Resources

GIS Guides

There are many websites that contain guides you can use to learn GIS. A selection of these are listed below. Please note these links will open in the same window.

Harvard Graduate School of Design – Course syllabi and resourcesl
An excellent guide to various GIS topics and problems.

Online Mapping / Webmapping

There are many websites that allow you to create your own maps online without the use of a full-fledged GIS software. Some of these sites are listed below. Please note these links will open in the same window.

Gecommons Maker!
“Maker! was designed by cartographers with an eye for detail. Style your map with shaded thematics, proportional symbols, and more. Maker! makes the tough statistical and cartographic decisions for you. Anyone can build complex, data-rich maps.”

Social Explorer
“Social Explorer is a detailed reference tool for current and historical Census data from 1790 to 2000. Our tools allow you to explore Census data visually through the use of interactive data maps and also browse and download Census data in convenient formats for offline processing.”

American FactFinder – U.S. Census Bureau
Using this online program, you can create your own thematic maps using data from the US Census. Click here for instructions on how to create a thematic map using FactFinder.

Tutorial Books on GIS

There are many good books to assist you in learning how to use GIS. A selection of these are listed below. Please note these links will open in the same window.

Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop, 2nd ed.
By Tim Ormsby, et. al.; ESRI Press

GIS Tutorial – Workbook for ArcView 9, 3rd ed.
By Wilpen L. Gorr and Kristen S. Kurland; ESRI Press

Mastering ArcGIS, 4th ed.
By Maribeth Price; McGraw Hill