QGISDay14Aug2010

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Introduction to QGIS

= What? =

Our third OSGeo local chapter meet-up! We will show you some cool stuff and start to get people familiar with the brilliant FOSS Geospatial products out there, specifically Quantum GIS (QGIS) on this occasion! (FOSS = Free and Open Source Software)

We'll go through the basics of QGIS and getting to a point where you can have fun (and get your job done) with it.

It will be a big group of varied experience and from every sector. You'll see how to use QGIS through the whole GIS supply chain and have a go at it yourself. You will also meet a great community and have some fun to boot!

The format will include some presentations, demos and case studies along with lots of hands-on work.

It is NOT the equivalent of a formal week-long course with a small class and lots of one-on-one attention!

= How Much? =

R150 to cover costs, lunch and refreshments. That and an open mind are all you need to bring.

Well, not quite: please also bring your biggest USB stick (=memory stick =flash disk). You will be able to copy off QGIS installers and the course data and notes to take home. We will have a limited number of CDs/DVDs for those who don't.

Cost includes: lunch and teas. Any profit goes towards equipping the school's GIS lab. Presenters' time is voluntary.

Pay by EFT into: Bridge House School Nedbank Account no: 1470067196 Branch code: 198765 Reference: GIS - your name

= Where? =

Venue: Bridge House School, next to Graham Beck Estate, Franschhoek
 * http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=-33.87900&lon=19.03053&zoom=15
 * http://tracks4africa.co.za/listings/item/w135795/

NB: We'll be in the Theatre. Drive up past the fields and the theatre is the first building on your right. Park beyond that on the right. There is a major hockey tournament happening at the same time so ensure you have your parking ticket that was emailed to you if you want to secure a parking spot.

If you want to share transport from Cape Town, one participant has set up this service to help (thanks David).

= When? =


 * Saturday August 14 2010
 * 08h15 registration for prompt 09h00 start, till 16h00

= Who =

Your friendly presenters for the day will be:


 * Horst Düster Horst is a special guest from the Swiss Canton of Solothurn, where all government systems are 100% FOSS.
 * Tim Sutton (tim at linfiniti.com) - QGIS hacker and FOSS GIS junkie extraordinaire. Tim eats Weetbix for breakfast because it sounds like Linux. He once rewrote Nkosi Sikelela in C++ because he was feeling patriotic. Tim is on the QGIS project steering committee.
 * Gavin Fleming (gavinjfleming at gmail dot com) - He enjoys his daily FOSS4G fix. He's a freelance 'geoinformation scientist' currently at SAEON and he loves to see cutting edge and useful geospatial applications emerging, especially when they're based on FOSS. Gavin chaired FOSS4G 2008 and leads the OSGeo local chapter/ GISSA FOSS SIG.

= RSVP = The workshop is FULL. Please don't come if you haven't confirmed.

= Programme and notes =


 * Be there in time for a 8h15 registration, 9h00 start
 * Please don't bring your own computer. We'll have 60 networked PCs with a massive screen and good AV.
 * It doesn't matter what GIS experience you have.
 * The programme is subject to change and participant input right to the last minute!

Introduction
9h00-10h00

Introduction to FOSS GIS - Horst
Horst will give a presentation and demonstrations on how FOSS GIS and in particular QGIS is used in the real world.

Session 1
10h20-11h20

Session 2
11h40-12h40

Session 3
13h00-14h00

Lunch
14h00-14h30

Session 4
14h30-16h00

Q&A, audience selection, more show and tell
Tell us what else you'd like to try. Questions and answers. Resources. Possibly some in-depth examples based on frequent questions. What would you like to see at future workshops?


 * 1) How can we use a GPS with QGIS to do live mapping or navigating?

What you can do next
Install QGIS at home or work on Windows, Mac or Linux and start playing. http://www.qgis.org

Read the manual.

Check out these free QGIS tutorials and courses

Join the QGIS community

Browse other FOSS GIS resources and join our mailing list via http://www.gissa.org.za/special-interest-groups/open-source.

Where to get free spatial data?
National Geospatial Information (NGI; ex Surveys and Mapping), Demarcation Board, OpenStreetMap, your GPS, etc. Check out South_African_Geodata