3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course on Free and Open Source GIS is targeted at students who already have some experience working with ArcGIS and want to learn about alternative software packages. The course will discuss the advantages and disadvantages? of open source GIS in contrast with more commercial GIS offerings. Geographic Information Science is now embedded in just about everything we do. From Google Maps to geotagging to wearable technology. Depending on your career choice, commercial software may not always be available for use or affordable. However, there are free, Open Source GIS software options available and as these tools become more powerful, more employers are adding knowledge of these software packages as required or desired skills. In this course, students will use free, publicly available environmental geographic data to perform GIS and remote sensing tasks using Open Source Software (e.g. QGIS, Remap, EO Browser). Students will learn how to obtain, create, analyze, assess, generate, and visualize environmental data relevant to environmental science fields like habitat assessment, natural disturbances, conservation, and landscape ecology.