GIS For Dummies
Curious about GIS?Organizing a GIS?Here's the book you need!Geographic information system, or GIS, is a powerful technology that has been called "geography on steroids." This book contains what you need to know on mapping terminology and digital mapping, how to locate geographic features and analyze their patterns, and how to generate travel directions, customer locations lists, and much more with GIS.GIS takes a village — know all the hardware and software necessary to collect, analyze, and manipulate GIS dataJust for map mavens — explore the difference between 2D and 3D maps, create a map, or manage multiple mapsWhat the data mean — analyze patterns that appear in maps and interpret the resultsThink spatially — recognize how spatial factors relate to geographic dataOn the grid — define and locate geographic objects on the gridThe earth is not flat — accurately portray geographic features with map projectionsTechnological duct tape — discover the many uses of GIS for business, the military, city planning, emergency services, land management, and moreDesign a GIS — determine what your organization needs, do appropriate analyses, and plan your systemOpen the book and find:How to get paper maps into your computerDifferent ways to measure distanceHow to organize your spatial dataWhat raster and vector mean to a cartographerHow to choose a GIS software vendorHow GIS can help you determine appropriate land useDozens of applications for GIS queries and analysesHow to create animated GIS output