Whole Earth Guide
I'm not sure about this; GIS really got burned from being both a 'science' and a 'product' from the beginning, and there are blurry lines between what I think is essential and what I don't know because I never do it and am not a GIS person. Anyway.
- What Maps Are
- Data
- Information
- Transformation
- Analysis
- What Data is
- The two basic forms: Raster & Vector
- Datums & Accuracy
- Collection
- Storage
- What Information is
- What is a map, graphically
- Projections
- Symbolization
- Publishing
- What Analysis is
- Raster & vector analysis as aggregation & transformation
- Transforming raster to vector, vector to raster
- The statistical and informative properties of analysis
- How analysis works and breaks
- Conceptual review
- The unity of data
- Edges blending into math and art
Maybe this is one of those "as much about what it isn't as what it is" type things: I don't want to talk about sextants and irrelevant history or spend 10,000 words talking about what the difference between gis and giscience and gisbuine$$ and whatever. I don't want screenshots or product placement, or to focus on one trendy usecase.
People have tried this before.
- http://www.nuim.ie/staff/dpringle/gis/lectures.shtml - good straightforward lecture notes. pdf & a little wordy but solid
- https://github.com/veltman/learninglunches/tree/master/maps - great 50% concept 50% practical guide
- http://pragprog.com/book/sdgis/gis-for-web-developers
- http://pragprog.com/book/gsdgis/desktop-gis
- http://toblerity.org/fiona/manual.html#introduction
- https://github.com/mikelmaron/Cartonama/blob/master/cartonama.md
- http://courses.ncsu.edu/mea582/common/GIS_anal_lecture/GIS_Anal_Lectall.html
- http://skagit.meas.ncsu.edu/~helena/
- http://www.qgis.org/en/docs/gentle_gis_introduction/index.html