Cartographers and photogrammetrists
Cartographers and photogrammetrists turn specialized knowledge, procedures, and judgment into practical decisions or services. In the U.S. BLS reference layer, this asset maps to Cartographers and photogrammetrists with 2024 employment of 13.4k and a 2024 median annual wage of $78,380. FermatMind treats this path as a Conventional-first career: the question is whether you can sustain technical complexity, safety constraints, documentation burden, and project tradeoffs over time.
Quick decision
Start with fit and work structure before reading facts and next steps.
How to Decide Whether This Career Fits You
Career profile
Read the definition, responsibilities, and context together instead of judging by title alone.
What Does This Career Do?
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.
Core Responsibilities
- Compile data required for map preparation, including aerial photographs, survey notes, records, reports, and original maps.
- Delineate aerial photographic detail, such as control points, hydrography, topography, and cultural features, using precision stereoplotting apparatus or drafting instruments.
- Prepare and alter trace maps, charts, tables, detailed drawings, and three-dimensional optical models of terrain using stereoscopic plotting and computer graphics equipment.
- Study legal records to establish boundaries of local, national, and international properties.
- Inspect final compositions to ensure completeness and accuracy.
- Revise existing maps and charts, making all necessary corrections and adjustments.
Fit map
RIASEC Fit
Conventional-primary means the work repeatedly rewards this core problem-solving and work-environment preference in Cartographers and photogrammetrists.
Investigative-secondary matters because the role often requires procedures, tools, coordination, evidence, clients, users, patients, learners, or teams.
Realistic-support supports the role when decisions must be explained, delivered, documented, practiced, maintained, or coordinated.
This is a career-fit interpretation, not a destiny judgment or a guaranteed match score.
- Conventional-primary
- Investigative-secondary
- Realistic-support
Personality Fit
This is not a personality diagnosis. It is a work-style interpretation that should be cross-checked with actual tasks, credentials, workplace setting, and risk tolerance.
Cartographers and photogrammetrists may fit people whose personality style supports sustained attention, feedback tolerance, and the daily work context behind the title.
Risks and change
Career Risks
- This page is for career exploration. It is not an income forecast, licensing guarantee, job-placement promise, medical/legal advice, or psychological diagnosis.
This page is for career exploration. It is not an income forecast, licensing guarantee, job-placement promise, medical/legal advice, or psychological diagnosis.
Contract and Project Risks
This page is for career exploration. It is not an income forecast, licensing guarantee, job-placement promise, medical/legal advice, or psychological diagnosis.
AI Impact
7/10
AI task exposure
FermatMind rates Cartographers And Photogrammetrists at 7/10 because exposure concentrates in “process aerial imagery, LiDAR points, control points, map layers, and metadata” and “compare projections, classification outputs, elevation models, ground truth, and accuracy thresholds.” AI can speed preparation, but adoption still depends on business context, exception judgment, delivery quality, stakeholder explanation, and final adoption responsibility.
Next: verify fit with FermatMind tests
A career page can explain what the role is; assessment results help you check whether the work structure fits you over time.
Step 1
Start with career interests
Use Holland / RIASEC to check whether your interest pattern aligns with Conventional-primary.
Measure my career interestsStep 2
Then check work style
If you already have MBTI or Big Five results, use them to compare Conscientiousness helps with deadlines, documentation, safety, and follow-through..
View personality-career fitStep 3
Finish with real-world validation
- Build a factual brief - Confirm the SOC/O*NET or China occupation identity.
What Skills Does the Market Signal?
- Occupation
- Cartographers and photogrammetrists
- BLS/SOC title
- Cartographers and photogrammetrists
- SOC code
- 17-1021
- O*NET code
- 17-1021.00
- U.S. jobs in 2024
- 13.4k
- Projected U.S. jobs in 2034
- 14.3k
- 2024–2034 change
- +0.9k
- Projected growth
- 6.4%
- Annual openings
- 1.0k
- Median annual wage, 2024
- $78,380
- Entry education
- Bachelor's degree
Adjacent Career Comparison
| Engineer vs Technician | Engineers design and analyze systems; technicians test, operate, and support implementation. | People who want design authority |
| Design vs Operations | Design roles model and specify; operations roles keep systems running safely. | People who prefer technical ownership |
| Engineering manager vs Engineer | Managers own people, budgets, and priorities; engineers own technical depth. | People moving toward leadership |
FAQ
Is Cartographers and photogrammetrists a good fit for my personality?
It may fit if your work style matches the role's RIASEC pattern: Conventional-primary, Investigative-secondary, Realistic-support. This is not a personality diagnosis; it is a way to test whether you can sustain the daily work environment, feedback, procedures, and responsibility of Cartographers and photogrammetrists.
Will AI replace Cartographers and photogrammetrists?
AI may accelerate research, records, drafting, scheduling, reporting, or data tasks, but this page does not claim the occupation will or will not be replaced. The safer question is which parts of the work require human judgment, safety responsibility, relationships, or field context.
Sources and update notes
- Last reviewed: 2026-05-03. Next review due: 2026-08-03.