jps services are offering one and two day introductory Quantum GIS training courses in Oxford and London in September, October and November 2013. These training courses will cover all the main features and functionality of QGIS which is a powerful open source GIS desktop software solution.

The two day courses, which are taking place in London in October and November, will cover the software in more depth than the one day courses which are taking place in Oxford in September and October.

Both courses also offer 30 day email support to ensure that those attending the training can build on the training days and effectively use the software to meet their objectives.

jps services will be holding two day introductory training courses in Quantum GIS in London during October and November 2013. These QGIS training courses will take place at Lafone House, The Leathermarket, Weston Street, London SE1 3ER. They will take place on Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th October 2013 and Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th November 2013. 

They will cover all the main features of QGIS including the user interface, file and data management, map navigation and use of drawing tools. During the two training days there will be exercises to create and modify symbols, points, lines, polygons and text. You will also learn how to create and modify labels. There will be opportunities to use selection tools to analyse data as well as to perform simple SQL queries. 

 During these two day introductory courses there will be exercises covering the creation of thematic maps from data attributes and how to use a layout window to create and print maps.  You can find further information about course content here and booking information here.

Motivation is a powerful force if you have the need to achieve a training objective, such as learning how to use a desktop GIS software package. There are now numerous ways to learn how to become effective with the main GIS software solutions like ArcGIS, MapInfo and Quantum GIS.

You can download these GIS solutions and trial them on your pc, laptop or tablet. With proprietary software such as ArcGIS and MapInfo you will have a thirty day to sixty day window in which to appraise the software without cost to see if it meets your requirements. Quantum GIS is open source software and as such there is no cost implication or time limit in checking out its features and functionality.

The speed with which computer technology has moved in the last twenty years has been almost breath taking. The power of today's computers makes the original IBM pc, which played a big part in bringing computing to the masses, seem absolutely minimal. Processing power is now significantly higher and storage capacity no longer an issue that held back many projects in the early days of the personal computer evolution.

If you are new to using a desktop GIS you may not fully appreciate how the various file formats are used. Unlike word processors GIS works with layers and needs to know whether you are loading vector or raster file layers. There are also other kinds of layers you can load but we will concentrate on vector and raster as these are the most common file types within a GIS software solution.

A map can be made up of many different layers. There is usually a base map layer to which all the other layers are added. Layer order is important to ensure that all layers are visible according to what you want your map to display. For instance, a raster layer over a vector layer could hide that layer's information. This problem is easily solved by reordering the layers so that all the appropriate data is visible.

If you are interested in learning about how to make effective use of a desktop GIS software solution, and how it could help your business, then you may be interested to learn that jps services will be holding Quantum GIS introductory training courses in Oxford. These one day introductory courses are taking place in September and October 2013 at John Eccles House, Robert Robertson Ave, Oxford, OX4 4GP.   

Within the last twenty years the cost of implementing a GIS software solution has steadily fallen making this valuable mapping tool available to more and more business sectors.

Back in the late 1970's the main suppliers of GIS systems such as IBM and Intergraph were mainly supplying custom built solutions on mainframe computers. These systems were only available to the biggest organisations with budgets often in excess of several million of pounds. The arrival of the personal computer in the 1980's meant that desktop GIS solutions could be provided to companies with much more limited resources.

jps services will be holding introductory training courses in Quantum GIS in Oxford at John Eccles House, Robert Robertson Ave, Oxford, OX4 4GP . These one day GIS training courses will take place in September and October 2013. They will cover all the main features of QGIS including the user interface, file and data management, map navigation and use of drawing tools. During each training day there will be exercises to create and modify symbols, points, lines, polygons and text. You will also learn how to create and modify labels. There will be opportunities to use selection tools to analyse data as well as to perform simple SQL queries. These courses will also cover the creation of thematic maps from data attributes and how to use a layout window to create and print maps.  More information and booking details can be found here.

There are many different ways to acquire the GIS training knowledge you need to achieve your objectives. Besides face to face or on-line training courses you can learn about GIS from books, or from on-line articles and videos. Whatever the method you choose will depend on a number of other variables including cost, time and need.