[PLUG-TALK] Maps of Oregon

[Rich Shepard]

On Mon, 18 Apr 2005, Steve Bonds wrote:

> Do you have any suggestions on good introductory books to GIS?  I loaded
> GRASS once about 9 months ago, but didn't get very far with it since the UI
> was so awful.

Steve,

   I first learned about GIS in 1987 when I was the Technical Program Manager
for the restoration of the Lower St. Johns River at the St. Johns River Water
Management District. (The three years I lived in Florida were the longest
decade of my life.)

   GIS, as a category, is as broad as saying Biology, Chemistry, or Computer
Science. It encompasses many aspects. The core definition that used to be
used is the storage and display of geographic data and its attributes to
answer questions of what is where and where is what. To many users,
particularly in government, GIS is making really pretty maps that show
various "themes," "layers," or "coverages" such as used to be done with mylar
overlays on paper maps.

   There is a lot more to spatial analyses using maps, and GRASS excels as a
geospatial analytical engine. To understand how to use GRASS, I suggest the
following:

   Joseph K. Barry.  1995. Spatial Reasoning for Effective GIS. GIS World,
publishers. (Also, any other Barry books. He used to write a monthly column
for GIS World on map algebra.)

   C. Dana Tomlin. 1990. Geographic Information Systems and Cartographic
Modeling. Prentice Hall. (Tomlin is one of Burroughs' students and a pioneer
in the field.)

   Jeffrey Star and John Estes. 1990. Geographic Information Systems: An
Introduction. Prentice Hall.

   You see that I've not kept current in introductory texts. :-) I'm sure more
modern ones are out, but I've not needed them. I also have a collection of
books on computational geometry, terrain analysis, cartographic projections
and data (in the context of models of the Earth's surface used in making
maps), remote sensing, and similar subjects. They're not introductory,
however.

   Absolutely fascinating subject and essential to environmental/natural
resource work. Too bad more folks in these fields are so superficial in their
knowledge.

Rich

-- 
Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
<http://www.appl-ecosys.com>   Voice: 503-667-4517   Fax: 503-667-8863