A Field That Married Map Design and Technology: Megan Dulamal Staff Spotlight
November 1, 2018
My favorite part of working with GIS is being able to work on a variety of projects. I have created maps for comprehensive bike plans, businesses targeting potential new locations, and the land use of growing residential neighborhood. Recently I’ve been learning to code in Python! There’s always something new to work on and something new to learn.
-Megan Dulamal
Every November, the Latapult team celebrates GIS Day as a part of GIS Week. GIS Day began in 1999 as an international celebration of GIS where professionals share its application in the real-world at a variety of events attended by students, professionals, and members of the public. Latapult’s staff spends this special day engaging local middle and high school students with GIS technology and geospatial sciences at Savannah State University through a variety of demonstrations and interactive classroom settings. Since GIS Day and GIS Week is about sharing GIS with others, we’re featuring our team members and how they discovered their passion for geography and career in the GIS field. We sat down with Latapult GIS Analyst, Megan Dulamal to learn her story!
Megan’s exposure to maps began at a young age when her parents challenged her to navigate using a car atlas during family road trips.
I became very comfortable with maps and started collecting whatever I could get my hands on for years. Once I learned there was a field that married map design and technology, I knew what career I wanted to pursue.
Megan began studying GIS as an undergrad at Virginia Tech University, falling “head -over-heels” instantly with the field.
Megan encourages high school students interested in the field to explore job prospects and the variety of jobs available that use GIS technology, “you could become a cartographer or a GIS analyst and work for a commercial, environmental, or government entity.” Megan also encourages exploring jobs that use GIS extensively, even if it isn’t directly in the job title, such as roles in city planning, forestry, conservation, transportation, and application development.
Megan has been with Latapult (formerly geothinQ) for three years and has a passion for cartographic design and creating powerful visuals for clients.
Megan also enjoys the team atmosphere at Latapult and the interdisciplinary approach needed get the job done. She states, “The Latapult team is filled with fun, intelligent, and awesome people – I wouldn’t be where I am now in my GIS career without them!”
Megan will be teaching middle school courses at GIS Day Savannah on Wednesday, November 14th. For more information, please visit www.gisdaysavannah.org