GIS Analyst – What Does One Do?

What is a GIS Analyst? In other posts I’ve talked about the many aspects of GIS, particularly the technology, issues with data, and the way GIS technology is used. In this...

The Case for the GIS Analyst

The GIS Analyst sits somewhere between the professional with problems that need to be mapped and GIS Professionals. A GIS Analyst needs to know enough about the problem being...

QGIS vs ARC GIS

When choosing a GIS both Arc and QGIS are similarly functional. For most people, the choice between the two will boil down to personal preference and price.

How to Overlay Maps

In the video I tell the beginning of the story of how to overlay maps. I’ll demonstrate one of the earliest examples of the strategic use of map overlay in planning. If...

GIS Data Sources – Map Archives and Old Reports

Its not always possible to get all the data you want for your project off-the-shelf. Archives and Old Reports are one of a number of incredibly important GIS data sources. In...

Lets Define GIS – Two GIS Applications Examples

Lets define GIS There are many ways to define GIS …and by GIS I mean a Geographical Information System. GIS combines spatial data (maps), temporal data (when things on a map...

What is a GIS map?

Map 1: What is a GIS map? A GIS map contains points, lines and polygons What is a GIS map? Its a digital map that has two important features… Coordinate system: A GIS map is a...

What determines the scale of a map in GIS?

What determines the scale of a map in a Geographical Information System? There is a fantastic post about cartographic scale on the National Geographic site. The article makes...

Using Remote Sensing for Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Change Detection

Using 25km daily remote sensing grid cell data from a satellite mounted microwave sensor, National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) scientists have shown that the minimum...

Choropleth Map Data Classification

Choropleth Map Data Classification A Choropleth Map is also known as a Shaded Map and a Thematic Map Today, I am going to talk about Choropleth Map Data Classification. This...

Mapping Links Pollution to Regulation

Map 1: The earlier of two images on acid rain – 1985 Map 2: The latter of two images on acid rain – 2008 Time-series GIS mapping of a 25 year study of acid rain...

What is Quantum GIS

What is Quantum GIS What is Quantum GIS (QGIS) – its a brand of Geographical Information System that is Open Source and so free. Its been around since around 2002 and...

What is Spatial Data

What is Spatial Data The four simple map structures in a GIS are Points, Lines, Polylines and Polygons. If you were to on-screen digitize the figure above then each of the...

Analysis of the census using GIS

Analysis of the census using GIS is an important geography career! Most countries around the world conduct a regular National Census. Censuses date back to biblical times. A...

Digital Map Products and the GIS Revolution

A typical map storage facility. This one is from the US Library of Congress (photo Beatriz M Haspo, 2011) There will always be a place for paper maps because sometimes...

GIS in IT

The role of GIS in IT is as varied as the organizations that use GIS. Because there are such high upfront and ongoing costs to implementing a GIS (hardware, infrastructure,...

Using GIS Technology for Improved Government Operations

Geographic information system (GIS) technology can be used to gather, maintain, store, and analyze geographic information. It can be used to keep track of everything from...

GIS Metadata – The 5Ws

Have you ever wondered how GIS Analysts work their way through thousands of files of data? How do they manage to extract information about certain locations and their...

Select The Right GIS Course And Avoid These 4 Mistakes…

How to select the right GIS course for you So here you are, interested in enrolling into a GIS course. Maybe you are a student, or an industry professional, or maybe you are a...

GIS Attribute Data

Points, Lines, Polygons, and Polylines in a GIS are dumb graphics. We make them intelligent by attaching attributes to them. That way we can tell that a point is a rubbish bin...

Utility Mapping – Pipeline GIS

Utility mapping for the water industry. The location of buried water pipes is important Geographic Information Systems are one of the most rapidly growing technologies in the...

Introduction To GIS Data Concepts

Question: Why do we need Geographic Information Systems like Quantum GIS, ArcInfo, ArcView, MapInfo, Caliper software, GRASS and Manifold? The answer: In this Introduction To...

SQL for GIS Table Query

SQL for GIS Table Query – Introduction Structured Query Language (SQL) is a very common, very generic language in computer systems. It has implementations in lots of...

GIS Technology – Growth

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are designed to gather, store, and analyze geographical data. Geographic data may include things like natural resource maps, planning...

Using GIS Technology for Power Utility Asset Management

In the event of a power outage, you want to know that your utility company is working hard to restore power. Depending on the cause for the outage, it may last for a few...

Improvements in GIS Software

GIS Software Improvements: Summary Mappable information such as customer addresses and vehicle locations used to be considered relatively unimportant information. These days,...

Site Selection Process for Green Energy

Site Selection Process for Green Energy: Introduction One of the most important things affecting the world today is conservation. Although environmental conservation is very...

Natural Resource Management and GIS

GIS technology is a useful tool for natural resource management. Geographic information system (GIS) technology can be used to gather, maintain, analyze and store geographic...