Geographic Information Systems: An Introduction

Book Description

"If we are to solve many of the problems facing us-in the cities, in the wild areas of the earth, in the atmosphere, and the oceans-we shall need the help of skilled users of GIS technology. If readers can master what is in this volume, they will be well started on this enterprise."
-From the Foreword by Jack Dangermond
President of ESRI
Praise for previous editions:
"One of only a small number of texts devoted to the technology of GIS that are truly introductory in nature. . . . Very readable and of moderate length. Those who are real novices to GIS will find this one attractive."
-Computers and Geosciences
"Well-rendered and very clear line drawings . . . well written, with a well-balanced blend of technical/theoretical concepts and more applied facts of GIS."
-Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Systems provides a practical, theory-driven overview of GIS that is supported with clear coverage of basic techniques. This treatment enables readers to understand the broad aspects of GIS without focusing on a specific software or discipline, such as engineering or geography. New features of this Third Edition include: up-to-date information on standardization efforts aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas and data; technical content that is up to date with current hardware, software, database design, and analytical techniques; and comprehensive cost/benefit guidelines for choosing and evaluating a GIS, including coverage of organizational and technical issues.
Complete with extensive references and links to online resources, Geographic Information Systems, Third Edition, is an exceptional resource for students of GIS, planning, land use, natural resources, civil and environmental engineering, real estate, and wildlife biology.

Customer Reviews:

An ideal introduction and valuable reference.......2000-08-18

This review refers to the 1996 Norwegian edition. Having studied GIS for 2 years, first at a Norwegian college, and then doing an MSc in GIS at a UK university, I have found this book a very valuable reference. The examples and case descriptions are depicting real-life problems, the illustrations are explanatory and to the point. The book covers GIS and related topics in a way I haven't found in any other books. I can recommend this book to anyone, student or professional. Now I am about to start a PhD at a University in the US, where I have noticed that this book in fact is the required textbook for GIS. To me this proves the overall quality of this book.

Comprehensive GIS Book.......2000-05-02

A comprehensive GIS book specially for the introductory and intermediate readers and students. The book has dealt with the current organizational and technical issues of GIS. The components of GIS are described with illustrations. Object Oriented model in database could have been added. Since this is an introductory book, some of the chapters for advanced readers are concise. The content is clear even for the nontechnical readers.

Geographic Information Systems For Public Health

Average customer rating:

Extremely helpful
A Must Read for Public Health Students and New Practitioners
THE best GIS related book focussing on Public Health
Public Health GIS by A Melnick

Geographic Information Systems For Public Health
Alan L. Melnick
Manufacturer: Aspen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

This clear and accessible text helps public health professionals gain a solid understanding of geographic information system technology, what it is, how it works, and how it shapes their careers. Using examples drawn from public health practice, the author fully explains this exciting technological development. The text builds from basic to more advanced topics, such as:

A description and the history of GIS
Getting started using GIS: hardware, software, and Internet essentials
Examples of the use and relevance of GIS for environmental health, communicable disease control, injury prevention, chronic disease prevention and control, and community health assessment and improvement
Also, limitations and potential problems of the technology
The connection between GIS technology and public health management and practice, including the future role of public health officials
Also includes graphs, charts and maps to reinforce the text; tables that summarize important information; and URLs for useful web sites; glossary of key terms

Customer Reviews:

Extremely helpful.......2006-07-08

I am using this book for a graduate level class on GIS applications in public health and it has proven to be tremendously helpful. I didn't know a thing about GIS before but, this book helps to provide the basics and clearly explains the applications of GIS in today's health systems.

A Must Read for Public Health Students and New Practitioners.......2006-04-04

Dr. Melnick's years' of experience praciticing and teaching public health tactics and strategies come through in this comprehensive overview of geographic information systems for public health. A valuable, understandable reference for the novice or professional. It should be part of every public health training program and on the reference shelf of every health department in the country. Dr. Melnick's book is also facinating reading for anyone interested in learning more about the public health world.

THE best GIS related book focussing on Public Health.......2004-04-27

The scoop:
* Book consistently focuses on GIS usage in healthcare.
* Practically applicable ideas.
* Exhaustive and highly informative lessons learnt chapter.
* Very clear and crisp presentation.
* IT part needs better information.

I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Melnick. He is clearly a subject matter expert. Knows the micro and macro problems and opportunities in this field.

Public Health GIS by A Melnick.......2002-07-30

This is a serious book for the serious student of both public health and geographical information systems. Not difficult, but certainly serious. Dr. Melnick does an excellent job of introducing us to GIS and then walking us through the application of GIS to various public health areas (environmental health, communicable diseases, injuries, chronic diseases, and assessment). At each point he carefully notes the applicable principles, what the data and GIS application demonstrate, and the strengths and weaknesses of the GIS approach. This should become the standard learning tool for GIS and Health.

The book probably over references and over describes specific software programs and companies (e.g. see the discussion of Maptitude and Version 3.0 and 4.0 and HUD....) - these are outdated in 12 months.

Obviously, the book needs a CD-ROM (or web site) with data sets and the capacity to play with some of the data. The main point of the book is doing the picture and thinking about what you end up with. Without a CD-ROM or web site we are left short of really being able to get it.

Book Description

This text provides a background view of the object approach, related geometric aspects, the different level of data modelling and the role of geo-information theory. The rest of the book builds upon these concepts describing the applicability of broader aspects such as topology, thematic object classes and class heirarchies, object aggregation and generalization and uncertainty.

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems

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Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
Kang-Tsung Chang , and Sanjay S. Kasturi
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Companies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Introduction to Geographic Information Systems with Data Files CD-ROM

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Introduction to Geographic Information Systems with Data Files CD-ROM
Kang-tsung (Karl) Chang
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math
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GIS Tutorial Updated for ArcGIS 9.2: Workbook for Arc View 9, second edition

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Book Description

This book is designed to provide students in a first or second GIS course with a solid foundation in both GIS concepts and the use of GIS. Introduction to GIS strikes a careful balance between GIS concepts and hands-on applications. The main portion of the chapter presents GIS terms and concepts and helps students learn how each one fits into a complete GIS system. At the end of each chapter, an application section with 3-5 tasks presents students with actual GIS exercises and the necessary data to solve the problem.

An Introduction to Urban Geographic Information Systems (Spatial Information Systems)

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An Introduction to Urban Geographic Information Systems (Spatial Information Systems)
William E. Huxhold
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195065352

Book Description

A nuts-and-bolts introduction to geographic information systems (GIS), this book outlines the basic concepts and diverse uses of this technology in a local government environment. Emphasizing the value of integrating data from various sources, the book provides a set of tools for improving the way public services are delivered, resources are managed, and policy decisions are made. Rather than stressing the computer technology that is so rapidly changing in the GIS industry, this book concentrates on the concepts upon which this technology is based: information systems design, computer-aided mapping, topological data structures, geographic base files, and land records systems. It also provides the latest information on the U.S. Census Bureau's TIGER files and the Global Positioning Satellite System established by the U.S. Department of Defense. Special features include fourteen case studies, a chapter describing the enormous effort required to set up and manage a typical GIS project, and an appendix on who is using GIS technology and how it is being used. Whether they run the GIS or help run the government, readers of An Introduction to Urban Geographic Information Systems will learn efficient and effective methods for improving the impact that local government has on its citizens.

An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (3rd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Best organization of all introductory GIS texts
Excellent Introductory Level GIS book

An Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (3rd Edition)
Ian Heywood , Sarah Cornelius , and Steve Carver
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0131293176

Customer Reviews:

Best organization of all introductory GIS texts.......1999-04-22

This book has the best organization of all the GIS texts I've read. Other texts have either too little or too much on some topics (especially GIS project management and GIS analysis). This one has an excellent balance. A little more on data sources would have been nice. The British authors use a few terms American students won't recognize, but it reads very well. I'm recommending it right now over other overviews of GIS.

Excellent Introductory Level GIS book.......1998-12-18

This book introduces the basic principles of GIS from the perspective of a new user. Topics are covered with enough depth so that the book will also be beneficial to longer-term users. The writing style, graphics and case studies are presented in a simple and easy to read format. The book could be used as a text for a course or read by anyone interested in learning the fundamentals behind GIS technology. There is also a web site for the book that will allow readers access to current trends in GIS and URLs for case studies.

Introduction To Three-dimensional Climate Modeling

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Introduction To Three-dimensional Climate Modeling
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Product Description

This book provides an introduction to the development of three-dimensional climate models, including their four major components: atmosphere, ocean, land/vegetation, and sea ice. The fundamental processes in each component and the interactions among them are explained using basic scientific principles, and elements of the numerical methods used in solving the model equations are also provided. The authors show how the theory and models grew historically and how well they are able to account for known aspects of the climate system. This book is written so that a reader who is only vaguely aware of climate models will be able to gain an understanding of what the models are attempting to simulate, how the models are constructed, what the models have succeeded in simulating, and how the models are being used. Examples illustrating the use of the models to simulate aspects of the current climate system are followed by examples illustrating the application of the models to important scientific areas such as understanding paleoclimates, the last millennium, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation, and the effects of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations on future climate change. The book is appropriate for scientists, graduate students, and upper-level undergraduates and can be used as a textbook or for self study and reference. The authors have considerably updated the book from the first edition by adding descriptions of many techniques and results developed since the mid-1980s.

Gis: A Short Introduction (Short Introductions to Geography)

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GIS: A Short Introduction
An excellent book on the intellectual territory of GIS

Gis: A Short Introduction (Short Introductions to Geography)
Nadine Schuurman
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ASIN: 0631235337

Book Description

This guide enables students of human geography to take a critical look at the theory and practices that together comprise GIS. It outlines the value - both intellectual and technical - of GIS for human geographers, recognising the positive effects GIS has had on the discipline but also pointing out its limitations.The guide addresses issues important to human geographers such as how data are represented through digital models and how different ontologies emerge from different data models. It explores the influence of cultural and social context on the development of theory in GIS. As a means of illustrating the analytical, interpretative and methodological issues associated with GIS problem solving, the text describes two sets of challenges that GIS users and researchers face. The first includes data collection, organization, standardization and the difficulties inherent in interpreting semantics. The second refers to the problem of developing spatial analysis and models Both sets of challenges draw on contemporary research and use examples from on-going research. It also includes a close reading of a GIS analysis from health geography in order to elucidate the conceptual and operational bases of GIS. A final chapter provides an inventory of tools and information related to GIS, covering web-based resources, current texts, and theoretical approaches and critiques of GIS. The guide is supported by a website featuring contemporary GIS scholars and the intellectual territory they tread.

Customer Reviews:

GIS: A Short Introduction .......2005-08-10

I started my foray into the book by reading the back cover blurb. A seemingly undelivered promise comes up immediately. The back cover states "A final chapter provides an inventory of tools and information related to GIS, covering web-based resources, current texts, and theoretical approaches and critiques of GIS". I was not able to find such a chapter and the accompanying website had only colour figures when I checked.

Next, I turned to the font cover and focused my attention to the graphic. Usually a graphic or sign is intended to convey some meaning, information, or message (semiotics). The graphic on the book's font cover is a blurred collage of seemingly unrelated images. The pasting together of the images shows clearly at the middle of the cover where there is an overlapping image join. In a postmodern world, image is paramount and the font and back cover misses begin to cast doubts about the attention to detail that one can expect in the book's contents. Thumbing through the book and finding little by way of intricate arguments, I decided to gave chapter 2 a detailed read. Here is what I found:

p.24
"Mark Monmonier's book 'How to lie with maps', had tackled precisely the same issues, illustrating that maps are a means to exercise and enforce relations of power".
- The use of this reference to illustrate power relations is weak. 'How to lie with maps' is an excellent book that focuses on documenting how maps can and has been modified to communicate diverse and competing messages, and stops short of discussing power relations in detail. The lesser known book - Denis Wood's (The power of maps) - would have been a more convincing choice.

p.27
Figure 2.1 gives the impression that the time order of occurence of the paradigms are social constructivism, positivism, and realism. That implicit time order may not be correct. Also, positivism, realism, etc are referred to as epistemologies (this is the source of much confusion in the GIS ontology literature); these are philosophical paradigms that differ on ontologies, epistemologies and praxis.

p.28
"... conduct analysis in an attempt to prove the null hypothesis false"
- This statement misrepresents the logic of hypothesis testing. A hypothesis is never proved - i.e. we cannot determine its essential truth. The best we can do is accumulate enough evidence that would either confirm or reject the null hypothesis.

p.29
"Moreover, very little GIS research is conducted under the assumption of positivist scientific method"
- There seems to be no recognition about the differences between fundamental/theoretical and applied research. In fundamental/theoretical GIS research, positivist methods are used sparingly. However, in applied GIS research, positivist methods are used extensively. Even exploratory data analysis can be taken as a positivist approach as its purpose is in pattern analysis and hypothesis formation.

p.34
Figure 2.3 shows all the points as (X,Y)
- Using (X1,Y1) and (X2,Y2) to clearly distinguish the data points would be an improvement. As the figure stands, all the points are mathematically the same, which conveys the wrong message. Relate this to p.137 where figure 5.1 is referred to as a histogram when it is more of a bar graph.

I would hesitate to recommend this book to readers exploring GIS for the first time. It may be suitable for seasoned GIS readers who would better able to nagivate the oversights that appear subtly in the paths across the 5 chapters.

There are some good aspects of the book especially in the philosophical foundations of GIScience, but the technical and conceptual oversights cast a dark shadow over them. Any of the following books would do a more systematic job at informing the uninitiated GIS user and learner:

DeMers, Michael N. 2003. Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems, 2nd. ed. (update edition), John Wiley and Sons, Toronto.

Ian Heywood, Sarah Cornelius, and Steve Carver (2002), An introduction to geographical information systems, New York: Prentice Hall, 2002

C.P. Lo and Albert K.W. Yeung, (2002), Concepts and techniques of geographic information systems, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall

An excellent book on the intellectual territory of GIS.......2004-03-26

I like this book and I think it needs to be widely read. But, I believe that the title is misleading. There are many people who will read the title and think it is a simple or light introduction to GIS. It may be short, but it is neither simple nor light reading. Make no mistake, this is not "GIS for Dummies."

This book is a highly intelligent discussion of some of the philosophical underpinnings of GIS. For anyone interested in or concerned about the social consequences of using geographic technologies to inform decisions that affect public welfare, this book is the place to start, whether they come from the GIS or human geography community.

Chapter 1 does a fine job of introducing the context and content of GIS. Chapter 2 introduces the reader to the epistemology and ontologies of GIS. While this is an excellent overview of these topics, it is not for everyone. There are many in the GIS community who will not want to be introduced to the ontologies of space, no matter how important some of us feel it is. Chapter 3 introduces some of the problems with geographic and is one of the best discussion of GIS that I have read. Chapter 4 introduces the reader to what I feel is the heart of GIS, spatial analysis. This is an area that deserves several hundred pages, but the coverage here appropriate given the scope of the book. The last chapter discusses training and research. I would have preferred more emphasis on spatial literacy, but it does make the point of the importance of geographic science education. Software training is simply an inadequate basis for intelligent use of GIS.

I recommend this book for all students in GIS degree programs. Also, it is an excellent beginning for those in the field of human geography or social theory who are interested in the applications of this new technology. Of course, anyone teaching GIS needs to have a clear understanding of the concepts presented in this book.

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