AI exposure: Cartographers and Photogrammetrists
Research, study, and prepare maps and other spatial data in digital or graphic form for one or more purposes, such as legal, social, political, educational, and design purposes. May work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). May design and evaluate algorithms, data structures, and user interfaces for GIS and mapping systems. May collect, analyze, and interpret geographic information provided by geodetic surveys, aerial photographs, and satellite data.
Reading this score
computed34.0% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Cartographers and Photogrammetrists at the 59th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.1 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 14 tasks it averages 1.82 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Identify, scale, and orient geodetic points, elevations, and other planimetric or topographic..., at 66.7%. The least is Travel over photographed areas to observe, identify, record, and verify all relevant features, at 0.0%. A gap of 66.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within architecture and engineering occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 37.5% across the group's 56 roles, with 42 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 14 tasks, 9 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 5 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take cheaper ways to verify output, since the cost of checking is currently doing more to hold this work in place than the cost of producing it. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
14 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify, scale, and orient geodetic points, elevations, and other planimetric or topographic features, applying standard mathematical formulas. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.13 | exposed |
| Build and update digital databases. | 55.0% | 20.0% | 25.0% | 3.83 | exposed |
| Delineate aerial photographic detail, such as control points, hydrography, topography, and cultural features, using precision stereoplotting apparatus or drafting instruments. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.48 | exposed |
| Prepare and alter trace maps, charts, tables, detailed drawings, and three-dimensional optical models of terrain using stereoscopic plotting and computer graphics equipment. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.46 | exposed |
| Revise existing maps and charts, making all necessary corrections and adjustments. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.19 | exposed |
| Determine map content and layout, as well as production specifications such as scale, size, projection, and colors, and direct production to ensure that specifications are followed. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.75 | exposed |
| Select aerial photographic and remote sensing techniques and plotting equipment needed to meet required standards of accuracy. | 47.5% | 27.5% | 25.0% | 3.72 | exposed |
| Examine and analyze data from ground surveys, reports, aerial photographs, and satellite images to prepare topographic maps, aerial-photograph mosaics, and related charts. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.99 | exposed |
| Determine guidelines that specify which source material is acceptable for use. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.96 | exposed |
| Inspect final compositions to ensure completeness and accuracy. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.23 | untouched |
| Compile data required for map preparation, including aerial photographs, survey notes, records, reports, and original maps. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.51 | untouched |
| Study legal records to establish boundaries of local, national, and international properties. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.29 | untouched |
| Collect information about specific features of the Earth, using aerial photography and other digital remote sensing techniques. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.03 | untouched |
| Travel over photographed areas to observe, identify, record, and verify all relevant features. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2.85 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.07 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.25 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.29 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.43 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.54 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.82 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.