[Qgis-community-team] new case study for QGIS site: QGIS/GRASS IN BIOGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

Sat Jul 24 12:14:51 EDT 2010

Hi Otto,

I already sent the images to Tim.

cheers

-- Giovanni --

On Sat, 2010-07-24 at 14:37 +0200, Otto Dassau wrote:
> Hi Giovanni,
> 
> we currently have a few case studies we want to add and yours is very
> welcome as well! Once you have added the "missing" things Tim wrote below I
> can add it to the website.
> 
> thanks a lot
>  Otto 
> 
> Am Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:37:04 +0200
> schrieb Tim Sutton <tim at linfiniti.com>:
> 
> > Hi Giovanni
> > 
> > I'm not sure if anyone else has responded to this yet. It would make a
> > great addition to the site. My only request would be that she include
> > a few images of output from her research, and a personal 'headshot'
> > photo as we have done with the other case study on the site.
> > 
> > We can then go ahead and add it.
> > 
> > Best regards
> > 
> > Tim
> > 
> > On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:00 AM, Giovanni Manghi
> > <giovanni.manghi at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I have just received from my friend Marcia Barbosa a text that
> > > would fill nicely as a new case study for the QGIS web site. Here it
> > > is (I have also a couple of pictures that are too heavy to attach, sak
> > > directly to me):
> > >
> > >
> > > "QGIS/GRASS IN BIOGEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH
> > >
> > > I started applying GIS to my work in biogeography about 10 years ago.
> > > Through my graduate internship, PhD work and two other research jobs,
> > > I used the proprietary software packages that were available and used
> > > at my workplaces – mainly CartaLinx, Idrisi, ArcView and ArcGIS. But I
> > > found it rather annoying that we were constantly dealing with license
> > > renewal issues, and that I could not use the software away from the
> > > workplace unless I acquired my own license.
> > >
> > > It crossed my mind on several occasions that switching to free
> > > software would spare me those problems. However, there was prejudice
> > > against the analytical capabilities of free software, and even after I
> > > heard about the potential of GRASS, I was still reluctant because I
> > > thought it would be too difficult to learn. I was also afraid it would
> > > be cumbersome to migrate all the maps and analyses that I had done so
> > > far.
> > >
> > > At the beginning of my post-doc in 2008, I finally gave it an
> > > opportunity and took a training course on Quantum GIS and GRASS. It
> > > was probably the best decision of my professional life! I found that
> > > QGIS provided a very intuitive interface for GRASS, that they
> > > complemented each other perfectly, and they provided all the
> > > analytical capabilities I needed.
> > >
> > > I started using both programs immediately after the course. Not only
> > > did I begin all my new GIS work with QGIS/GRASS [e.g. 1,2], but I also
> > > did follow-up analyses on previous works that I had done with
> > > commercial software. For example, I had built models of otter [3] and
> > > desman [4] distribution in the Iberian Peninsula. After switching to
> > > QGIS-GRASS, I analysed how those models behaved when downscaled to a
> > > finer resolution [5]. Another previous work on biogeographic
> > > relationships between Iberian lynx and rabbit [6] had a follow-up
> > > after I switched to QGIS-GRASS [7]. Not only did I not have any
> > > problems with the migration of the data and previous results: I also
> > > found it much easier to do the things I wanted to do with the new
> > > software, and was able to do extra analyses which I could not have
> > > done with the programs I used before.
> > >
> > > All in all, switching to Quantum GIS/GRASS brought me nothing but
> > > advantages. I can now work freely at work, at home and on my laptop on
> > > the move, without having to worry about software licenses or moving to
> > > new institutions. Open-source software covers all my research needs
> > > and gives me the freedom I longed for.
> > >
> > >
> > > References
> > >
> > > [1] Barbosa A.M., Fontaneto D., Marini L. & Pautasso M. (2010) Is the
> > > human population a large-scale indicator of the species richness of
> > > ground beetles? Animal Conservation, early view. doi:
> > > 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00363.x.
> > >
> > > [2] Fontaneto D., Barbosa A.M., Pautasso M. & Segers H. (submitted)
> > > The 'rotiferologist' effect and the drivers of species richness in
> > > rotifers.
> > >
> > > [3] Barbosa, A.M., R. Real, J. Olivero & J.M. Vargas, 2003. Otter
> > > (Lutra lutra) distribution modeling at two resolution scales suited to
> > > conservation planning in the Iberian Peninsula. Biological
> > > Conservation, 114:377-387.
> > >
> > > [4] Barbosa A.M., Real R. & Vargas J.M. (2009) Transferability of
> > > environmental favourability models in geographic space: the case of
> > > the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus) in Portugal and Spain.
> > > Ecological Modelling 220: 747-754. doi:
> > > 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.12.004
> > >
> > > [5] Barbosa A.M., Real R. & Vargas J.M. (2010) Use of
> > > coarse-resolution models of species' distributions to guide local
> > > conservation inferences. Conservation Biology, early view. doi:
> > > 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01517.x
> > >
> > > [6] Real R., A. M. Barbosa, A. Rodríguez, F. J. García, J. M. Vargas,
> > > L. J. Palomo & M. Delibes, 2008. Conservation biogeography of
> > > ecologically-interacting species: the case of the Iberian lynx and the
> > > European rabbit. Diversity and Distributions, 15: 390–400. doi:
> > > 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2008.00546.x.
> > >
> > > [7] Barbosa, A.M. & Real, R. (in press) Favourable areas for expansion
> > > and reintroduction of Iberian lynx accounting for distribution trends
> > > and genetic diversity of the European rabbit. Wildlife Biology in
> > > Practice."
> > >
> > > Author
> > > This article was contributed in July 2010 by Dr. A. Márcia Barbosa.
> > > She is a post-doctoral researcher at Imperial College London (UK) and
> > > the University of Évora (Portugal).
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > cheers
> > >
> > > -- Giovanni --
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > 
> > 
> > 