This will be the first of three, 2-hour hands-on workshops using the QGIS open source GIS package. Topics covered in the workshop series will include an overall introduction to the “OSGEO Stack” of open source GIS tools, including QGIS, GRASS, R and other tools. Then we will explore the QGIS software, which can run on Windows, Mac or Linux environments, runs in over 40 languages, and includes vector, raster, georegistration, and other capabilities, all using ESRI shapefiles as the basic vector data structure and Geotiffs as the basic raster data structure. The first workshop will be a general introduction to the QGIS user interface and will explore the various elementary functions, loading vector and raster data, etc. We will then explore various plugins, including live linking OpenStreetMaps and Bing maps and images, creating cartographic maps using the composer cartographic interface, working with vector attribute tables, and downloading and working with raster satellite imagery. Web resources will be explored.  

There are only 10 desktop computers available, so participants should bring a laptop with the software installed. Download QGIS (www.qgis.org) before the class (QGIS includes a current version of GRASS). Bring a flashdrive to class to download the data and tutorials. At the end of the course, students will have a general ability to use QGIS and GRASS, and can continue learning on their own using the data and tutorials provided.