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Based out of NASA Headquarters, the Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Geographic Information Systems Team (EGIST) provides sustained geospatial support across NASA Earth Science, helping users discover, access, and apply geographic information system (GIS) technology to NASA’s Earth science data. EGIST’s mission is to enable the effective adoption of GIS tools for research and applied science.  

As the GIS subject matter experts for ESDS, EGIST evaluates emerging GIS technologies, engages with the user community, and coordinates GIS-centric efforts among ESDS teams to strengthen NASA’s geospatial ecosystem. Through user guidance, communication resources, demonstrations, and collaboration across NASA Earth Science, EGIST enhances the accessibility, usability, and visibility of data among GIS users. 

 

EGIST Focus Areas 

Awareness, and Coordination of GIS Capabilities Internal to NASA 

EGIST maintains a broad view of GIS capabilities across NASA Earth Science programs and teams. This perspective enables the team to understand how geospatial technologies, data, applications, and services are being utilized across the organization to identify opportunities for greater coordination, collaboration, integration, and reuse. To bring the community of NASA GIS practitioners together, EGIST also maintains a monthly call where users share and demonstrate use cases, lessons learned, and best practices. The forum helps surface emerging needs, highlights successful approaches, and informs EGIST’s efforts to improve and expand capabilities across NASA Earth Science. 

Enablement of GIS Tools, Technologies, and Platforms 

The team supports the ongoing development, coordination, and evaluation of GIS technology to support consistent, scalable, and user-friendly geospatial services. EGIST provides centralized management, governance, and administration of critical GIS software used by the organization to create, manage, analyze, visualize, and share geospatial information. EGIST also enables, supports, and curates NASA’s contribution in external platforms, helping identify, maintain, and promote high-value NASA Earth Science content. By making NASA geospatial resources more discoverable and accessible through a widely used GIS ecosystem, EGIST helps extend the reach and impact of NASA Earth Science data to the public, researchers, scientists, educators, private industry and government organizations. 

Community Engagement and Resources that Demonstrating GIS Value for Earth Science 

EGIST curates use cases, tutorials, visualizations, code notebooks, and guidance materials that help users navigate NASA data and tools. EGIST develops communication resources to highlight geospatial opportunities and best practices. Through webinars, workshops, conferences, and technical discussions, EGIST shows the proper use and utility of GIS for NASA Earth Science. By providing guided instructions and sharing practical demonstrations, EGIST helps users apply GIS in research, analysis, and applied science.

Evaluation of and Engagement with External GIS Tools, Services, and Partnerships 

EGIST assesses and evaluates external, non-NASA capabilities, technologies, platforms, and emerging solutions to identify opportunities for adoption, integration, and strategic alignment with NASA’s GIS needs and mission objectives. In parallel, EGIST cultivates and maintains relationships with key GIS industry partners, technology providers, user communities, and other external stakeholders. These relationships provide opportunities to exchange knowledge, understand emerging technology trends, identify evolving customer and user demand signals, coordinate development, and gain insight into the direction of the broader GIS community. 

Governance, Management, and Distribution of Esri Software Licenses  

EGIST manages the distribution of Esri software licenses to support GIS across the NASA Science Mission Directorate and the broader agency. To maximize cost efficiency and ensure robust data management, the team maintains a comprehensive governance framework that guides the entire lifecycle of Esri software licensing, from initial provisioning to final decommissioning. The team also conducts agency-wide usage assessments, stakeholder outreach, and cost analyses to provide leadership with data-driven insights for strategic decision-making. Finally, by continuously evaluating emerging technologies like AI and GeoAI, EGIST identifies innovative ways to optimize user workflows and drive greater mission value. 

 

GIS at NASA Resources 

Explore NASA Earth Science GIS resources:   

  • GIS at NASA Overview: Introduction to how NASA applies GIS technologies across missions and data systems. 
  • GIS at NASA StoryMaps: Interactive stories highlighting real-world geospatial applications using NASA data. 
  • Earthdata GIS: Access NASA Earth science data, web services, and visualization tools. 

Interested in engaging with this team? Please contact us at earthdata-support@nasa.gov.