<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif;font-size:13px"><div dir="ltr" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295519">For those wanting to make effective use of the free environmental and spatial data being made available by institutions such as LINZ, DOC, Landcare Research, NIWA, Statistics NZ, etc, (not to mention international resources such as OSM, NASA, WMO, ...) without buying into expensive commercial GIS software, there are several options, including the use of the world's most popular Open Source GIS application, QGIS. <br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295984" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295986" dir="ltr">QGIS ibecame a core part of NIWA's Open Data policy, after it became obvious that providing open data, without tools tools enabling effective data reuse was a somewhat shortsighted approach. Which in turn led to the realisation that providing some help in using this software is also important.<br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295893" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295869" dir="ltr">NIWA & DMS have recently offered low cost QGIS workshops for anyone interested, and there are many online tutorials and other resources. NIWA is also hosting a local QGIS User Group, which helps NZ'rs getting started with QGIS, & now has more non-NIWA users than staff.</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3296019" dir="ltr"><a id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3296020" href="https://teamwork.niwa.co.nz/display/NQUG/NIWA+QGIS+Users+Group">https://teamwork.niwa.co.nz/display/NQUG/NIWA+QGIS+Users+Group</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295871" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295877" dir="ltr">A new resource is the self paced, free, online QGIS training offered through the Canvas Network, starting Monday:</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295896" dir="ltr"><a id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295971" href="https://www.canvas.net/browse/delmarcollege/courses/introduction-to-geospatial-technology-1">https://www.canvas.net/browse/delmarcollege/courses/introduction-to-geospatial-technology-1</a><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295931" dir="ltr"><br></div><div style="" class="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3295896" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3296112" style="" class="" dir="ltr">Cheers,</div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3296098" style="" class="" dir="ltr"><br></div><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1423459746958_3296085" style="" class="" dir="ltr"> Brent Wood (& yes, I do work at NIWA :-)<br style="" class=""></div></div></body></html>