.

K5 K7 K10 K15

S3 S4 S6 S7 S8 S14 S15 S20

B5 B6

Duty 10 Generate collaborative working opportunities to increase understanding of the value and meaning of location data and insights for organisational decision making.

K10 K11 K13 K14

S3 S6 S7 S8 S15

B4 B5 B6 B7 B8

Duty 11 Present and communicate location data solutions and insight to technical and non-technical stakeholders such as clients and senior managers, to ensure the solutions meet their needs and have a positive impact on their organisation.

K3 K4 K10 K11 K12 K16 K19

S6 S15

Duty 12 Work within multi-disciplinary teams to provide support and delivery of location information outputs.

K10 K11 K12 K13 K14 K17

S3 S13 S15 S21

B2 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8

Duty 13 Lead project delivery of location data activities using geographical technologies, to meet business requirements and project constraints.

K10 K11 K16 K17 K19

S5 S7 S13 S15 S21

B2 B4 B5 B6 B8

Duty 14 Develop business cases and tenders, estimating the cost of activities using location data, describing their value and benefit to the business or client.

K3 K4 K10 K11 K12 K17

S5 S6 S7 S10 S13 S15

B8

Duty 15 Support the management of Intellectual Property as it relates to the source, use and transformation of location data, and the creation of location data products.

K10 K13 K14

S3 S6 S9 S10 S14

B2

Duty 16 Provide technical authority to the organisation regarding legal, safe, secure, effective and ethical uses of its location data. Lead the adoption of standards, frameworks and best practices for spatial analysis, mapping and visualisation.

K10 K13 K14 K19

S8 S10 S12 S13 S14 S21

B2 B8

Duty 17 Lead and coordinate location information teams.

K17

S14 S15 S21

B2 B4 B5 B6 B8

Duty 18 Participate in Continued Professional Development and knowledge sharing especially keeping location data skills and knowledge up to date

K13 K19

S16 S21

B1 B3 B6

KSBs

Knowledge

K1: Location data structures, datums, and standards. Back to Duty

K2: Data classification and symbolisation for visualising and representing location data. Back to Duty

K3: Sources of error, bias, imprecision and uncertainty, and how they may be affected by choice of data set or methodology, and incomplete data. Back to Duty

K4: Implications of data quality including error, bias, imprecision, and uncertainty for decision-making. Back to Duty

K5: The range of data formats available, their appropriate use, and their sources for example raster and vector format, remotely sensed data, and emerging data products. Back to Duty

K6: Techniques to integrate, analyse, visualise, and interpret location data, for both natural or human environments. Back to Duty

K7: Big-data and high-performance computing platforms and operating systems, local and remote High-Performance Computing HPC, and cloud computing. Back to Duty

K8: Common location information software; repositories, programming languages, algorithm design, analysis and testing. Back to Duty

K9: Database design and management, including information security considerations, and big data technologies. Back to Duty

K10: Approaches to establishing the business value of location data analysis to deliver a solution in line with business needs, quality standards and timescales and the importance of location data and analysis to support and enhance multi-disciplinary teams. Back to Duty

K11: Techniques in analysis research, design and deployment of location data used to meet the needs of the business and customers. Including limitations, compromises and trade-offs when translating location information and analytical theory into practice. Back to Duty

K12: Communication techniques and approaches to interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Back to Duty

K13: The responsibilities of working in professional environments in which location data is managed – including licensing, current and emerging legal, and regulatory frameworks. Back to Duty

K14: The responsibilities of working in professional environments including ethical, standards and professional frameworks. Back to Duty

K15: Operating systems, local and remote High-Performance Computing HPC, and cloud computing. Back to Duty

K16: Project management principles and approaches. Back to Duty

K17: Stakeholder engagement principles and approaches. Back to Duty

K18: Location data curation and quality controls. Back to Duty

K19: How sustainable thinking affects their industry, horizon scanning for potential changes in policy and legislation. Back to Duty

Skills

S1: Recognise and evaluate the availability, format, scope and limitations of different types and formats of location data. Back to Duty

S2: Select, acquire, integrate and maintain a variety of location data types and formats - for example raster, vector, attribute data and metadata - in GIS and linked databases. Back to Duty

S3: Select and apply location analysis and modelling techniques to solve complex problems and meet business, time and budget requirements. Back to Duty

S4: Analyse location information using programmatic methods, statistical and other quantitative and data integration approaches and visualise results. Back to Duty

S5: Review project requirements and conduct stakeholder engagement to scope new project requirements, boundaries and approaches. Back to Duty

S6: Assess, and communicate, the implications of incomplete location data on analysis, visualisation and decision making. Back to Duty

S7: Selects communication methods to meet the needs of diverse stakeholders and audiences. Back to Duty

S8: Implement location data curation and quality controls, for example geometric accuracy, thematic accuracy, resolution, precision and fitness for use, and overall meeting the requirements of relevant geospatial standards. Back to Duty

S9: Evaluate, select and apply cartographic design principles and standards to create and edit static and interactive visual representations of location data such as maps, graphs and diagrams for print and digital outputs which meets the needs of different end-users. Back to Duty

S10: Implement computational infrastructure and database solutions, internal or external cloud resources. Back to Duty

S11: Implement automation and or customisation of GIS, location data analysis and visualisation tasks including Application Programming Interfaces APIs, Software Development Kits SDKs, common location data algorithms and scripting languages, for example Python or R. Back to Duty

S12: Apply regulatory, legal, ethical and governance issues when evaluating choices at each stage of the location data lifecycle. Back to Duty

S13: Apply project management principles to ensure delivery of business requirements and solutions. Back to Duty

S14: Select computing platforms and operating systems appropriate to need. Back to Duty

S15: Establish and maintain positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders. Back to Duty

S16: Personal responsibility for Continuous Professional Development. Back to Duty

S17: Apply appropriate common location software tools to deliver location information outcomes. Back to Duty

S18: Apply appropriate common location database and management tools to deliver location information outcomes. Back to Duty

S19: Apply appropriate big data and common location computing platforms to deliver location information outcomes. Back to Duty

S20: Apply appropriate common location operating systems and high performance computing and cloud computing to deliver location information outcomes. Back to Duty

S21: Apply sustainable processes and practices within their role. Back to Duty

Behaviours

B1: Take responsibility for keeping up to date with advances in the geospatial field and the opportunities these present for personal and or organisational development. Back to Duty

B2: Act with integrity with respect to ethical, legal and regulatory frameworks and in a way that promotes trust in the profession. Back to Duty

B3: Be self-directed in learning and reflection to improve and work towards evidence-based best practice. Back to Duty

B4: Take personal responsibility for work objectives and delivery of outputs. Back to Duty

B5: Be adaptable, demonstrating initiative, reliable and consistent, demonstrating discretion, resilience, self-awareness and team working. Back to Duty

B6: Act as a role model to peers. Back to Duty

B7: Treats people with dignity, and respects diversity, beliefs, and culture. Back to Duty

B8: An advocate for sustainable approaches. Back to Duty

Qualifications

English and Maths

Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the End-Point Assessment. For those with an education, health and care plan or a legacy statement, the apprenticeship’s English and maths minimum requirement is Entry Level 3. A British Sign Language (BSL) qualification is an alternative to the English qualification for those whose primary language is BSL.

Other mandatory qualifications

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Professional recognition

This standard aligns with the following professional recognition:

  • Royal Geographical Society for Fellow of Royal Geographical Society
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Employers involved in creating the standard: Royal Geographical Society, Arup, Geospatial Commissioner (Cabinet Office); Marlin Equity Partners, Ordnance Survey, Arcadis, Sainsbury’s, Stantec, Space Applications Catapult, Geospatial Commission, BlueSky, SenSat, AWHA Consulting, apm geo, Chartered Institute of Civil Engineering Surveyors, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Defra

Version log

Version Change detail Earliest start date Latest start date
1.1 End-point assessment plan revised 30/09/2024 Not set
1.0 Approved for delivery 13/03/2024 29/09/2024

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