Collect environmental data or samples
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 13 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 13 occupations that perform it.
- Collect and analyze biological data about relationships among and between organisms and their environment.
- Gather data from sources such as surface or upper air stations, satellites, weather bureaus, or radar for use in meteorological reports or forecasts.
- Collect and analyze data to determine environmental conditions and restoration needs.
- Collect and analyze water samples as part of field investigations or to validate data from automatic monitors.
- Collect supporting data, such as climatic or field survey data, to corroborate remote sensing data analyses.
- Collect and analyze data to compare the environmental implications of economic policy or practice alternatives.
- Collect samples of gases, soils, water, industrial wastewater, or asbestos products to conduct tests on pollutant levels or identify sources of pollution.
- Collect data on underground areas, such as reservoirs, that could be used in carbon sequestration operations.
- Collect water and soil samples to test for physical, chemical, or biological properties, such as pH, oxygen level, temperature, and pollution.
- Collect air, water, gas or solid samples for testing to determine radioactivity levels or to ensure appropriate radioactive containment.
- Collect samples of air, water, gases, or solids to determine radioactivity levels of contamination.
- Conduct laboratory or field experiments with plants, animals, insects, diseases, and soils.
- Collect remote sensing data for forest or carbon tracking activities involved in assessing the impact of environmental change.
- Collect air samples from planes or ships over land or sea to study atmospheric composition.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
13 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Atmospheric and Space Scientists
- Biologists
- Environmental Economists
- Environmental Restoration Planners
- Environmental Science and Protection Technicians, Including Health
- Forest and Conservation Technicians
- Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians
- Hydrologic Technicians
- Hydrologists
- Nuclear Monitoring Technicians
- Nuclear Technicians
- Remote Sensing Scientists and Technologists
- Remote Sensing Technicians
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Collect environmental or biological samples”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Collect biological specimens from patients | 21 |
| Collect geographical or geological field data | 7 |
| Collect biological specimens | 6 |
| Collect geological samples | 3 |
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.