GIS Learning

Resources covering the basics of GIS. Tutorials for learning GIS, geospatial community, and geographic concepts.

Earth cake

GIS Day and PostGIS Day Are Coming Up

Caitlin Dempsey

November 18, 2020 marks the 21st anniversary of GIS Day. The following day is PostGIS Day.

flowchart that summarizes the whole learning guide to become a Web GIS developer

Open-Source Web-GIS Development Roadmap

Geo Contributor

This article will provide a step-by-step learning guide to support your Web-GIS development journey, based on the authors' years of experience and extensive research.

Introduction to remote sensing and imagery materials hub

Hub for Free Remote Sensing Materials

Caitlin Dempsey

Esri has launched a hub that will serve as the collection point for free remote sensing and imagery materials

Map of Halloween Costume Spending Across the United States. Source: Esri.

Halloween GIS Fun

Caitlin Dempsey

Looking to add a little geo to your Halloween beyond the proliferation of Halloween Trick or Treater online maps? Halloween ...

Self-Guided QGIS Courses

Caitlin Dempsey

These six QGIS courses are available for free self-guided learning.

GIS and Cartography Material Available for Online Teaching

Caitlin Dempsey

Several institutions and professors have offered up readily available online resources that can be used to virtual teach cartography and GIS courses.

How to Add Leader Lines to Labels in QGIS

Caitlin Dempsey

The release of QGIS version 3.10 brought with it the native capability to add leader lines to labels.

Map showing the ten zones that cover the contiguous United States with the UTM map projection.

How to Calculate the Boundaries of an UTM Zone

Caitlin Dempsey

A UTM coordinate system's eastern and western borders can be easily determined.

GIS Jokes

Caitlin Dempsey

Here are some corny GIS jokes.

Case Study: How Brindisi, Italy is Using GIS to Help Preserve its Ancient Architecture

Pitney Bowes

The city of Brindisi, Italy deployed a solution from Pitney Bowes® that provides 80 to 90 percent faster performance, while dramatically improving the user-friendliness of maps and significantly reducing staff time dedicated to mapping.

Free Synthetic Aperture Radar Handbook Available

Caitlin Dempsey

This free handboo provides insight into how different Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) methodologies can be used for forest monitoring and biomass estimation.  

Tutorial: Introduction to Geospatial Analysis in R

Caitlin Dempsey

Explore the "Introduction to Geospatial Analysis in R" tutorial for lessons on importing files, layer management, and making maps.

How to Make a Tile Grid Map Using Google Sheets

Caitlin Dempsey

This tutorial provides instructions on how to create a tile grid map using Google Sheets.

Geospatial Data Act Passes With Industry Support

Caitlin Dempsey

The Geospatial Data Act of 2018 (GDA) was enacted on October 5, 2018, when the President signed it as a component of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act (H.R. 302).

QGIS Map Design, 2nd Edition

Caitlin Dempsey

Updated to be used with QGIS 3.4, the second edition of QGIS Map Design is now available in its final version.

How to Populate a Cell with the ZIP Code Based on an Address in Google Sheets

Caitlin Dempsey

You can set up a simple function in Google Sheets to be able to populate a separate column with ZIP code dat based on address data.

What Makes Maps Go Viral?

Mark Altaweel

The study of viral geography could be a new, emerging field where researchers are now beginning to look at the elements that make a map viral.

GIS and Security Applications

Mark Altaweel

The use of GIS in security software applications allows greater enhancements not just to monitoring but also planning and forecasting potential security threats, both from physical and cyber threats.

Mapping Elephant Distribution with Remote Sensing and GIS

Claudia Windeck

A variety of applications using GIS, remote sensing and GPS tracking of individuals per collars have advanced in the last years and are increasingly used for mapping and tracking elephants.

Learn to Use GIS to Map and Analyze Surface Water Data

Caitlin Dempsey

Esri Press recently published a book to teach users how to use GIS to analyze surface water using the National Hydrography Dataset produced by the USGS.  

Screenshot showing the reprojected map with a Pacific Ocean centric view in QGIS.

QGIS Tutorial: How to Change the Map Projection to be Centered Over the Pacific Ocean

Caitlin Dempsey

This quick tutorial shows you how to recenter your map project in QGIS so that the center of the map view is on the Pacific Ocean.

Spatial Challenges of Navigating Rural Roads for Self-Driving Cars

Mark Altaweel

Researchers from MIT are testing the use of GPS and LiDAR to enable autonomous navigation in rural areas lacking detailed 3D maps.

Department of the Interior is Considering Charging for Landsat Data

Caitlin Dempsey

The Department of the Interior (DOI), which oversees the USGS, has tasked a federal advisory committee with exploring how instituting a fee for Landsat data might impact scientists and other users

From: Decker, D.J., M.E.. Krasny, G.R. Goff, C.R. Smith and D.W. Gross, editors. 1991. Challenges in the conservation of biological reserves - a practitioner’s guide. Westview Press. 402 pp.

Mapping How Birds Are Affected by Human Activity

Mark Altaweel

GIS and spatial analysis have demonstrated the complexity of how anthropogenic disturbances  could affect birds and bird habitats.

An image that says "GIS certification" in black letters with a trophy that is tipped over with gold stars spilling out the top with a light blue background.

GIS Certification versus Certificate Programs

Caitlin Dempsey

GIS certification and certificate programs are two similarly named yet different markers of a person's GIS education and skills achievements.

How to Add a Map from Mapbox to QGIS

Caitlin Dempsey

This tutorial will show you how to take a map style you have created in Mapbox and load it into a QGIS session.