Remote Sensing Technicians
Apply remote sensing technologies to assist scientists in areas such as natural resources, urban planning, or homeland security. May prepare flight plans or sensor configurations for flight trips.
Most important skills
- Critical Thinking
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Mathematics
- Active Listening
- Monitoring
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Systems Analysis
Key knowledge
- Geography
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
- Engineering and Technology
- Production and Processing
- English Language
- Education and Training
What the work involves
- Collaborate with agricultural workers to apply remote sensing information to efforts to reduce negative environmental impacts of farming practices.
- Collect remote sensing data for forest or carbon tracking activities involved in assessing the impact of environmental change.
- Provide remote sensing data for use in addressing environmental issues, such as surface water modeling or dust cloud detection.
- Participate in the planning or development of mapping projects.
- Verify integrity and accuracy of data contained in remote sensing image analysis systems.
- Prepare documentation or presentations, including charts, photos, or graphs.
- Merge scanned images or build photo mosaics of large areas, using image processing software.
- Integrate remotely sensed data with other geospatial data.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Realistic, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree (62% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 4 years, up to and including 6 years (23.5%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 3 months, up to and including 6 months (38%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 4: Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Remote Sensing Technicians is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
- Projection education uses SOC 19-4099 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 73% of occupations compared | — |
| Dealing with the public | Very low | Lower on dealing with the public than 80% of occupations compared | — |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 60% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 56% of occupations compared | 41% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Moderate | Lower on time pressure than 51% of occupations compared | 37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Lower on conflict situations than 52% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 84% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 85% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: moderate
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 4.53%
- Contact with others about half the time: 26.74%
- Contact with others most of the time: 28.91%
- Constant contact with others: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 29.95%
- Fairly important: 11.26%
- Important: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Very important: 4.43%
- Extremely important: 11.5%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 4.16%
- Important: 32.89%
- Very important: 7.57%
- Extremely important: 55.38%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 33.9%
- Some freedom: 24.97%
- A lot of freedom: 41.13%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.94%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 33.56%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 36.52%
- Every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Conflict situations
- Never: 19.01%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 22.36%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 22.95%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 31.43%
- Every day: 4.25%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 37.62%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 22.07%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 25.15%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.91%
- Every day: 4.25%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 33.76%
- Fairly serious: 29.35%
- Serious: 22.11%
- Very serious: 10.53%
- Extremely serious: 4.25%
n = 19, Incumbent 07/2012
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O*NET-SOC 19-4099.03 · SOC 19-4099 (detailed_parent, medium confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8