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Articles & Books From Michael N. DeMers
A jargon-free primer on GIS concepts and the essential tech tools Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the fascinating technology field that's all about understanding and visualizing our world. GIS For Dummies introduces you to the essential skills you'll need if you want to become a geospatial data guru. You'll learn to read, analyze, and interpret maps, and you'll discover how GIS professionals create digital models of landscapes, cities, weather patterns, and beyond.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
With GIS (geographic information system) you can do all sorts of geography-related stuff — find places, of course, but also find the best place to locate your business, among other things. The following list summarizes some of the tasks you can accomplish with GIS:
Find geographic features. You can search a GIS database to find point, line, area, and surface features by their descriptions or measurements.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Your GIS (geographic information system) is very handy and a great navigation tool, but what you see on the GIS screen isn't necessarily what the actual terrain looks like. As you use your GIS, remember the following facts:
Map Characteristic
What It Means
Maps are models — not miniatures
Maps generalize geographic features by using symbols so that
all features will fit the specified output size.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
You know that your GIS (geographic information system) provides maps — that's its basic function and probably the reason you bought it. But a GIS offers more than maps, and the following list includes other outputs:
Maps: Everyone recognizes this most common output from a GIS.
Cartograms: These special maps that distort geographic features based on their output values rather than their size.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
If your GIS (geographic information system) is grid-based, you have access to some cool, algebra-based functions. The following table shows the functions, where they work, and what you can do with each:
Function Type
Where It Operates
What It's Used For
Local
On individual grid cells
To change cell values based on user definition or the value of
corresponding grid cells on other layers.