North River Geographic Systems Inc

Geospatial Problem Solving

Chattanooga

May 2020 Training Rescheduled for June 2020

Well – this is all weird.

The Upcoming class in May is pushed off to June 24th and 25th. Hey – Is this a good idea? NO IDEA. I figure in about a month I’ll know whether to cancel it or go ahead with it. Of course we will be following the Guidelines of the CDC, Chattanooga State, State of TN and whoever else we can follow.

With that said – I’m starting to reformat the class for “virtual”. The class is built for in an person trainer and with that looking rather grim these days. I’m working on a slightly different setup using zoom/skype/something to work through the material. I could continue talking about that – but I’m pretty much tired of discussing virtual type of things as I suspect a good portion of you are.

Anyway – back to work. If you do wish to show up in June for a class – it’s 2 days in Sunny Chattanooga. We may knock off class early the first day and go canoeing.

Length of workshop: Approximately 16 hours

Topics Covered:

  • Interface
  • Vector Data
  • Raster Data
  • Plugins
  • Processing Tools
  • Field Calculator
  • Exercises Throughout

Registration: https://www.campusce.net/cscc/course/EventDetail.aspx?C=106

Cost: $700

Anyway – Good People Stay Safe and Learn some QGIS.

QGIS Workshop January 2020

The first class of the revamped QGIS Workshop is coming up January 15th and 16th 2020. This class is going to be a little bit different than the other iterations. I’ve slowly been adding/taking away content to drive toward this being a class focused on an Enterprise Open Source implementation. It’s lead to a lot of back and forth on this end for the future of the training class.

Right now the 16 hour class covers:

  • Interface
  • Symbology
  • Geo-processing and Plugins
  • Editing
  • Layout manager
  • Raster Tools
  • Field Calculator
  • Forms
  • Processing

Day 1 is certified by the QGIS Community and I’m working on Day 2 getting certified – so I should have an answer on that shortly (so this class will support the QGIS Community). Of Course that leaves me wondering where Day 3 goes – and I’m staring down the barrel of PostGIS. Which has been my most talked about non-existent class at this point. Every time I start on it I back off and wonder if I’ve done enough in QGIS to prepare you for that angle.

Anyway – Hope to see you there! Any questions give me a shout!

Training Schedule for the QGIS Workshop for 2020

QGIS Classes have been scheduled through 2020 – which is a first.

Changes – oh there are several:

  • QGIS Workshop is 2 days now making it 16 hours total. We’re covering everything from the interface to editing to building forms to symbology. It’s going to be a busy two days.
  • Class is still hands on – so show up with a little bit of background in GIS. We hit the ground running in this class.
  • We’re holding the class at Chattanooga State in an actual classroom. Which settles the massive issue of parking and facilities.
  • If you can’t come to Chattanooga – the class can come to you.
  • Bring your laptop with the latest and greatest of QGIS. We aren’t providing equipment (but I’ll help you get your equipment ready).

Dates for Chattanooga:

  • January 15-16 2020
  • May 13-14 2020
  • Sep 16-17 2020
  • Nov 18-19 2020

Cost: $700 for two days – and this comes with a certificate from the QGIS Community. I used to give people the option and it’s now mandatory for the class.

Registration: https://www.campusce.net/cscc/course/EventDetail.aspx?C=106

Location: Chattanooga TN

Where can you stay? Several places within 15 minutes of Chattanooga State. I would suggest downtown Chattanooga just for the fun of being in downtown. Plus if you bring significant others there is plenty to do.

Participants: Locked at 12 per class.

Anyway – I look forward to seeing you come to Chattanooga for a QGIS Class!

 

Chattanooga QGIS Conference Update

So things are moving. Things are always a bit terrifying as this starts pulling together. I’ve been tossing updates everywhere – so here’s an update for the Blog.

Official Stuff

Website: https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/20191000-QGIS-US

Date: October 25th 2019

So the first big thing: A Social. I’m headed down to the Tap House this week to make sure everything is arranged for a social On October 24th.

Talks

Talks are rolling in for Friday. There is still room to submit a paper if you wish. The big one is I’m hopefully (and I’m at the mercy of the internet) is I’ve got Nyall Dawson on Video from Australia speaking first.

Here are some of the abstracts that have been submitted:

  • QGIS: It’s all about Form(s) – QGIS comes with the ability to create forms to help you input data or capture data. You can build simple forms to help users avoid misspellings and help speed up data capture. You can also build forms where data entry is dependent on previous data entered as well as forms where data entry depends on other GIS data. Building Forms in QGIS is easy, powerful, and easily done if you have no programming experience. I’m going to attempt to talk you through the easiest to make forms plus one difficult form to show you how easy this can be (or hard depending on how the demos work).
  • Using QGIS with TN’s 911 Database Standard – Henry County 911 recently moved away form their COTS system and started using QGIS, PostGIS, and Fulcrum to collect and maintain the county’s 911 data. This talk covers some of the in’s and out’s of switching software, tools, and workflows.
  • EcoValuator:  EcoValuator is built on python and provides a simple means of estimating the dollar value of a study area, based on the land cover types in that study area, and on your ecosystem service of choice. This presentation will cover background information about the project, what are ecosystem services, how the EcoValuator works, challenges of using the QGIS python API, and demonstration of the plugin in action.
  • Building a cloud-based mapping and analysis solution based on Openlayers and CesiumJS. 18 month ago our team felt the need for having a next Gen cloud mapping solution. We did not want to leave it all to ArcGIS Online, so we decided to build our own. It is designed to make maps, analyze data, add custom database solutions, and to share maps and data with fellow users.Take a look behind the scene of the journey of putting it all together and learn how far we have come and what are our ideas in terms of connecting Open Source solutions like QGIS and GeoServer.

…..and more are coming.

This is the third meeting I’ve put on since 2017. All meetings are centered around FOSS4G with this being the  first QGIS focused one. I’ve had emails and conversations from all over the US on this meeting. One thing that keeps coming up is people want more open source GIS meetings. The tough part is it has to be a community run affair or someone (yours truly) jumps up and puts this together. I really need to start earlier and shoot for bigger – BUT – there’s only so much I can do. We have the FOSS4G NA meetings that are well run and much bigger – but this seems to scratch an itch. How does this get bigger? I have no idea and I’m open to suggestions.

Anyway – the clock is ticking. The more the merrier at this thing so please make plans to attend.

 

 

QGIS Meeting – October 25th 2019 Chattanooga TN

It’s happening. Finally. This was a bit more painful to get going than I had anticipated. I spent a lot of time over July tracking down a spot. Usually I have someone jump up and go “HERE” or you have that one bubbly friend that knows someone that knows someone with a space. Chattanooga has a lot of meeting space – but since I didn’t want this to be $200 bucks a person I had to work at it. Maybe it’s my lack of connections here in town or maybe it’s just the town – it’s hard to pull off a tech meeting in this city. I HAVE HOPE THOUGH.

Date:

October 25th 2019

Location:

Chattanooga TN

Address:

Chattanooga State Technical Community College

Allbright Omniplex Building

4501 Amnicola Highway

Chattanooga TN 37406

Cost:

Presentations:

We are seeking presentations centered around QGIS. Are you using it for work? Fun? Humanitarian Relief? Drones? Whatever – just use QGIS somewhere in your workflow.

Website:

https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/20191000-QGIS-US

I’m working on a more informative website – it will be up shortly.

I’m also working on discounts for accommodations.

Anyway – it should be fun and informative. I have the chance to pull off some workshops if you want. Right now I have my hands full but speak up and lets see what we can do.

I hope you show up!