SOFTWARE

The Essential  Tool for GIS Processes

After setting up GIS   hardware infrastructiure and dealt with the complex issues of Data, what is required are the tools that make GIS  a reality.just like every proces requires a tool to make them work, the same goes for GIS.Each task in any GIS process require the use of a certain software that is well suited to that process to get the best outcome.
There are so many GIS software. Some are proprietary and others are Open Source.Proprietary software are the ones developed and marketed by Geospatial Multinational Giants like Intergraph and ESRI. These packeges require liceneces to enable users access its functions.They are jealously protected by stringent copyright laws
Open source GIS software are developed by GIS communities and groups using collaborative strategies to design open ended software packages that could be altered after in installation.Open source GIS software are normally free to download , share and distribute.
One restrictive aspect of the GIS landscape is the cost prohibition of acquiring licensed proprietary software.
Each software has its core competencies and good at particular GIS operations.
All the popular software will be reviewed in up coming posts .

More Comments and Contributions. Its a Community

LONG BREAK BUT WE ARE BACK

Folks ,
Its been a while since my last post.A combination of factors including Ghana's roller coaster run in the 2010 WORLD CUP and work has curtailed the frequency of postings.
  i am still waiting for more  people to join to offer articles and coments.

DATA ... Continued

 Data is Unfortunately  Not free

We live in the wiki generation where we expect a lot of data to be available free of charge.online.
it is true in  many  respects , however Georeferenced data  is firmly ecluded from this wiki stuff.
if you geospatial data you must neccesarily pay for if.
It is true that some countries have free base data available free of charge but that does not extend to the rest of us in the developing world . here most required data is not even available and to talk of having it for free is probably stretching a bit too far.

However as we keep discovering everyday there are some  free downloadable data on specific fields that could be used in some GIS projects.I will list some of the sites  here and if anyone has other places to find free geospatial data on Ghana you can put the link here.

www.geodata.grid.unep.ch

www.gospatial.com

www.earthtrends.wri.org

www.maplibrary.org

www.ungiwg.org

www.opengeospatial.org

swera.unep.net

www.fao.org/geonetwork

www.unosat.org/ungiwg

unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/ungiwg/

maps.mlst.net/view_maps

maps.mlst.net/

www.unsalb.org

www.continentalshelf.org

www.openstreetmap.org

www.cartographic.com

these sites are mostly UN and other international agencies that collect data for specific pursposes . Some of the dat is very specific to certain techinical fields. however some layers of the data could be used for other purposes. For instance an FAO website may have data on market access with a layer of transportation features. The transportation  layer could be extracted and used  for other purposes.
Some of the data are also from open source sites and institutions that are aiming to make as much data available to users for free as possible.

All the data comes in various formats but shapefiles are the most common
Below is the list of  all the common GIS data  formats
*.aep;*.grd;*.adf;*.e00;*.flt;*.apr;*.shp;*.dxf;*.bt;*.toc;*.rt1;*.dem;*.dlg;*.opt;*
.ecw;*.img;*.gdf;*.gml;*.sid;*.mif;*
.ddf;*.ddf;*.bil;*.tiff;*.tif;*.jpg;*.jpeg;*.ttkps;*.ttkgp;*.ttkls;*.lft;*.pft;*.tft)

Comments and suggestions are  welcomes

DATA IS BASIC TO GIS

GEO-SPATIAL DATA IS THE MAIN REQUIREMENT FOR AN EFFECTIVE GIS

Having had some exposition on the nature and practice of GIS through the QGIS training, it is now left for us to start the real work and learning experience.
We all remember you need, Hardware, Software , DATA and People to actualize a GIS set up. For most of us , we have all or  some of the above requirements.
However the one thing we realize we most lack is DATA. Not just any DATA but Geo-spatial.For one thing data is rare in our environment  and where it is available it is very costly.

All our skills and set up will be redundant , if we do not have access to the required data to conduct our analysis and studies. So data must be the first issue of concern.
Most of the data sources needed to run a GIS set currently ion Ghana must be collected from the field and this an expensive exercise for anyone to undertake.
To get around this , we all must come together to share data and share sources of data. Fortunately for us we can combine Attribute data and Geographical data to get Geo-spatial data so we all should make whatever we have that we can legitimately share available for the community to enjoy.
Also i am currently looking around the net to find sources of free Geo-spatial Data and i will soon report back here.

 Topographic Features are made up of  Layers of  Data sets

Our GIS software suites , both Open Source and Proprietary allows us to view and work with many file formats both Raster and Vector.There are multitudes of data formats in data could be stored, viewed, manipulated, and retrieved. So depending on your data source and type , the format is also important to ensure is usefulness and accessibility.
So lets all collaborate to find and share data to make our GIS infrastructure and knowledge worthwhile.

Please do not hesitate to post comments and ask questions ?


ENJOY GIS

WELCOME TO GIS

There is going to be a new face of Spatial Science in Ghana.
This will be driven the core group enthusaists and Specialists.
All group Members are welcomed to post training Manuals, Course materials, projects,White papers,and even links to download of softwares (both Open Source and licenced).
GIS is a very dynmamic and exciting field with extensive applications , so the prospects are very brigth.
So lets starts THINKING AND WORKING SPATIALLY