[OSGeo-Edu] Desktop GIS Handbook

[Tim Sutton]

On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 1:27 PM, Charlie Schweik
<cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu> wrote:
>  On 10/15/2010 10:10 AM, Tim Sutton wrote:
>>
>> Hi
>>
>> As a top comment, please also feel free to make use of (under CC-SA,
>> please attribute our funders) the resources we created here:
>>
>> http://linfiniti.com/dla
>>
>> All original source docs are available (oo writer or latex) for
>> worksheets, video scripts etc.
>
> Tim,
>
> FYI, we added an entry to the above material on the OSGeo education
> inventory page.
> See  http://www.osgeo.org/node/1076. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks - I remember adding it somewhere to the osgeo wiki when the edu
list was still getting up & running but I don't remember where
anymore, so its good to have it reposted there.

Regards

Tim

>
> All: This is our main location for sharing material with each other. Please
> bookmark the submission page [1] and add entries whenever you have something
> relevant to share...
>
> Cheers
> Charlie
>
> [1] https://www.osgeo.org/node/add/edu-content
>
>
>> Best regards
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 11, 2010 at 8:58 AM, Simon Cropper
>> <scropper at botanicusaustralia.com.au>  wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Charlie,
>>>
>>> Since I have not received any comments about this issue I have reposted
>>> under a new subject title as my response may have been missed by people
>>> not
>>> reviewing the original thread.
>>>
>>> Below is my original post...
>>>
>>>> 3) I'm going to continue working on the desktop GIS handbook over the
>>>> next few months. Remember these links?
>>>>
>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Desktop_GIS_exercises
>>>> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Web_GIS_lab_exercises
>>>>
>>>> Anyone have any other additions or contributions?
>>>
>>> After nearly 8 months I have finally acquired some aerial photography and
>>> vector data from the Victorian Government under a CC-BY-SA (I actually
>>> have
>>> a piece of paper. Took a lot of negotiation but eventually did it).
>>> I am now actively preparing my tutorials (repository, templates, data
>>> bundles, how to's).
>>> I was unaware of the above links and had given my draft a working title
>>> 'Desktop GIS Handbook' to avoid conflicts with others suggestions they
>>> would
>>> use 'Cookbook' (this is following extensive searching for such a title on
>>> the Internet). Obviously I am going to have to decide on anothe r name to
>>> avoid confusion with what you are developing.
>>> My outline of tasks are based on my recent paper in the latest OSGeo
>>> Journal
>>> (http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au/Documents/164-334-1-PB.pdf) but
>>> will
>>> expand this list under broad groupings to include other activities.
>>> Obviously once developed and released you will be able to either link to,
>>> create a copy or create regional derivatives of my work as I am releasing
>>> the information under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 Australia licence.
>>> My tutorials are focusing originally on gvSIG (which at the moment is
>>> still
>>> in incubation) but I had decided to broaden the brief to include any free
>>> and unencumbered packages (this allows me to create tutorials for some
>>> freeware conversion routines for ECW and DWG files). My initial
>>> candidates
>>> were gvSIG+Sextante, OpenJUMP, QGIS, GDAL command line utilities and
>>> SAGA.
>>> The choice is based on what I use to get things done rather than
>>> dogmatically sticking to one package.
>>> After reviewing structured documents, open office, PDFs and various other
>>> document types (see previous posts), I decided the most pivotal element
>>> to
>>> development of this type of resource is accessibility to published
>>> documents
>>> for maintenance and creation of derivatives. Without running through all
>>> the
>>> logic I have fallen back to basic HTML to be made available on-line,
>>> which
>>> in turn will be used to create PDFs that will be able to be used
>>> off-line.
>>> PREEMPTIVE ANSWER - I decided not to use OpenOffice Writer because
>>> although
>>> it is very easy to create documents, maintenance and derivatives are
>>> difficult to create. Essentially ODT files need to be disassembled then
>>> reassembled with every derivative (consider the actual structure). This
>>> places huge barriers to ongoing maintenance of this type of resource. In
>>> HTML, files can be updated by duplicating the directory, replacing the
>>> images with updated ones, then the text updated accordingly. Side-by-side
>>> editors like Diffuse or Goggle Translate can be easily used to do this
>>> without worrying about the HTML tags. This option is a bit like using a
>>> structured document without the rigidity.
>>> I am currently preparing an introduction, packaging the data and
>>> preparing
>>> notes on how others can contribute to the project if they want.
>>> PREEMPTIVE ANSWER - I decided not to house it under the OSGeo framework
>>> because as a self confessed control freak I like freedom when developing
>>> a
>>> resource. Freedom to chop and change anything without holding a meeting
>>> to
>>> ask permission. I also wanted an easily accessible domain and the ability
>>> to
>>> create a webpage outside the existing OSGeo wiki structure. At least at
>>> the
>>> outset I was going to keep the resource on my company webpage although I
>>> might look into creating a new domain once I settle on a new name or
>>> another
>>> option if one become available.
>>> Postscript - I h ad not intend to pilfer your handbook idea. I came to
>>> the
>>> OSGeo-Edu Group after being invited by Cameron Shorter after he became
>>> aware
>>> of my 'tutorial project'. Obviously the need for this type of resource
>>> has
>>> resulted in a number of disparate people/groups considering the
>>> development
>>> of a handbook. As I have teased out the various issues that I have
>>> encountered I have posted my thoughts on the mailing list for input by
>>> others. I intend to continue with my resource, at least until I complete
>>> what I set out to do, but have structured my work to ensure that the
>>> resource will not be lost to the broader community if I loose interest or
>>> unable to continue my work (see Note 5). Once I have a palpable base I
>>> will
>>> upload to my webpage and let people know via this list.
>>>
>>>  Cheers Simon
>>>
>>>      Simon Cropper
>>>      Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
>>>      PO Box 160, Sunshine, Victoria
>>>   &  nbsp;  W: http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au
>>>      T: +61 (03) 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Edu_discuss mailing list
>>> Edu_discuss at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/edu_discuss
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>



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Tim Sutton - QGIS Project Steering Committee Member (Release  Manager)
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