Why should you consider training courses in GIS?

Perhaps you are curious as to whether GIS could benefit your company. Maybe you have a GIS system within your department and have a need to make use of it. Or you could be one of the many employees who have to use a GIS within their working environment and want to make the most use of the facilities available within a modern GIS system. Whatever your motivation for wanting to be more capable in using your GIS system you are probably aware that unlike many software packages GIS is not necessarily intuitive. If you want to be able to make the most of the program you will almost certainly need to have some form of structured training. Currently there are many different ways of improving your knowledge. There are self paced programs available on the internet for instance. Or you could purchase one of the many books on the subject and set yourself a target to be up and running in a specific time frame. You may be lucky enough to have an enlightened employer who decides to invest in sending you on a formal training course for your specific program. Even one day's training could make a very big difference to your ability to make a successful use of a GIS system.

The sooner you have formal training in your specific system the more likely you will be to find GIS useful within your job specification. However if you are unfortunate to have twenty minutes 'training' with someone, who is handing over responsibility for GIS in your department, then you may struggle to get the most out of your system. Unfortunately this kind of training is all that many employees will ever get before using the company GIS.

If your organisation is considering formal training courses then there is either the option of inviting the trainer to your premises or being trained at an outside location. In the case of your own premises you would have to have a suitable room set aside to ensure that the training could take place without those attending being distracted by the normal office bustle. Alternatively you could attend a training course at a location within reasonable travelling distance from your offices. Whichever method you choose you need to take into account whether you need just a standard training course or one which is tailored to your own company requirements.

You also need to carefully consider who should be trained and how many within the organisation would benefit from GIS training. Finally, the cost of training needs to be justified on the basis that you will be better placed and more productive afterwards in the use of the GIS software.

JPS Services offers both on-site QGIS training courses as well as on-line offerings.  We provide both one and two days' introductory QGIS training courses.  Day one gives a user an understanding of all the fundamental features of QGIS whilst day two covers more advanced topics and builds on the functionality of QGIS covered in day one.

For more information please complete the enquiry form.