HIGICC GIS Expo - March 24th, 2017

For those who missed the HIGICC GIS Expo held at the Hawaii Convention Center on March 24th, 2017 it was a great turn out. There were around 120 participants and 19 presenters from all sectors and various industries. 

Presentations from all the presenters for the one day conference will be posted at HIGICC site - please check their site. Below is a short presentation I gave on open source GIS implementation at G70 if anyone is interested. I will be posting more details on the implementation process soon for those who want to know more about how to install the software stack used. 

Open Source GIS User Group - Intro to QGIS

The 3rd Open Source GIS User Group meeting was a presentation on QGIS. The following is an outline of what was presented.  A corresponding short guide is provided for you to use to explore QGIS: Download IntroQGIS pdf.

Quick Introduction to QGIS 2.14 LTR

Presented by: Stephanie Saephan

1. What is QGIS?

  • Free, cross platform, opensource GIS software

  • One of the most widely used OS GIS – very popular

  • Started in 2002 as more of a data viewer and has since grown into a full blown GIS application

  • On-going development with bug fixes and new features added on a regular basis. 

2. Installing QGIS

  • Stand-alone installer (current 2.16 and LTR 2.14) – recommended for beginners

  • OSGEO4W windows installer (32/64bit, bundles other opensource packages) – recommended for advanced users.

  • Can have multiple versions on same machine, but can only use one version at a time

3. QGIS Desktop – a demonstration of the software to include the following:

  • Components of the user interface

  • Installing QGIS plugins

  • QuickMapService (basemaps)

  • Configuring the user interface

  • Moving toolbars and panels

  • Hide/show toolbars and panels

  • General global settings

  • Coordinate Reference System (CRS) and Map Scale

    • EPSG: European Petroleum Survey Group (open standard codes for coordinate systems, datums, etc. See spatialreference.org, prj2epsg.org)

    • Default global CRS in QGIS (EPSG: 4326 or WGS84)

    • Map Scale: ratio, measurement unit defaults (project CRS)

  • Adding and viewing spatial data

    • Shapefiles (zipped and unzipped)

    • Geodatabases (file gdb – read only for gdb created with AG10.x)

    • WMS, WFS

  • Symbology options

  • Labeling options

  • Print Composer – making a map

    • New composer

    • Guide lines

    • Linking map project with print composer

    • Adding map inset/overview map

    • Scale bar

    • North arrow (add as image)

    • Legend

    • Export map

  • QGIS Browser

  • Questions? Comments?

I am planning the next open source GIS user group meeting, for sometime in September. If you know open source GIS and would like to do a presentation, demonstration, or workshop please let me know. 

Thanks.