Spatial Analyses for Students and Educators: Multidisciplinary hands-on GIS exercises with QGIS Open source software

by Sunil Bhaskaran, Atiqur Rahman

As geographic analyses facilitated by a Geographic Information System or a GIS becomes critical in managing resources and aids in information decision making process, there is an increasing appreciation of spatial analyses and modeling. Therefore, there is an increasing demand for skilled GIS technician that has led to the realization for training more people in GIS to manage the ever-limited resources on the earth. As the Geospatial Industry grows exponentially into a multi-billion-dollar industry it is important to keep the gaps in skilled labor to a minimum. Many countries including the Unites States are invested in increasing participation of underrepresented population in geospatial technology and career pathways. The ‘Pathways to Geospatial Technology and Careers’ project and many others funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education [NSF-ATE] are a testament to the country’s desire to create skilled technicians in geospatial technology and remain competitive in an ever-shrinking digital world. Whilst the need to increase participation and train is critical there are several impediments in this pursuit that needs to be negated. Access to GIS software and datasets is a stumbling block even though the number of users of vendor-based software is on the increase. Many students and educators are unable to access vendor-based GIS software due to the staggering costs associated in buying them and maintaining them every year. Therefore, many potential users desert the idea of even learning GIS. The monopoly of leading industry-based software companies still has a strangle hold on new learners. Educators who are entrusted to teach geospatial technology and its applications to students are challenged on two fronts – Access to the software and its successful implementation at an institutional level for promoting its use in class for teaching and research. Whilst most of the advanced software are too expensive to acquire and maintain there are many hurdles to self-teach the software and its functions. Educators are stuck in an impasse that many a times is insurmountable due to the challenges described above. When we realize that educators are pivotal to educating and training many students in geospatial analytics it becomes increasingly important that they are at least presented with opportunities with minimum friction and obstacles to learn and master spatial analytics. There is a need to have access to a software that is inexpensive and easy to acquire and install even though there may be some basic steps involved. Quantum GIS or QGIS is an opensource software that enables all users and educators to access geospatial software free of cost and immerse in efforts for learning and training in spatial analyses. QGIS with its multitude of global contributors has made steady strides in gathering toolsets that permit advanced spatial analytics leading to the promotion of geospatial education, research, and training. It has provided many users and educators a unique opportunity to self-teach and learn spatial analyses without any major impediments. The book consists of QGIS hands-on tutorials that will present a new learner with many opportunities to better understand the nuances of spatial theory and cognition and at the same time provide new exploratory ideas to the more modest and experienced users to delve deeper. The exercises are written in an easy-to-understand language with an eye to all novices as well as inspired learners and educators and students and other users who need to brush up or hone their GIS skills. The book will also appeal to students from different majors who have heard about geospatial applications but now can get their hands dirty with data that is closely aligned to their core disciplines.

351 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 24, 2021

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