Learn Geospatial Data Management & Engineering with BNHR

How to answer For each question, circle or tick the ONE answer that best describes you right now — not the person you want to become, but where you actually are today. There are no right or wrong answers. Your responses help us group participants so the hands-on exercises fit your experience level.

1 What is your primary responsibility related to geospatial data in your organization?

A. Setting up and maintaining the infrastructure — servers, databases, and pipelines — that stores and delivers spatial data to others.

B. Managing the data itself — deciding what gets collected, how it is structured, and who can access it.

C. Using data that others manage to do analysis, build outputs, or support decisions in my own work.

2 When a new dataset needs to be made available to the rest of your team or organization, who handles it?

A. I do — I configure the server or pipeline that ingests, processes, and publishes the data (e.g. GeoServer, PostGIS, an API endpoint).

B. I do — I upload it, assign access permissions, write the metadata, and notify the people who need it.

C. Someone else handles it — I request the data from the person or team who manages it and wait until it is available.

3 Which of the following best describes something you have done in the past year?

A. Configured a spatial database (PostGIS, SpatiaLite), set up a map server (GeoServer), or built a script to automate a geospatial data pipeline.

B. Uploaded a dataset to a shared repository, set access permissions, or documented a dataset's metadata, license, or update schedule.

C. Downloaded a dataset and opened it in QGIS or a web map to answer a question or produce an output for a project.

4 When a published map layer or data service stops working (e.g. broken WMS, wrong projection, missing data), what happens?

A. I diagnose and fix it — I check the server logs, database connection, or processing pipeline to find and resolve the root cause.

B. I coordinate the fix — I identify and document the problem, escalate to the right person, and verify it is resolved.

C. I report it to whoever manages the data or infrastructure and work around it until it is fixed.

5 Who is accountable for data quality — accuracy, completeness, and currency — in your organization?

A. I build the automated validation rules, processing checks, and quality gates in the pipeline that catch errors at the source.

B. I am — I review datasets before they are shared, flag issues, and enforce the data standards my organization follows.

C. I assess quality for my own use (is this dataset good enough for my project?) but I do not set or enforce organizational standards.

6 How do you typically share geospatial data or analysis results with others?

A. I publish services (WMS, WFS, REST APIs) or deliver processed files through automated pipelines that others connect to directly.

B. I package and share datasets (GeoPackage, shapefile, geodatabase), manage the data catalog or portal, and control who has access.

C. I export a map, chart, or analysis output and include it in a report, presentation, or email.

7 How do you relate to access control and data permissions in your organization?

A. I configure the technical permissions — database roles, server security layers, and API authentication.

B. I decide who gets access to what — I approve requests, assign roles, and periodically review the access list.

C. I request access when I need a dataset and work within whatever permissions I have been granted.

8 When a colleague cannot find a dataset they need for a project, what usually happens?

A. They come to me for help accessing the database, API, or pipeline where the data is stored.

B. They come to me — I know where the data lives, whether it exists, and can arrange access if appropriate.

C. I am often in the same position as my colleague — we would both go to the data team for help.

9 Which statement best describes how you think about geospatial data in your organization?

A. I think about the plumbing — storage engines, data formats, performance, and how data flows from source to end user.

B. I think about governance — who owns what, whether it is up to date, who can see it, and what it officially represents.

C. I think about the content — what the data shows, whether it answers my question, and how best to visualize or analyze it.

10 What would you most like to walk away with after this training?

A. The ability to deploy and configure spatial infrastructure (PostGIS, GeoServer, GDAL) and build reliable, automated processing pipelines.

B. Better tools and practices for managing, documenting, and sharing the geospatial data I am responsible for.

C. Confidence using GIS tools to analyze spatial data, create maps, and produce outputs for my own work.

Tally Your Score

Answer type	Points each	Count	Subtotal
A answers	5 pts	0 × 5 =	0
B answers	3 pts	0 × 3 =	0
C answers	1 pt	0 × 1 =	0
TOTAL SCORE			—

What Is Your Group?

Score range	Your group	What this means
36 – 50	Builder	You build and maintain the spatial infrastructure others depend on. Labs will focus on PostGIS, GeoServer, pipelines, and backend configuration.
21 – 35	Manager	You own the data and are responsible for how it is shared, documented, and governed. Labs will focus on data management workflows, metadata, access control, and publishing.
10 – 20	User	You use spatial data to do analysis, develop applications, and produce outputs. Labs will focus on building confidence with core tools and practical skills such as spatial queries, visualization, and working with published data services.

Your total score —