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Practical GIS
Practical GIS

Practical GIS: Learn novice to advanced topics such as QGIS, Spatial data analysis, and more

zł39.99 zł177.99
eBook Jun 2017 428 pages 1st Edition
eBook
zł39.99 zł177.99
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zł39.99 zł177.99
eBook Jun 2017 428 pages 1st Edition
eBook
zł39.99 zł177.99
Paperback
zł221.99
Subscription
Free Trial
eBook
zł39.99 zł177.99
Paperback
zł221.99
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Free Trial

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Practical GIS

Accessing GIS Data With QGIS

Despite the fact that some of the advanced GIS software suggest, we only need to know which buttons to press in order to get instant results, GIS is much more than that. We need to understand the basic concepts and the inner workings of a GIS in order to know the kind of analyses we can perform on our data. We must be able to come up with specific workflows, models which get us the most meaningful results. We also need to understand the reference frame of GIS, how our data behaves in such an environment, and how to interpret those results. In this chapter, we will learn about GIS data models by browsing our data in QGIS, and getting acquainted with its GUI.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • Graphical User Interface of QGIS
  • Opening spatial data in QGIS
  • GIS data models

Accessing raster data

The first data type that we will use is raster data. It might be the most familiar to you, as it resembles traditional images. First of all, let's open QGIS. In the browser panel, we can immediately see our downloaded data if we navigate to our working directory. We can easily distinguish vector data from raster data by their icons. Raster layers have a dedicated icon of a 3x3 pixels image, while vector layers have an icon of a concave polygon:

Don't have a browser panel? You can toggle panels from the View menu's Panels option. If it is displayed, you can dock it anywhere by dragging it out from its current place and placing it in another part of the GUI.

We can drag and drop most of the data from the browser panel or, alternatively, use the Add Raster Layer button from the Add layer toolbar and browse the layer. The browser panel is more...

Accessing vector data

Now that you've learned the basics of raster data, let's examine vector data. This is the other fundamental data type which is used in GIS. Let's get some vector data at the top of that srtm layer. From the Browser Panel, we open up the administrative boundaries layer (the one with the shp extension) containing our study area, and the waterways and traffic layers from the OpenStreetMap data. We can also use the Add Vector Layer button from the side toolbar:

If you don't see the points after opening the traffic data, you might have just opened the traffic areas layer. Geofabrik extracts distinguishable areas from lines and points by appending an a to the file name. The traffic_a_free_1.shp file contains polygons related to traffic (for example, parking lots), while the one named traffic_free_1.shp contains points. You can remove obsolete...

Understanding map scales

When zooming around the map, we could notice the Scale changing in the status bar. GIS software (apart from web mapping solutions) usually use scales instead of zoom levels. The map scale is an important concept of cartography, and its use was inherited by GIS software. The scale shows the ratio (or representative fraction) between the map and the real world. It is a mapping between two physical units:

For example, a Scale of 1:250,000 means 1 centimeter on the map is 2500 meters (250,000 centimeters) in the real world. However, as the map scale is unitless, it also means 1 inch on the map is 250,000 inches in the real world, and so on. With the scale of the map, we can make explicit statements about its coverage and implicit statements about its accuracy. Large scale maps (for example, with a scale of 1:10,000) cover smaller areas with greater accuracy...

Summary

In this chapter, we acquainted ourselves with the GUI of QGIS and explained about data models in GIS. With this knowledge, it will be easier to come up with specific workflows later as we have an idea how the input data work and what we can do with it. We also learned about one of the mandatory cartographic elements--the map scale.

In the next chapter, we will use our vector data in another way. We will make queries on our vector layers by using both their attribute data and geometries. Finally, we will learn how to join the attributes of different layers in order to make richer layers and give ourselves more options on further visualization and analysis tasks.

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Key benefits

  • This easy-to-follow guide allows you to manage and analyze geographic data with ease using open source tools
  • Publish your geographical data online
  • Learn the basics of geoinformatics in a practical way by solving problems

Description

The most commonly used GIS tools automate tasks that were historically done manually—compiling new maps by overlaying one on top of the other or physically cutting maps into pieces representing specific study areas, changing their projection, and getting meaningful results from the various layers by applying mathematical functions and operations. This book is an easy-to-follow guide to use the most matured open source GIS tools for these tasks. We’ll start by setting up the environment for the tools we use in the book. Then you will learn how to work with QGIS in order to generate useful spatial data. You will get to know the basics of queries, data management, and geoprocessing. After that, you will start to practice your knowledge on real-world examples. We will solve various types of geospatial analyses with various methods. We will start with basic GIS problems by imitating the work of an enthusiastic real estate agent, and continue with more advanced, but typical tasks by solving a decision problem. Finally, you will find out how to publish your data (and results) on the web. We will publish our data with QGIS Server and GeoServer, and create a basic web map with the API of the lightweight Leaflet web mapping library.

Who is this book for?

The book is for IT professionals who have little or no knowledge of GIS. It’s also useful for those who are new to the GIS field who don’t want to spend a lot of money buying licenses of commercial tools and training.

What you will learn

  • Collect GIS data for your needs
  • Store the data in a PostGIS database
  • Exploit the data using the power of the GIS queries
  • Analyze the data with basic and more advanced GIS tools
  • Publish your data and share it with others
  • Build a web map with your published data

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Table of Contents

13 Chapters
Setting Up Your Environment Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Accessing GIS Data With QGIS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using Vector Data Effectively Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Digital Maps Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Exporting Your Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Feeding a PostGIS Database Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
A PostGIS Overview Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Spatial Analysis in QGIS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Spatial Analysis on Steroids - Using PostGIS Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
A Typical GIS Problem Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Showcasing Your Data Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Styling Your Data in GeoServer Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating a Web Map Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
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