Web Sites for Introductory
GIS
As collected and assessed by FRST 122T students
URL: http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/whyusegis.html
Value: 7.5/10
Description: This site is a site that is aimed
at beginners and gives you the basis of how it is used, how it affects your
daily life, and it gives you an explanation of what it is! The page starts at
What is GIS?, How to use GIS?, How to do GIS Analysis, Why use GIS?, and it gives Related Web links.
Beside What is GIS? is a scroll down bar which leads you to all the other
headings. The links load fairly quickly and shouldn’t take ling to load even if
your computer isn’t super fast as it is nearly free of graphics. I think this
is a great page to learn about GIS. I am sending the link to my family as they
don’t really understand what GIS is and I think this site should help anyone
who wants to learn more.
URL: http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/agidict/welcome.html
Value: 10/10
Description: This is a brilliant site. It is a
dictionary that is dedicated specifically to GIS. It loads very quickly as there
is not much to load and it looks like it has a couple thousand words and terms in this page. I didn’t need
any words checked but each letter appeared to have at least 30 words under each
letter, A – Z. If you look up a word and it uses other technical terms it has
direct links to the other words and you will find what you are looking for and
maybe learn some new terms. I love this site; I highly recommend it to anyone
at any level.
URL: http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/
Value: 9/10
Description: This website is well detailed to
the person who doesn’t know much about GIS and the various components of it.
The site explains in detail each stage of making a map using GIS. It has great
detail showing how existing maps are made into maps that are digital. I liked
the pictures that it has and the captions that are below them. I think this
site was put together by someone who felt that a source that covers everything
was needed, and then they went to work and started putting together this
excellent resource. I really liked the section that shows a layer by itself and
then shows it with other layers. I recommend this site.
URL: http://www.rsinc.com/index.asp
Description: This website offers a wide range of information about how to process data through visualization, digital imagery, and data analysis. Research System Inc is a company that distribute helpful software to government agents, researchers, scientists, and business; also, promotes educational tools to help developing a new popular usage of its software. I rate this site 8/10 because it offers many free download software’s that are available to interested users; however, download speed is slow because of the file’s size.
URL: http://www.ablesw.com/r2v/users.html
Description: On this particular site, they investigate many aspects of GIS. They provide useful educative information to beginner concerning managing data. It also contains geo-reference data with Arc/info world files; it allows users to generate their own map using digital imagery and remote sensing. It also offers an ideal match between vectors and raster, which can unable users to produce accurate map projection with various way of labelling attributes. I rate this site 7/10 because it provides good learning tools for new GIS users, and the download speed of the software is relatively quick.
URL: http://members.shaw.ca/quadibloc/maps/mapint.htm
Description: This site gives the most practical and necessary information about map projections. It provides details, illustrated with graphs and mathematical formulas, about the different types of map projection that is currently in use throughout the world. Furthermore, it is convenient and easy to navigate within the site. I think that site complement a large fraction of the learning that we acquire presently in the forestry field about data interpretation and comprehension. I rate it 9/10 because it has the potential of a good study’s tool, and consequently will further enhance or facilitate a greater understanding of GIS fundamental basis to a new student like me.
URL: http://mac.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster/#what
Value: 8 / 10
Description: This web site provides a definition of what GIS is. It also demonstrates how GIS works by explaining how it relates to information from different sources, how it captures data, how it integrates data, and how it structures data as well as many other factors. This site then explains some of the functions of GIS like map making, emergency response training and various other applications. I found this site to be straight forward and easy to use. It is written for beginners of GIS, so it’s easy to read and understand. The site loaded up very fast, but navigation was difficult at times due to all the information being displayed on one page. However, I still found this site to be fairly useful for providing me with a general introduction to GIS.
URL: http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~karleric/GIS/gis.html#Table
Value: 7 / 10
Description: This site explains what exactly GIS is, as well as what spatial data and attribute data is. It also gives a brief descriptions of how GIS works and how GIS is used for Government, Commercial and Academic purposes in real world applications. This site is laid out well and it’s very easy for novice GIS users to comprehend. However, there isn’t very much information about GIS on this site, but it does offer numerous other links to other GIS sites. Despite having limited information, this site is still very useful as an introduction to GIS because of all the links that it has.
URL: http://www.gis.com/
Value: 4 / 10
Description This website again explains what GIS is and what GIS uses are. It has some good information for beginning GIS users. It also has some pictures and diagrams that help explain GIS better. In addition, it has a map gallery that displays images of real GIS maps. This serves as a good introduction to GIS because the reader gets to see what GIS actually looks like. Despite having some useful information, I found this site to be frustrating and very difficult to use. The pages loaded slowly and malfunctioned several times. This site does have some useful information for introducing GIS, but I found it hard to use.
URL: http://www.yourdisposal.freeserve.co.uk/index.html
Value 6.5/10
Description: This web site is great for study material. It is a web site created by a G.I.S. student named Karl. It provides you with essays on topics such as an Introduction to GIS, Proprietary GIS, Quantative research methods, GIS and environment and Applied GIS and Spatial analysis. Karl has set up his web page so you can move around to specific topics of interest without having to scroll through all the information. The essays are informative and easy reading, for a general understanding of the topics he covers in GIS.
URL: http://www-agecon.ag.ohio-state.edu/programs/ComRegEcon/gis/gisintro.htm
Value 7/10
Description: This web site has been created by a The Ohio State University, which makes it also good for study material. It is done on how GIS is used for economical development. It provides you with a few scenarios with GIS solutions. It provides you with examples in the question and answer section. It also gives a section on terminology in GIS, which makes for good study material. It is an easy web site to get around and link to areas of interest. Although it is about economic development it provides a good understanding about GIS.
URL: http://www.sli.unimelb.edu.au/gisweb/GISModule/GISSelect.htm
Description: This web site has great visual diagrams from actual GIS programs. Aside from the specific theory page, the interactive examples and Questions with feedback pages have to be downloaded. If you have a slow computer those links may not benefit you. The specific theory is a fast and informative site to look around. Covers a lot of information that is useful, but may be repetitive or seem irrelevant. The main aspect to look at is the visual diagrams.
URL: http://www.gis.com/
Value: 9/10
This website was easy to read. It was written in short paragraphs that don’t lose the attention of the reader and it provided diagrams to illustrate the concepts. In the explanations, GIS was related to ideas that a student new to GIS would be more familiar with. The site was easy to navigate. There were well organized tabs and ‘subtabs’ for other pages on the site. If a student decided to continue learning about GIS more in depth, there were links for courses in it as well as a link to ESRI on the main page.
URL: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/gis/
Value: 7/10
This website contained information more about GIS rather than how to use it. The layout of this website is less user friendly than the previous one. It seems aimed more towards someone who uses the site often and is already familiar with GIS than as an introduction to a beginner. It did, however, provide a long list of links for training in GIS. There was clearly much information on this site when you know what to look for.
URL: http://geocities.com/napoleonreyesgarcia/GIS
Value: 6/10
This web site provided the most background on GIS. It covered many applications of GIS and emphasized its usefulness in modern life. The information it provided was good but tedious to read. It was all contained on one page; paragraph after paragraph with no tabs or index to search for topics with.
URL: http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/giscc/units/u002/u002.html
Value: 7
Description: This website provides very good overview of GIS. The website explains tools used in the GIS world such as hardware: keyboard, screen, and plotters used to print out maps. However, this website explains that software is needed and it gives a price range of $5.00-50.00 US, but the website does not list any software products. Another downfall of this website is the fact that not all the links work, and some of the ones that do work link to companies and products. The layout of this website is relatively easy to follow and the general content found on the website is adequate for the first day of lecture for a first year GIS course.
URL http://www.geomarketingsolutions.com/intro_GIS.html#top
Value 7
Description: This website’s layout is relatively simple and easy to follow. The information on the website is brief but effective. For, example they give an explanation of what GIS is, by providing a definition. The website also provides an explanation on layers by stating that “ Data can manipulated in a large variety of combinations and then mapped”. Then the website goes on to explain briefly how layers are used. Part of the reason for only a value of seven, is the fact that, the website has links that are currently under construction. However, the website maintains a seven because the website discuss the organizations that use GIS and if you click on one of the organization’s links, it provides a list of what they use it for. For example, the agriculture world uses GIS for things like crop management and soil management.
URL http://www-personal.si.umich.edu/~karleric/GIS/gis.html#Table
Value 8
Description: The website’s heading “ A beginners guide to Geographic Information System” really speaks for itself. The basic layout uses a simple table of contents that makes it easy to browse through the website. The website uses simple explanations such as, “A system of hardware, software, and procedures designed to support the capture, management, manipulation, analysis, modeling and display of spatially-referenced data for solving complex planning and management problems” (NCGIA lecture by David Cowen, 1989). The website also explains concepts such as spatial data and attribute data. The website also briefly explains how GIS works by stating, “GIS combines both mapping and data storage functions that allow the creation, manipulation and analysis of spatial data.” Similar to the website above this website provides a short list of the people that use GIS and a list of what GIS is used, for example engineering mapping, highway maintenance, and Urban and Regional planning. However, this website only received an eight, because not all the links on the website work.
URL: http://www.mapcruzin.com/index.html
Value: 8/10
Description: For a person who is new to GIS www.mapcruzin.com appears to be an excellent website to acquire some basic information. The home page is very self-explanatory and easy to navigate through. The first paragraph at the top of the page states,
“Click here if you
are new to GIS and you
want to know what it is and how it is used.”
Clicking on the link takes you to a page with a short,
straightforward summary of what GIS is and how it works. It uses the notion of
Mylar overlays on static maps to help an individual understand the concept of
GIS layers or “themes”. The web page has a simple diagram, showing different
GIS themes, which visually supports the text. The web page continues on to give
a decent explanation of what spatial data is and why it is used in GIS.
Finally, the page concludes with a brief description pointing out the benefits
and functions of GIS technology. The
short concise paragraphs give a novice just enough information to develop an
understanding, without out being too overwhelmed.
Value: 5/10
Description: A beginner to the world of GIS may find the website www.gislounge.com useful. However the home page is extremely cluttered, making it difficult to find the correct link in which to navigate to an introduction page. There are two links on a side bar, one stating; “Learning GIS” and the other “about GIS”. When browsing the site I automatically clicked on the “learning GIS” link, which takes you to a page with information on tutorials and other course descriptions. The page doesn’t give any information to what GIS is or how it works. Nonetheless, the correct link, “about GIS” does take you to a helpful page. This page uses bold font to highlight certain words, making it possible to scan the page for relevant information. Highlighted words include: Cartography, hardware, software, and metadata. A person looking to use this sight as a primary source for introductory information may get lost in the numerous links. I recommend using this site to enhance information obtained elsewhere.
URL: http://www.sli.unimelb.edu.au/gisweb/menu.html
Value: 9/10
Description: This website provided by the Department of Geomatics, at the University of Melbourne. The site supplies sizeable amounts of GIS information, in an easy to understand manner. The homepage has a chart with a number of different links to modules. The module titles are as follows; Introduction to GIS, Spatial Data Entry, Vector Overlay Processes, Neighborhood Operations, Raster Analysis, Buffers, Terrain Analysis, and Line Generalization Algorithms. The Introduction to GIS module link opens a page with three options. The middle option, “Interactive examples”, provides a student with both text and visual images through the use of a video clip (similar to a Power Point presentation). The video clip gives a brief overview of GIS, supplying information on raster and vector data. As a whole this website gives a student numerous different approaches to learn GIS. It provides theory based overviews and interactive models. There is even the option to take a self-quiz, if one so desired!
Value: 9/10
Description: This is a big site with a huge amount of information, but it also has a good layout, which makes it easy to navigate within the site. Under tutorials on the left hand side it includes GIS fundamentals and overviews, as well as GIS history. This site has great study material, and covers the basics of GIS. In addition to serving as a GIS introduction, it includes a directory of other GIS related topics. It did not have good pictures. It also has links to many other informative sites. This page took a while for me to download, but I have a fairly slow internet connection.
URL: www.geog.ubc.ca/courses/klink/gis.notes/ncgia/u01.html#SEC1.1.2
Value: 8/10
Description: This site contains information in point form to explain what GIS is. It uses a lot of big words, so might not be the best introduction for someone with a limited vocabulary. It did not have pictures to add enhance the viewers understanding. Although this site gives an introduction to GIS, it quickly gets into more complicated topics such as subsystems. This site was quick to download, and the layout is easy to follow which makes navigating fairly easy. The site isn’t very large, but does serve as a good introduction to GIS.
URL: http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/index.html
Value: 9/10
Description: This is an excellent site that has similar content to what we were shown earlier in the computer labs. It contains illustrations that greatly enhance the viewers understanding, as well as a slideshow. My connection is to slow for me to view the slideshow. It was quick to download and easy to navigate because of the good layout. The first two pages explain what a GIS is and tell you how to use it, then you can click on links to view more advanced materials such as mapping quantities and densities. It is also a printer friendly site.
URL: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/geology/courses/ge470/
Value: 9.5/10
This is one of the best sites I found on introduction to GIS. It is full of information that is essential to get along well with GIS. With a basic understanding, one can look through the contents of this site with ease. The point of interest is in the “Lecture Topics” section. It is self explanatory, and runs in a chronological order of events. It provides a step-by-step history of the development of GIS. How it was used, how it is used, and how it will be used. The Lecture section is further broken down into modules based on each component of GIS: Databases, Raster, Vector, Spatial, etc. It fully explains each concept. Each idea is accompanied by a diagram, which further helps to develop an understanding.
Other parts of the site are still in development, which is why I did not award this a 10 out of 10, but one day it will be done. I highly recommend this site to anyone who needs a further explanation of GIS concepts.
Value: 7/10
GIS Lounge is a good intermediate site. It provides information to get a basic understanding of GIS. It gives you general definitions and an outline on what GIS is used for. It is very easy to navigate, with clearly labeled links and such to get around the site. The most important component of the site, however, is the links that it has to other sites, and its references to high standing organizations: NASA, USGS, ESRI. GIS Lounge also provides basic training for the use of GIS. This includes basic GIS software, databases, and tutorials. This would be a very good site for someone who has never heard of GIS and needs/wants to learn it.
URL: http://www.mapcruzin.com/learn_to_map/
Value: 7/10
This site is a mapping oriented and so it is not 100% focused on GIS. However, it does still provide plenty of help as well as access to other sites. Map-Cruzin’s GIS tutorial allows people without all the expensive resourses try their hand at doing some mapping with GIS. It even provides a free, online instruction manual. It has excellent graphics (displays in ArcExplorer) that follow throughout the whole page. I provides some background, the very basics. It doesn’t delve into the depths of GIS but provides enough information for someone who “just wants to get there feet wet”.
URL: www.mapcruzin.com/index.html
Value: 5/10
Description: The Map Cruzin site provides a quick and simple explanation of what GIS is and describes the components of GIS and how they work. The concepts of data as layers and how data has coordinates that determine location are a good introduction to understand the power of GIS. Map Cruzin offers free downloads of GIS tutorials; however, the first step is to download ArcExplorer 2.0 from the ESRI site. The link to ESRI is a good step to introduce GIS but no related GIS topics are presented on the Map Cruzin site. The main Map Cruzin page displays a link to a page in the site with people new to GIS and who want to see how GIS is used. The link is visible but once on the page further links are hard to find unless the page is read fully.
URL: http://gea.zyne.fer.hr/index.html
Value: 8/10
Description: UNESCO’s GIS training website cleary introduces GIS, starting with simple concepts and building on them. The individual words in the acronym “GIS” are defined and how GIS is its’ own independent skill but employs many individual academic skills is shown. A through history of GIS is described. The five primary components of GIS are introduced and described in detail. Because this site teaches the primary components of GIS in such detail the reader is prepared to question and understand related topics to GIS.
The home page of UNESCO GIS Training is set up so anyone can use it. The link headings are simple and can be followed through to the entire site. The labs that are offered are only available if the user has a UNESCO CD-Rom.
URL: www.gis.com
Value: 7/10
Description: GIS.com defines GIS simply as layers that display different info that can be combined to suit the user. The site explains GIS needs hardware, software, data, people and, training to operate. Nothing in further depth on these topics is available on this site. The uses of GIS are outlined as mapping and finding of data and objects. A good overview of analysis of the data in GIS is simply described. No topics related to GIS are introduced at any depth. GIS.com’s website design is easy to navigate. Through the GIS concepts the same link display follows the user through the site. Free software is offered through a link with ESRI but no instruction on the site is available about the software.
URL: http://www.esri.com
Value: 7.5/10
Description: I cannot take away the fact that the ESRI web page is an excellent resource for GIS users; I do not, however, believe it is the best site for those who have never been exposed to the topic. On its own the site provides information that will be ‘over the heads’ of first time users. This is mainly because of the site’s emphasis on the product rather than the training (that is of course, unless you buy their product). If you have somehow managed to afford your own home version of any of the ARC programs, the ESRI web page has an outstanding, step by step, training program. To receive more general information on GIS basics ESRI will refer you to other web sites that may provide assistance. Otherwise, the web site has a great selection of sample images, and puts forth a concerted effort to bring new users to the field of GIS.
URL: http://www.gis.com
Value: 8/10
Description: GIS.com provided a very basic explanation of GIS and its uses. They had a simple to navigate web page where you can find knowledge on where and why GIS would be useful to you. It provides examples for many fields of work (ie. Natural Resource Management and Forestry) and how these fields can be improved by the use of GIS systems. For new users this site will provide a basic understanding of GIS, which will facilitate learning more about GIS in the future. The web site caters to this aspect by providing contact information for places where you may further your study of GIS.
Value: 4/10
Description: As I read through this web site I got the feeling of being more and more lost. It had too much cluttered information which would surely confuse any first time GIS user. The page was covered in links to other places, most of which were even further removed from the topic of GIS. I found that the most frequent thing that the site would put side by side is information involving GIS and GPS, this is sure to sidetrack people who want to learn about GIS. The facts I did gather concerning GIS on this page was brief and uninformative. For new users I believe this type of site to be a very poor choice.
URL: http://www.gis.com
Value: 10/10
I found that this site proved to be the most useful of all of the sites that I found. It is actually linked to the ESRI site and they are partnered up with links for one another. It is easy to navigate around the site with topics that include the what, how and why of GIS and within these headings, the site allows the user the option to click on further information related to the specific topic. I found that is used examples that are easy to understand as to why you would actually use GIS as opposed to examples that would not make sense to the average person who is not educated with GIS and its properties. This site was the quickest as opposed to the other two when it came to downloading, and the graphics used were excellent since they were straightforward ones as opposed to complicated ones that tend to be difficult to understand. Other pertinent things found on this site included an option to download a free/trial version of the GIS software for the user to try it for themselves, as well as other related web links for further information. However, the most important item found on this website is a link to the website http://www.esri.com/company/gis_touches/everyday.html. This site has an incredible movie called Geography Matters that actually implements the use of GIS into our everyday lives starting with the lights being turned on at six am to take out dinner at the drive thru at six pm. This movie, as well as the whole web site, really made me have a better understanding and appreciation of GIS and its properties as to what it can do for the world and us.
URL: http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/gisfiles
I found this website from a link off of another web site. The layout is good with relative ease of continuing on with the next topic but the downloading is a little slow with many five to ten second delays. The best item found on this site was information under the heading titled “in the beginning…there were maps”. I found it interesting to read about the reasons why GIS was created and the history of GIS throughout the years. The
whole site is good with explaining GIS and its components as well as Raster and Vector information but unfortunately it does not tell the user why it is as useful as it is. This, I thought, would have been important to read about since the user is really trying to have a better understanding as to what GIS is about. There was, however, an interesting page involving real-life case studies that show how GIS was implemented within the companies involved and how the issues were solved. Even thought I gave this site a seven and a half out of ten, it is a pretty good site to read; however, nothing will really compare to the first site critiqued.
URL: http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/gis_poster
The final site I thought informative is actually a poster that was placed online by the United States Geological Survey. I found it very informative with topics that included; what is a GIS, how does it work, what’s special about it, the applications involved, and finally the history of it. There are an abundance of maps and images to help better understand the related topics but it seems a little boring since all the user has to do is scroll down and visualize themselves looking up at a poster. There are no links to other sites pertaining to GIS and nothing under each heading to click on for further information. For someone new to the world of GIS I think that they could gather a bit of information off of this site since it has a lot of examples pertaining to each heading, yet as I said previously, the average user could get a little bored since there is no interaction involved and no real world examples for them to compare with.