The GIS Free Book

It is perhaps one of the most valuable systematization products in the Spanish-speaking environment under the geospatial theme. Not having this document at hand is a crime; Let's not say ignorant of the project before reading it in this Geofumadas article.

It is very likely that a product like this will not be found in a publishing house in the Hispanic environment, I would dare to think that beyond; and it is that the document was born with the idea of ​​creating a reference product for the geospatial subject before the constant evolution and the danger of bias on the part of a specific software. Definitely an invaluable document prepared by Víctor Olaya, with the collaboration of acquaintances in the geospatial environment, including Landon Blake, Miguel Luaces, Miguel Montesinos, Ian Turton and Jorge Sanz. Although Víctor Olaya is a polyglot who has written and composed on a variety of technical and artistic topics, in this he seems to have collaboratively penetrated with this team in a very particular way, almost - I imagine - as when he was geofuming the SEXTANTE initiative , which surely must have been an intense moment.

We refer to the GIS Free Book, Which may well be a reference document at the time of writing on a topic, elaborate a presentation, build a system, teach lectures or simply learn more about Geographic Information Systems.

It is not only important because it is free, because it is Hispanic, because it is ours, but because we are in a time where the dispersion of PowerPoint presentations, learning communities, blogs and sites where information is shared contribute but do not consolidate in a consistent way the construction of hard documents that serve as conventional bibliographic reference. This background and the endorsement under which this book was built give it the authority to be taken into account by the community beyond the sense of admiration that we recognize in passing.

It consists of 8 chapters that include 37 topics built with a logical sense: the first two chapters focus on theoretical and conceptual aspects, as the third and fourth chapters progress we realize that many things we thought we knew about construction Geographic Information Systems involves multiple disciplines that go beyond our curriculum and do nothing but challenge our self-taught canine. I like the chronology of the introductory stages of each section, based on the common thread of what the user expects. Although the document type does not lend itself to developed examples, it does not lose the practical focus.

Chapter 7 closes with use cases specifically in the areas of ecology, risk management, and planning. Then in the annexes it is explained that there is a complete set of data from Baranja hill, In Croatia, which can be downloaded for the purpose of implementing the theme.

Also in the annexes a panorama of the software applied to the GIS in the current era is synthesized. A brief analysis of both free and proprietary software is made, mentioning in the case of desktop clients: ArcMap, Geomedia, Idrisi, PCRaster, Mapinfo, Manifold, Erdas Imagine and Google Earth. Regarding free software, gvSIG, Grass, Quantum GIS, SAGA, World Wind, Open JUMPy  UDig; Without leaving out the review of database managers, metadata, web publishing and libraries.

I suggest downloading this document as it is now -Which in itself already weighs 65 MB- Although it is a project, we hope it will continue to update. To finish convincing you, here I summarize the index of the 915 pages that only need a good cover.

I. The fundamentals

1. What is a GIS?

2. History of GIS

3. Cartographic and geodetic bases

II. The data

4. With what work in a GIS?

5. Models for geographic information

6. Main sources of spatial data

7. The quality of spatial data

8. Databases

III. The processes

9. What can I do with a GIS?

10. Basics for spatial analysis

11. Queries and operations with databases

12. Spatial statistics

13. Creating raster layers

14. Map algebra

15. Geomorphometry and terrain analysis

16. Image processing

17. Creating Vector Layers

18. Geometric operations with vector data

19. Costs, distances and areas of influence

20. More spatial statistics

21. Multidimensional Analysis

IV. The technology

22. What are GIS applications like?

23. Desktop Tools

24. Remote servers and clients. Web Mapping

25. Mobile GIS

V. The visualization

26. GIS as visualization tools

27. Visualization and Representation Basics

28. Map and cartographic communication

29. The visualization in GIS terms

SAW. The organizational factor

30. How is a GIS organized?

31. Spatial Data Infrastructures

32. Metadata

33. standards

VII. Practical applications and uses

34. What can I use a GIS for?

35. Risk analysis and management

36. Ecology

37. Resource management and planning

VIII. Attachments

A. Data set

B. Current Overview of GIS Applications

C. About the preparation of this book

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