Here is our slate of workshops for Spring 2020! If you have questions about the workshops or requests for topics of future workshops please email GIS Librarian Amanda Tickner at atickner@msu.edu
Introduction to QGIS: Make a Simple Color Shaded Map
Friday, January 17th • 4:00–5:00 pm
Digital Scholarship Lab, 2 West
Learn the basics of QGIS, the free open source geospatial software—this workshop will demonstrate how to make a choropleth (color shaded) map and place graduated symbols on it, load shapefiles and .csv table files into QGIS, join data to spatial information and edit features.
Georeferencing: Turning Scanned Maps into GIS Data
Friday, January 31st • 4:00–5:00 pm
Digital Scholarship Lab, 2 West
Participants will learn how to georeference objects such as a historic map or aerial photo and create traced data from it for basic analysis in the open source software QGIS. Georeferencing is the process of giving objects such as scanned historic maps or aerial imagery spatial information so they can be used in variety of ways in a GIS, for example: to extract historic data, as base maps to combine with other datasets for visualization, or to share on the web in a web based GIS.
Geocoding: Creating Data from Addresses
Friday, February 21st • 4:00–5:00 pm
Digital Scholarship Lab, 2 West
This workshop will discuss geocoding, which is the process of giving addresses spatial information so they can be used as a dataset in a GIS. Some concepts and challenges involved in geocoding will be discussed, example methods of geocoding will be presented, and there will be an exercise using Excel to clean and format address data and geocode them using plug-ins for QGIS, the free open source geospatial software.
Learn to use a compass: Map reading and navigation
Friday, April 17th • 3:30–5:00 pm
Map Library, 2 East
No Cell signal!? GPS quit working!? Have no fear, it is still possible to find your way. We will teach you how to read the signs and symbols of a topographic map and how to associate the two-dimensional map with the land around us. We’ll also talk about to take a bearing with a compass and make it work together with maps. Weather permitting, this workshop will include some outdoor walking so, please dress comfortably. Maps will be provided but attendees are encouraged to bring their own compass.
GIS Open Office Hours
January 24th, February 14th, March 27th • 3:30–5:00 pm
Map Library, 2 East
Need help making maps or getting started with GIS? Want to talk through your idea for a map-based project? Have technical questions about using GIS, finding the right methods or spatial data? Come visit the map library and have your questions answered. This is also a good time to work on ESRI or other web tutorials with someone on hand to help if you get stuck.
No registration required!
