Phil White

Earth, Environment & Geospatial Librarian

outpw.github.io/gis_mini2

MOTM GIS Miniseries:

All mini-workshops Tuesdays 12:00 to 12:30 pm

In-Depth Workshops:

Tuesdays 12:00 to 2:00 pm

Nov 13: GIS Day

Outline

• Desktop GIS
• ArcGIS (Online, Pro, Desktop)
• QGIS
• Web GIS
• Programming Languages

Pros, Cons, & How to Choose!

When should I use Desktop GIS?

• When robust analysis or manipulation is needed
• Any time you're working with "not small" data
• You want more control over look and feel of your maps
• Print (static) cartography

ArcGIS

• Industry standard software by Esri
• The undisputed champ
• ArcGIS Pro: the flagship desktop software
• ArcMap: phasing out, but still popular

Why should I choose ArcGIS?

• You want to learn the industry standard
• Excellent documentation and learning materials
• End to end workflow; can probably meet all of your needs start to finish.
• Free to CU Boulder affiliates!

Why should I pass on ArcGIS?

• Can be prohibitively expensive for individuals, depending on features
• Windows only—doesn't work on Mac!!
• You're doing GIS for yourself—not a business or government
• Esri likes to lock you into Arc in various ways...

Why should I choose QGIS?

• It's Free! Go get it!
• Also free-ing
• Fully featured. Equal to ArcGIS in terms of data manipulation, analysis
• FAST... outperforms ArcGIS in most tasks
• Good docs and learning materials

Why should I pass on QGIS?

• You want a GIS tech job
• ArcGIS peripherals more robust; especially web-integration
• You want to do everything in one system
• I can't think of any more... I love QGIS!

When should I use Web GIS?

• When sharing, communicating, and visualizing are priorities
• Data is ready or requires little processing
• You just want a webmap; no analysis needed
• End product is interactive

ArcGIS Online

• Public version & licensed version
• Probably most compreshensive web option
• Numerous webapps included (Story Maps, Business Analyst)
• "Lite" data analysis/manipulation
• Want an account?

Not ArcGIS Online

• Google Maps (I need a dot on a map)
• Carto (web map w/ my own layers; some data-manipulation; GUI-based)
• Mapbox (more developer-oriented; GUI & JavaScript, very customizable)
• Leaflet (developer-oriented; JavaScript)
• Google Maps API (developer-oriented; JavaScript)

When should I use code to do GIS?

• You like coding!
• Open, reproducible research is your highest priority
• Automate routine tasks (though it should be noted that automation is possible in both Q & Arc)

• "BIG data"

• "Data Science" tidal wave

Coding GIS

• So many options...
• But Python & R are the biggies
• Both are great and have well-developed, free geospatial packages

GIS Resources:

• GIS Library Guide
• ArcGIS Online
• Esri software via CU site license
• Esri Training Catalog
• Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship

Thank you

Upcoming:

• Sept 22: Finding Geospatial Data
• Sept 29: Map Design

Contact:

• Email: philip.white@colorado.edu
• Appointment: bit.ly/phil-appt
• Tutorials: outpw.github.io/tutorials/GISmini