Collections

OER Commons: GIS for Community College  by various (various open licenses)

OER commons has a collection of GIS resources for use at the college level.

Open Geography Collection  coordinated by Adam Dastrup (CC-BY).

This website is dedicated to providing free, open curriculum and resources to anybody who is interested in our geographic world. Using the world as our contributors and content experts, we will strive to make the most engaging, dynamic, and relevant information possible.

Textbooks

Digital Cartography by Dorris Scott (CC BY-NC-SA).

This resource  covers foundational cartographic principles that are needed to make effective maps. lt explores such concepts as data, lettering, along with multivariate and uncertainty visualization. By the end of this book, a reader will be able to: (1) Describe how cartographic concepts such generalization, scale and projection will affect mapping products; (2) Identify the medium, purpose, and spatial data requirements to create a map that is appropriate to a specific audience; (3) Evaluate maps produced by peers and various organizations; and (4) Construct maps that effectively use color, font, and other design elements using ArcGIS Pro.

Essentials of Geographic Information Systems by Jonathan Campbell, UCLA. (CC BY-NC-SA).

This resource integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise. Essentials of Geographic Information Systems also illustrates how GIS is used to ask questions, inform choices, and guide policy. From the melting of the polar ice caps to privacy issues associated with mapping, this book provides a gentle, yet substantive, introduction to the use and application of digital maps, mapping, and GIS.

GIS Commons by Michael Schmandt (CC-BY-SA).

This e-text focuses primarily on Geographic Information Systems (GIS)—a geospatial technology that enables you to create spatial databases, analyze spatial patterns, and produce maps that communicate more effectively. While this GIS textbook is principally an introduction to GIS, most of the chapter’s concepts are applicable to other geotechnologies including remote sensing, global positioning systems (GPS), Internet mapping, and virtual globes.

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems by R. Adam Dastrup, MA, GISP (CC-BY).
This resource integrates key concepts behind the technology with practical concerns and real-world applications. Recognizing that many potential GIS users are nonspecialists or may only need a few maps, this book is designed to be accessible, pragmatic, and concise. Essentials of Geographic Information Systems also illustrates how GIS is used to ask questions, inform choices, and guide policy. From the melting of the polar ice caps to privacy issues associated with mapping, this book provides a gentle, yet substantive, introduction to the use and application of digital maps, mapping, and GIS.

Nature of Geographic Information Systems by David DiBiase  (CC BY-NC-SA).

The purpose of this text is to promote understanding of the Geographic Information Science and Technology enterprise (GIS&T, also known as “geospatial”).

OER Geomatics led by Dr. Paul Pickell (CC-BY).

Canada is the birthplace of computerized Geographic Information Systems (GIS), yet existing textbooks (both OER and non-OER) adopted in UBC classrooms rarely focus on environmental management issues, case studies, and examples that are relevant to underrepresent northern communities in Canada. UBC excels in teaching geomatics and should have an OER geomatics textbook that reflects the needs of the diverse student body interested in the discipline.

Spatial Thinking in Planning Practice: An Introduction to GIS by Yiping Fang, Vivek Shandas, Eugenio Arriaga Cordero  (CC-BY-NC).

The goals of this textbook are to help students acquire the technical skills of using software and managing a database, and develop research skills of collecting data, analyzing information and presenting results. We emphasize that the need to investigate the potential and practicality of GIS technologies in a typical planning setting and evaluate its possible applications. GIS may not be necessary (or useful) for every planning application, and we anticipate these readings to provide the necessary foundation for discerning its appropriate use. Therefore, this textbook attempts to facilitate spatial thinking focusing more on open-ended planning questions, which require judgment and exploration, while developing the analytical capacity for understanding a variety of local and regional planning challenges.

Surveying and Mapping by Christian Tiberius, Hans van der Marel, René Reudink, Freek van Leijen (CC BY-NC-SA).

This book provides an introduction, at academic level, into the field of surveying and mapping. The book has been compiled based on hand-outs and readers written for the third-year course Surveying and Mapping, in the bachelor program Civil Engineering at Delft University of Technology. This book covers a wide range of measurement techniques, from land surveying, GPS/GNSS and remote sensing to the associated data processing, the underlying coordinate reference systems, as well as the analysis and visualization of the acquired geospatial information.

Media Attributions

• BC Map by Adamwashere (CC BY-NC-SA).