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<DIV>Hi All,</DIV>
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<DIV>Apologies if this is not appropriate for the QGIS user list, but I figured
some members of it might be interested in it. In addition, this book wouldn’t
have been possible without the help of various list members who answered my
posts when I got stuck working out how to do a couple of things in QGIS, so
thanks to them for their help. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I hope this will encourage more biologists to consider using QGIS as an
alternative to commercial GIS software both for their research, and for teaching
at the undergrad and postgraduate levels.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>All the best,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Colin</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman">Now Available - ‘GIS For Biologists: A
Practical Introduction For Undergraduates’ by Colin D. MacLeod (Pictish Beast
Publications, 352 pages).<BR><BR>’GIS For Biologists’ is a new book that
provides an easy-to-understand introduction to using GIS in biological research
as well as six practical exercises specifically created to help biologists learn
how to use GIS in their daily lives. The instructions for these practical
exercises are provided for both ESRI's ArcGIS For Desktop 10.3 and QGIS
2.8.3, the leading open source, and so freely available, GIS software. The
exercises cover a range of biological fields ranging from tropical ecology,
ornithology, marine mammal biology and epidemiology, and are set in locations
ranging from Peru to Scotland, the continental US, northern Mozambique and the
North Atlantic.<BR><BR>As well as providing the perfect practical exercises for
any biologist interested in learning how to use GIS, this book is also
well-suited to those who wish to teach GIS to undergraduate, masters or
postgraduate students in any biological field, but who do not have the time to
develop their own practical course content. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT><FONT face="Times New Roman"><BR>This
book is supported by a dedicated ‘GIS For Biologists’ webpage (</FONT><A
href="http://www.gisinecology.com/GFB.htm"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.gisinecology.com/GFB.htm</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">) which provides helpful information on where to get your
preferred GIS software, how to download and install it, and how to download the
data used in the practical exercises in the book, as well as links to free short
videos which have been created to accompany the book's contents.<BR><BR>‘GIS For
Biologists’ is available to purchase as a paperback or as a kindle ebook
(although due to its fixed page format, it is only available on devices and
Kindle apps with 'pinch and zoom' capabilities). It is available from all good
book sellers (and Amazon), or for order directly from GIS In Ecology. Free
previews of the contents can be downloaded from </FONT><A
href="http://www.gisinecology.com/GFB_book.htm"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.gisinecology.com/GFB_book.htm</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT face="Times New Roman">If you wish to
request a desk/examination copy for consideration as a recommended course text
for a course you run or are developing, please email <A
href="mailto:cdmacleod@GISinEcology.com">cdmacleod@GISinEcology.com</A> (desk
copies will only be provided on verification of your academic position as a
course coordinator/instructor).</FONT><BR><BR>From The Back Of The
book:<BR><BR>This book provides a user-friendly and practical introduction for
undergraduates to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in biological
research. Unlike most other books about using GIS, this information is
specifically presented in a biological context and it is divided into two
sections.<BR><BR>The first section provides just enough background information
to allow the novice biological GIS user to get started with GIS without getting
too bogged down in the theory behind it or making some of the most common
<BR>mistakes made by beginners. It covers areas such as what GIS is, why GIS is
useful in biology, the basics of GIS, common concepts and terms in GIS, how data
are contained in a GIS, useful information about what to think about before
starting a GIS project and how to break down and translate biological tasks into
the language of GIS. This information is all provided in easy-to-read and
non-technical language, with specific reference to its application in biological
research.<BR><BR>The second section, which constitutes the main body of the
book, consists of six practical exercises accompanied by detailed instruction
sets. The first four exercises introduce the novice biological GIS user to
basic, but important, GIS skills, such as making a map, creating new feature
data layers, creating raster data layers and joining together data from
different data layers. The final two consist of case studies of how GIS can be
used to answer real biological research questions. Each of these exercises
represents a stand-alone GIS leson which can be completed either on its own or
as part of a practical session for an undergraduate class. In addition, each
exercise focuses on a different area of biology, such as tropical ornithology,
epidemiology, marine biology and rainforest ecology, and on a different part of
the world, including the Amazon rainforest, a Scottish field station, Mount Mabu
in northern Mozambique, the North Atlantic Ocean and the USA. Instructions for
each exercise are provided for both the leading commercial GIS package (ESRI’s
ArcGIS® 10.3 software) and the leading freely available open-source GIS software
(QGIS 2.8.3, also known as Quantum GIS), meaning that this book can be used to
learn, or teach, how to use GIS in biological research, regardless of the
availability of commercial software licences.<BR><BR>Taken together, the two
sections of this book provide the perfect primer to show undergraduates, and
other novice GIS users, how useful GIS can be in biological research, why it is
rapidly becoming a key skill in many areas of biology, and how to start using
it. The PSLS series of books uses Task-Oriented Learning (TOL) to teach the
practical application of research skills to the life sciences. This involves
demonstrating how these skills can be used in the specific circumstances in
which they are likely to be required, rather than concentrating on teaching
theoretical frameworks or on teaching skills in a generic or abstract manner. By
seeing how the similar processes are used to achieve a variety of different
goals within a specific field, it becomes easier for the reader to identify the
general rules behind the practical application of these processes and,
therefore, to transfer them to novel situations they may encounter in the
future.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">==================================================================================<BR>GIS
IN ECOLOGY - Providing Training, Advice And Consultancy On The Use Of GIS In
Ecology<BR><BR>Web: www.GISinEcology.com Email:
info@GISinEcology.com<BR><BR>Need to ask a question about using GIS? Try the GIS
In Ecology Forum: www.GISinEcology.com/GIS_in_Ecology_forum.htm<BR><BR>Books
>From GIS In Ecology Staff:<BR><BR>GIS For Biologists: A Practical Introduction
For Undergraduates; RRP: £24.99<BR>An Introduction To Using GIS In Marine
Biology; RRP: £44.99<BR>An Introduction To Using GIS In Marine Biology:
Supplementary Workbook One - Creating Maps Of Species Distribution; RRP: £19:99
<BR><BR>If you wish to purchase these books, visit:
http://www.gisinecology.com/Book_Shop.htm<BR><BR>To help the environment, please
do not print out this email unless it is
unavoidable.<BR>==================================================================================</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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