[OSGeo-Discuss] Introduction - hi; gis based wychwood work; pointers on how to enter "GIS" world?

[Ari Jolma]

Malcolm,

I think you've got quite far already. With every information system 
project it is very important to start from the problem, existing 
institutions, needs, etc and do a careful analysis of the real system. 
After saying that, I think it's also a good idea to do something that 
seems to be something that's needed. In your case it could be a simple 
webmapping solution. Tyler Mitchell's book on webmapping should provide 
good information. Another possibility is probably to use Google maps, 
but I don't know any good introductions to it and I haven't done 
anything with it. When you set up something, the first thing you realize 
is your data needs.

We require our students to read Longley et al. Geographic Information 
Systems and Science, which is a colorful book and a good source of basic 
information, although it does not mention free software. 
http://www.ncgia.ucsb.edu/cctp/ is the NCGIA core curriculum project, 
which gives a good overview. But when reading both of these it is 
important to keep in mind that you are solving your problem, and the 
problem is not "how do I apply GIS in this case", it is "how can these 
tools help me".

Ari

-- 
Prof. Ari Jolma
Kartografia ja Geoinformatiikka / Cartography and Geoinformatics
Teknillinen Korkeakoulu / Helsinki University of Technology
POBox 1200, 02015 TKK, Finland
Email: ari.jolma at tkk.fi URL: http://www.tkk.fi/~jolma