tutorial

[Brian Johnson]

Another program to create shapefiles is AutoCad Map

Not the most powerful GIS tool available but we already had it and were able
to use drafting software we were already familiar with.  You can then assign
database entries to entities and export the layers as Arcview style shp
files.

There are free GIS software packages available but I'm not familiar with
them.  One I've heard is pretty good is GRASS but I don't know what
operating system it can be used on or how easy it is to use.

The links listed in other messages should get you something usable (I think)



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
[mailto:owner-mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu]On Behalf Of Matt.Wilkie
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 1:50 PM
To: Burkhard Sell
Cc: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
Subject: RE: tutorial


> more about the 'big picture.' For instance, what is a
> shapefile and how do I create one?

Shapefiles are the file format created by ESRI for use by
their desktop GIS product ArcView. Since they decided to
publish the specifications of the file format a number of
third party programs and utilities (like Mapserver) have
sprung up which are able to read the files directly.

In a more general sense, a shapefile is a collection of a
particular datatype or theme, roads, buildings and rivers
for example. Multiple themes (shapefiles) are displayed
on top of each like layers of transparencies.

To create shapefiles you will probably need a commercial
program like ArcView or MapInfo. Mapserver is focussed on
the internet delivery of pre-existing datasets and doesn't
have much for tools to build those datasets in the first
place.

I'm sure there are programs besides ArcView and MapInfo
I'm not aware of which an inexperienced person can use to
generate data. A good place to start looking is
http://freegis.org/ and
http://directory.google.com/Top/Science/Social_Sciences/Geography/Geographic
_Information_Systems/Software/


> What are mapfiles, views, templates, etc.?  I
> know there is a tutorial off the mapserver homepage, but
> it is very  bare-bones and seems to assume a degree of
> familiarity with basic map generation concepts that I
> don't have yet.
>
> Any ideas on where I can go to learn about this topic?

A good starting point is http://gis.about.com/.

cheers,

-matt

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Matt Wilkie * Yukon Renewable Resources GIS
http://renres.gov.yk.ca/pubs/rrgis/
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