This entry discusses ethics for certified geospatial professional, focusing on the Codes of Ethics for the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI). The entry begins by defining and discussing ethics, while providing some history of the evolution of ethics in the GIS community. It then compares and contrasts the ethical guidelines of GISCI and ASPRS, including sanctions that may be imposed upon individuals who have violated their codes of ethics. The entry concludes with a discussion of how certified professionals may address situations in which their codes of ethics may conflict with their employers’ proprietary interests.
The geospatial community has grown and evolved tremendously over the past five decades and now includes formal and informal collections of individuals, groups, institutions, and organizations with similar or complementary goals and aspirations connected to the production and use of geospatial data and technology. This entry documents the roles played by professional organizations as well as the private and not-for-profit sectors, and the nature of their interactions and agendas in the coming years.