What is GIS?
Getting Started
1. View these two short videos.
ESRI Ireland (2:50) |
What is GIS? (2:23) |
2. Read over these very brief introductions to GIS
- Pp. 1-8 of "A Gentle Introduction to GIS" (GIGIS)
3. View two videos
Shasta College (10:56)A promo for a college program that gives some idea of careers and applications of GIS |
Introduction to GeoSpatial Intelligence (7:50)Initially from military/national security perspective but also covers USHAHIDI Haiti project |
4. Two quick videos on mapping and cities
Walkability (2:31) |
Honolulu (1:26) |
5. Meet Quantum GIS
- Visit the website http://qgis.org
- Read the first few sections of the QGIS User manual: "Introduction to GIS," "Why is this all so new?", "Raster Data," and "Vector Data."
Intro to QGIS (7:52) |
Short Video from Smith College GIS ProgramRaster and Vector Data from SmithGIS on Vimeo |
What is GIS pt. 6 Raster and Vector (9:07) |
6. Review
You just encountered a number of terms and concepts that will come up throughout the semester. Look over this list and look back over the readings and offer your best definition at this point.
geospatial data geographic coordinate latitude longitude geographic features |
distance area vector data raster data map projections map layer |
points lines polygons digital satellite imagery map legend |