edit to intro

src/content/blog/2024-01-13-location-data-and-gis-for-devs.md

@@ -14,9 +14,15 @@ draft: "false"
 ---
 **Note:**  _**This article is mainly meant to be my master list of GIS and Geospatial resources to share with other developers. As such there's many links and only a small amount of my own commentary.**_
 
-A recent [LinkedIn repost](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elizabethmccready_save-the-date-march-1-2024-arcmap-is-activity-7151286657097388032-JU2h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop) of mine has gone a wee bit viral with over 4,000 views in a day. The original post by [Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit](https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianamapper/overlay/about-this-profile/) was a comment on the end of [ArcMap](https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/map/main/mapping-and-visualization-in-arcgis-for-desktop.htm) - a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software by ESRI that has been around since 1999. My take on it was to share the similarities between artificial intelligence databases and what know from years of geomatics, GIS, and spatial data analysis - and to write alt text for the really awesome graphic. 
+A recent [LinkedIn repost](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elizabethmccready_save-the-date-march-1-2024-arcmap-is-activity-7151286657097388032-JU2h?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop) of mine has gone a wee bit viral with over 4,000 views in a day. Four days later it now has over 6,500 views and 61 reactions - that's the most popular post in the last 365 years! 
 
-I've also seen several threads on [TorontoJS](https://torontojs.com/) Slack asking for help finding location data sets and dealing with spatial data analysis for Javascript applications. While I share some quick links, a Slack thread isn't detailed enough to give all the information and resources I'm sharing here.
+The original post by [Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit](https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianamapper/overlay/about-this-profile/) was a comment on the end of [ArcMap](https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/map/main/mapping-and-visualization-in-arcgis-for-desktop.htm) - a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software by ESRI that has been around since 1999. My take on it was to share the similarities between artificial intelligence databases and what know from years of geomatics, GIS, and spatial data analysis - and to write alt text for the really awesome graphic. 
+
+I have a background in GIS and geomatics, did environmental surveying for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and had student jobs in spatial analysis in university. In 2019, I changed careers from education as an assistive technology specialist to going back to school for a postgrad program in Urban and Environmental Planning. 
+
+When I took some computer science courses to support going into the technical GIS and spatial analysis side of planning  I discovered that software development was a way to use my passion and experience in accessibility. So I switched to information and computer sciences grad work, then continued with self and community teaching at the end of 2021. I'm now studying for my [Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-ai-engineer/)certification and Certified Professional in Web Accessibility certification [(CPWA)](https://www.accessibilityassociation.org/s/certified-professional-web-accessibility). Since spring 2022 I've been an active member and volunteer with [TorontoJavaScript](https://torontojs.com/)
+
+I've seen several threads on TorontoJS Slack asking for help finding location data sets and dealing with spatial data analysis for Javascript applications. While I share some quick links, a Slack thread isn't detailed enough to give all the information and resources I'm sharing here.
 
 **Tip!:** JavaScript developers look for "location datasets" or sometimes "map dataset" when looking for free data for web dev projects. But there's really no such thing as a "location dataset" in the field that has that information. Those datasets are called either spatial datasets or geospatial datasets. Location is a characteristic of individual data points in spatial datasets.