By McKenzie Misiaszek
Patrick Johnson sits at his desk as people chatter around him. Headphones on, he doesn’t notice. He’s staring intently at a data set on his screen. With a few key taps, the data becomes a map that will help Precinct 4 plan its next sidewalk project.
Patrick is the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Manager for Precinct 4. As he tells his kids, he’s a map maker, but his maps do more than identify locations— they help people make better decisions.
“Right now, we’re looking to put up streetlights near the Memorial Park area, so I went to get the crash data,” said Patrick. “From that crash data, I can see what type of (car) crashes there are and how frequently they're happening. Then, I’ll do a heat map, so we can figure out what the issues are over there, whether that be jaywalking, drunk driving, or other issues.”
Precinct 4’s infrastructure division is constantly working on projects, so Patrick never knows what he’ll be doing when he walks into the office. He could be helping plan where to add sidewalks as part of Sidewalks 4 Precinct 4, mapping out routes for the Precinct’s road and bridge crews to take during disasters, or creating a comprehensive look of all the Places 4 People projects from 2023 and 2024.
Opportunity walks through the door
Patrick excels at his job today, but GIS wasn’t always his career path. In 2005, Patrick had just graduated from Lamar University with a degree in business, but he hadn’t found his passion.
One day, as he was working at a storage facility in Cypress, the Dean of the Community Development Department at Prairie View A&M walked through the doors. She asked if he was in college and then urged him to apply to the new department at her university.
Within weeks, Patrick was a community development master’s student at the largest historically Black university (HBCU) in Texas. His first class was focused on GIS, and he remembered the professor saying he was going to make a map out of a spreadsheet.
“I'm looking around the classroom like, ‘How are you going to make this Excel spreadsheet a map?’” said Patrick. “But he used geocoding, addresses, and X and Y coordinates, and he made it a map. And I was like, ‘That’s it. That’s what I want to do.’”
He became a standout student. After he finished the class, the professor occasionally asked Patrick to teach in his place if the professor had to leave early. Once he graduated, he got his first job at Missouri City and then the City of Houston, where he worked for his former professor.
“He gave me an opportunity, and from then on, this has been my life,” said Patrick.
Paying it forward
Patrick has never forgotten how the kindness of others helped him shape his future. Now, he’s passing on their good deeds by teaching GIS classes to high school students during the summer.
“I want to give back because a lot of people are lost,” said Patrick. “They don’t know what to do, how to do it, or they don’t have a background where people can lead them. I see myself reflected in those kids because I was there.”
Patrick continues to look for new ways to connect students to their future career paths. He’s currently working on becoming an adjunct professor at a local HBCU and bringing a GIS or drone certification program to the same college, so he can use his expertise to help others find their dream job. But right now, he’s working on inspiring students when he can.
“What I always tell kids is to take opportunities,” said Patrick. “Don't be scared. Risk it all – the universe will provide.”