Introduction to Geospatial Technology - Understanding Basic Concepts
The purpose of this module is to introduce the concepts of geospatial technology and digital mapping. Google Earth (http://earth.google.com), Bing Maps (http://www.bing.com/mapspreview), Google Maps (https://www.google.com/maps), Here Maps (https://maps.here.com) or other web based maps, have become common place on smart devices as a way of locating places and traveling from place to place. Smart devices are commonly used to determine location, this utilizes a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) chip in the smart device. All smart phones are required to have GPS, but they are not required in tablets. This course assumes that the learner has never attempted to construct a digital map; it is also assumed that this class will serve as the first real geospatial experience using professional mapping software. In this course Esri ArcMap Desktop software will be used, any recent version can be used, different versions of the software may produce a slightly different appearence. The software can be loaded on your personal Window’s based computer, or connected to a virtual computer through a VPN connection or used within a college laboratory. While commercial software is used in this course, there are numerous Open Source Software packages such as QGIS which can undertake the content of this course, the concepts will be the same, but the methods will be different. There are also online application that can meet most if not all of the requirements of this course such Esri ArcGIS Online.
Before learning how to create maps an understanding of coordinate systems and projections of the earth’s surface onto two dimensional maps is required.
Before learning how to create maps an understanding of coordinate systems and projections of the earth’s surface onto two dimensional maps is required.