Introduction to QGIS

2-day Introduction to QGIS course.

The course is held in the Masters GIS suite (building 44, room 1065) at the University of Southampton.

Access to GIS software (QGIS) and a computer will be provided for the duration of the course.

Course Description

This course introduces the underlying principles and methods of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). It examines the processes involved in the capture, storage, manipulation, analysis, presentation and output of digital geographical data in a GIS and provides opportunities for the development of practical skills in processing data using a leading Open Source GIS software package, QGIS.

The course comprises a series of presentations and computer-based practical sessions using QGIS  software with example data sets taken from a variety of fields. The main elements of the QGIS user interface are introduced and topics covered include: data management, data visualisation, georeferencing, analysis, data presentation and reporting.

This course is intended for those who have little or no QGIS knowledge and who wish to use FREE software developed by the Open Source community as opposed to a proprietary commercial package.

The full course outline can be viewed here

Aims and objectives:

·        To provide delegates with an appreciation of the fundamental concepts of GIS including its strengths and limitations.

·        To introduce the core functionality of QGIS software package.

·        To teach the fundamental skills needed to obtain, import, manipulate, analyse, interpret, manage and output spatial data in order to investigate topics in the delegate’s area of interest.

·        To demonstrate real-world uses of GIS.

·        To support the mapping of your own data in a QGIS project.

 

Learning outcomes - by the end of the course, delegates will have a knowledge and understanding of:

·        What GIS is; what spatial data is; raster and vector data models

·        The core tasks involved in a GIS analysis e.g. data acquisition and input; data storage and management; data manipulation and analysis; and data presentation and output

·        The core functionality of QGIS

·        Importing data from various sources

·        Handling tables including selections and queries

·        Creating and editing spatial data

·        The steps required to produce paper maps from base data

·        Basic geoprocessing tasks e.g. buffering and clipping