Asking Questions - Finding Answers
Asking questions and finding answers is the basis of scientific work. This includes an extensive repertoire of procedures and techniques. With regard to geoinformation science, it is of central importance to be able to abstract the real world in a comprehensible way, to depict it in corresponding data models and to derive reliable information from it.
Things you need
Further Reading
Data set for training purposes
- Download data from the working group data server.
Getting familiar with the Shell
Shell — any command line environment will do for most of the exercises. For Linux we recommend the bash shell. For Windows, although the Windows command line can be used, we strongly recommend the shell coming with the OSGeo4W installation. If you want a Linux flavored shell in Windows, you can also use the one that comes with the Git installation which you would need for Git anyway.
Getting familiar with GIS Software
GIS — most commercial or open source GIS systems will be fine. Actually in the beginning we strongly recommend:
- QGIS has become one of the most promising and most integrative open source GIS systems over the last years. Through the processing plugin, it additionally integrates modules from the other leading free GIS solutions like GRASS, SAGAand the Orfeo Toolbox which is specifically designed for remote sensing operations. Regarding installation, for Ubuntu Linux, the Ubuntu GIS package is a good choice. For Windows, we strongly recommend installing everything via the OSGeo4W environment and not individually.
Things to take home from this session
At the end of this session you should be able to:
- deconstruct an idea to derive definitions and a preliminary workflow
- identify data sets and it capabilities to provide you with informations
- have an rough idea about softwaretools that may be helpful