Michael Burgess

GIS Analyst & Spatial Systems Specialist
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand • 37.63° S, 176.18° E • EPSG:2193 (NZTM2000)
GitHub

GIS Analyst with hands-on experience managing enterprise Esri environments, relational geodatabases, and custom Python automation. Experienced in supporting nationwide agricultural datasets and regional advisors, with a strong focus on practical problem solving, workflow automation, and bridging spatial data with developer teams.

01 // Professional Experience

GIS Analyst

/ GPSit, Tauranga
  • Enterprise Operations & Administration: Manage enterprise Esri GIS infrastructure for Fonterra (ArcGIS Enterprise, Portal, Server, relational databases), supporting ~50 regional advisors and internal stakeholders with user permissions and system reliability.
  • Help Desk & Relational Data Troubleshooting: Run the GIS help desk for Sustainable Dairy Advisors, troubleshooting database linking and spatial data issues, configuring web layers, and producing bespoke reports for farm sustainability workflows.
  • Data Integrity, Scale & Python Automation: Maintain spatial data integrity and Python QA/QC scripts across nationwide agricultural datasets, validating ~18,000 property boundaries and relational tables exceeding 1M attribute records.
  • System Migration, Data Modeling & Technical Liaison: Support the migration from legacy AppStudio to a modern web platform by restructuring database schemas into dedicated tables and fields, testing application builds with React developers, and tracking issues and priorities across Jira and Trello.

GIS Technician

/ GPSit, Tauranga
  • Automated Production Pipeline & CRM Sync: Engineered an automated drafting pipeline integrating ArcGIS Pro, AGOL, and internal CRM systems—enabling drafters to digitize boundaries while scripts sync deal records, archive data to a hosted master layer, and generate local deliverables and PDF map packages.
  • Standardization & Geoprocessing Toolboxes: Standardized farm map drafting across the team by developing custom ArcGIS Pro project templates equipped with tailored Python geoprocessing toolboxes.
  • Database QA/QC Automation: Authored Python validation routines to programmatically inspect farm geodatabases for geometry errors, topology overlap rules, and attribute consistency prior to production release.
  • Elevation & DEM Raster Analysis: Evaluated elevation gradients between orchard blocks and adjacent waterways by extracting and comparing DEM raster values using QGIS and GDAL.

GIS Intern

/ Landkind, Tauranga
  • Built a spray drift calculator tool in ArcGIS to map potential drift buffer zones using wind speed, temperature, and spray height variables.
  • Developed Python scripts to automate internal orchard shapefile exports, eliminating repetitive manual export workflows.

GIS Intern

/ Kenex, Wellington
  • Digitized and georectified historical maps and surveying reports in QGIS, extracting geological data to populate a server-hosted database.
02 // Technical Capabilities

GIS & Spatial Platforms

ArcGIS Enterprise Portal & Server ArcGIS Pro AGOL QGIS

Enterprise Data & Modeling

Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Geodatabases Schema Design QA/QC Pipelines DEM / Raster

Automation & Developer Tooling

Python (ArcPy) pandas & NumPy SQL GDAL REST APIs Jira & Trello
03 // Background & Context
Education & Credentials
Victoria University of Wellington
Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies
Minor in Geography • 2021 – 2023
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology
Certificate in Conservation
2019
Outside Work

Live music & local gigs, experimenting with side coding projects, getting outdoors around the Mount, and attempting to surf.