[OSGeo-Edu] Free GIS Book - next step ideas

[Victor Olaya]

Charlie,

great ideas! Definitely those are ideas to take, not to leave...

Maybe it is better to publish the Table of Contents in english not in the
SVN, but first in the wiki, you are right. This way those metadata you
mention could be completed (or modified if needed), and it is easier for me,
since I do not have to rename all the folders and files of the LaTeX
structure (wihch is way more tedious...)

Regarding the call for translations, is a brilliant idea (I really like your
proposal of talking to other universities...I will try to contact some
people that I know that could help us with this) but it is still a bit soon.
As I said when Venka told us about his student who could translate from
spanish to english, none ot the materials already written have been checked
and reviewed, so somehow it is a waste of time to translate them. However,
we can start talking to people (and trying hard to convince them to join
us), so as to create a "squad" of translators, ready to start working once
we finish (totally or partially) the book. By the end of the week I will
have a more updated version of the pdf on the svn...the one that is there is
a bit old. (but I am glad that you like it...;-) )

If you can get in contact with the guys at the EoE, go ahead. You probably
know more about that project than anyone of us...For sure they will have
plenty of information that we could use.

And finally, about the call for papers: The current structure of the spanish
book has 5 parts: Introduction, Data, Technology, Operations, Cartographic
Design, Organizational Factor (this translation might be a bit unaccurate,
but I hope you get the idea...it is about implementing GIS, and the social
and human implications of GIS...more or less) and Practical Applications.
This last
part should feature some practical applications of GIS in different fields,
and I think it is perfect for the journal.
I proposed the following chapters for this part:

GIS applied to Environmental Management (suitability models, landscape
management...)
GIS applied to Risk Analysis(flood analysis, fire spread modelling, water
polution...)
GIS applied to Ecology (predictive models, population modelling...)
GIS applied to Climate Analysis
GIS applied to Social Sciences(crime analysis, deomographic analysis,
politics...)

We can publish something like "GIS applied to social sciences", for
instance, and one such article in each journal number. Even, if we want it
to be more suitable for the OSGeo Journal, we could write something like
"Open Source GIS applied to social sciences"...and add some case studies and
everything related to the use of GIS in that particular field. We can later
remove the software stuff in the article to fit it into the theoretical
philosophy of the book.

What do you think of this? Tyler, what's your opinion on this?

I have just asked the people in the spanish list to tell me their opinion on
all that is going on here...so I guess I still have to wait a bit before I
can start moving. However, I will try to have at least that ToC in english
in the OSGeo wiki, so we can start discussing it.

Regards

***************************************************
Victor Olaya Ferrero
UNEX
E-mail : volaya at ya.com
            volaya at unex.es
My blog: http://volaya.blogspot.com
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