North River Geographic Systems Inc

Spatial Problem Solving

Training

Intro to QGIS Training – September 25th 2018 – Montgomery Alabama

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The Intro to QGIS class is going to Alabama! Actually – Montgomery Alabama September 25th 2018.

It was picked to start off the Alabama Damage Summit. Also – with much luck this will be certified! Actually – there is no luck about it. It’s a certified class. Which means approximately 25 dollars per student goes back to the QGIS Organization.

Anyway – if you’re coming to the conference sign up! If you’re not ding the conference organizers and maybe you can attend. The more the merrier at this event.

What will we cover?

    1. QGIS Community
    2. Navigating the Interface
    3. Data and Symbology
    4. Geoprocessing and Plugins
    5. Editing
    6. Layout Manager
    7. Databases

The Database section might change a bit depending on time constraints. It should be a blast – so come down/up/over/back and learn some new software.

The QGIS Class at TNGIC

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So for those of you just tuning in (https://wp.me/p244MI-2nT), I did a QGIS 4 hour intro class at TNGIC. TNGIC is the State GIS group. They’ve been around a good while. I don’t really participate that much anymore. Why? Eh – There’s  a few things I like doing and going to conferences doesn’t rate high anymore. I’m excited about FOSS4GNA because I get to see a lot of friends. Well – and the presentations. Mostly the people.

What happened – It was all pretty comical. Conferences are really just screw off time for a lot of people. This conference was at Montgomery Bell State Park. So you drive to Nashville, Head west for about 20 or so miles (maybe more) you end up in a pretty nice state park that has limited everything. 7 people signed up. By the time I gave everyone 15 minutes to get settled I had about 20 people in there. That set off a mad scramble to grab QGIS and follow along. We covered QGIS 3 in all it’s gory details – well as much gory detail as I could muster in 3.5 hours. There were questions. I had most of the answers. Three things stuck out at this event. Well – four.

  1. I broke my first rule of training in that “I’m not doing it for free”. We bartered and they paid for a room. So I had the chance to ride my bike and goof off a bit as I didn’t have great internet access. I worked a little that night. Did some pretty cool things I’ll talk about coming up. Plus hand out business cards. So overall – I’m OK with this.
  2. One guy walked up and went “you’re the website guy – with the tutorials?” and I said “probably”. Turns out he had been using them to get some much needed work down using QGIS. I had helped someone without even knowing. Which – made me take a hard look at the tutorial pages and realized I need to do something to make them easier to manage. They are behind – still useful but behind.
  3. A park ranger snuck into the class. We started talking and turns out he needed GIS help – as in he had to share with the entire state about 10 ArcGIS licenses. So we started looking at what he needed done vs what he was doing. 100% can be done with QGIS. Most of their data is stored locally. So that was a win. Hopefully he emails with more questions. I’m all for people becoming self sufficient.

I make a  decent living off the FOSS4G and my 26 years of being in the Geospatial Industry. These days I mostly try to focus on the data for work and really only get passionate about software during classes. I generally pitch QGIS as “another Tool in the Tool Box”. So part 4:

  • If you bought arcview and hate it – there’s no reason to stick with it. QGIS is better than an Arcview license. I ran into a few that just went “Well we already bought ESRI <fill in the blank> and we’re stuck”. Well – no you aren’t. Don’t get rid of it – just add to the tool set. It isn’t all or nothing these days.
  • Twenty six years ago we struggled to get and maintain data. Flash forward to 2018 and there are still people struggling to get and maintain data.
  • People in the class looked at QGIS similar to a software company. Do they make a “collector type of app”? Well no – this isn’t a company it’s a group of people. There are some mobile apps like this, that, and the other thing but it’s not a software company. QGIS grows as the community grows. Which caused me to play with QFIELD that night. It’s a mobile data collection app from the QGIS side of life.

So I’m adjusting the class. The first time I taught this class people had questions and problems. There are still questions and problems but it’s morphed into a more advanced line of thought. Can I get the data out into the field? My AutoCAD package can pull in spatialite…can I work in Spatialite? Those weren’t questions from 5 years ago. So I need to update and adjust. It’s a good thing – it’s been over a year or two since I’ve taught this large of a group and fielded questions.

Next outing is in St Loius at FOSS4GNA.

NRGS and QGIS Certification

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Certification? Yeah. Just calm down and let me explain.

I’m a fan and not a fan of certification. At some point I was a GISP. At some point I was ESRI Desktop Certified. There’s been talk of how to have QGIS Certification for a while. I’ve not been part of the conversation. The other day I found out it was a thing now. Usually I would go “Pfffbbbbt” and ignore it….BUT….here’s what hooked me.

In short (read up here)  – all the talk centered around QGIS certification boiled down to two camps: You had your GISP Approach where your portfolio speaks for it’s self. You have a test (IT Certifications) that certify you on an exam. QGIS isn’t an org that can really do either – so they went with option 3 – the community decides who can and can’t be certified. I submitted my class for review and it passed.

So what does that mean? I have an 8 hour class that you take. At the end I submit your name and 20 Euros back to QGIS and you get an ID that can be checked to see if you took the class. Will you win jobs and make your fortune based off this certification? No. You’re supporting the community by taking it though. You can still buy a book and read all your want and do awesome things with QGIS. You can download it for your platform of choice and use it with no certification. It’s made me think about giving the students a test at the end of the class.  Haven’t decided on that one. So we’ll see what happens. I want to “do this right” in my head for the community. I did decide that the classes I teach at Conferences that are compressed down to 4 hours aren’t going to qualify. You’ll have to sit with me with 8 hours.

To be mentioned in this group –  that’s pretty cool at least for me.

This gives me a way to donate back and not feel like I’m just leeching off the good work of other people. I still have other plans for financial support – but I’m getting to that one.

We will see what happens. I’ve got to start scheduling some classes. Want a class? Looking at breaking out of your commercial loop of software changes and portals and what not? Give QGIS a try.

 

 

QGIS Training and other fun

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OK it’s been a while since I’ve written anything exciting. It’s also bee a while since I’ve talked about training. It’s also about that time for the year end summary…..soooooo – Lets talk about training because it’s a slow day.

I taught one class (if I’m not mistaken) last year. I taught it for a conference. I had two thoughts walking out of that class. The first was I didn’t do that hot on the class (I didn’t think I had put together a decent offering). The second was – I sort of enjoy teaching the things I know. After a few spectacularly bad classes I took a break from instructing and tried to decide if I wanted to continue. I mostly have buried myself in work for the last year. I spent a few months trying to decide if I had enough info for a book of sorts – and really I can’t do any better than the books that are out and about already.

I’ve also installed QGIS 2.99 and have been working with that when and where I can. It’s exciting. I’ve also been working with a few people to reboot qgis.us . The original Intro to QGIS class has been around for almost 5 years. I’m not necessarily bored with teaching it but it does need a refresh.

I decided to do 3 things yesterday:

  • Start rewriting the Introduction to QGIS for 3. Which means I’m going to change up the formatting just a bit and put more exercises in and remove a few other things in the class. Which during the rewrite I leave it open finally for Part 2 – which never quite worked right every time I tried it. I actually wrote a “part 2” and taught it a few years ago and didn’t enjoy it that much. I was going to do a Postgis class this year and decided I didn’t know enough to make that happen. I think I might be there now.
  • Change the pricing model. So the biggest killer in teaching is finding a place to teach. I set up a class and declare “HEY I’M DOING A CLASS” and prepay for a facility and people bail and I’m lucky if I break even. So – I’m looking at organizations who want to do a training class in QGIS. Conference? Bar Mitzvahs? Weddings? I’ll work with you on a price and we will do it. It will change just a bit based on where you are – but – I think it gives me some flexibility. Of course it moves to prepay or pay a significant portion down for me to do the class.
  • The final part is donating back to QGIS with the class. I’ve debated every way under the sun to hold a class and give a portion back to QGIS. I wouldn’t be doing this if not for all the hard work of a lot of people.  So I think there is going to be a fee that gets donated back to the organization. I’m unsure if I do a percentage or money made or what – I expect this will be a bit experimental.  I tried this one other time and failed miserably. Usually a class ends up with a few people in it and I’m literally breaking even or losing just a bit to do it. It takes everything I make and then I have nothing left. Which ends up with me being grouchy. I’m tired of being grouchy.

Anyway – I know if you look back on other posts you might go “Eh – no different than what he said last year” and that probably wouldn’t be far off the mark….BUT – it’s a new year and this year proved training wasn’t a necessity in my life. Other years it’s been “OMG I have to” and I don’t. I want to give this a good shot though. It’s fun and disruptive.

We will see if I get to the end of 2018 with more than 1 class under my belt. I’m hoping for 4 classes at least and a running account of what I was able to donate back to QGIS.

Year in Review: Training 2016

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I threw out the first two editions because I was dwelling on the Gov’t Agency in North Georgia that refused to pay for training but took the class. Eh – it’s almost a new year and that is old news. I almost bared all with that one – posted correspondence and everything. Heh. I considered that “Not cool”.

Training was a bit hit or miss this year. Sometimes the class was full – sometimes not. Overall it wasn’t bad as I didn’t put a ton of effort into it. To be honest I was burned out after the spring class where I didn’t get paid and half the class ruined the class for the other half. I just really sorta sat there going “I hate training” and explored the grumpiness that comes with it.

The biggest class was at FOSS4GNA in Raleigh this year. I think there were well over 60 participants and it ranged from Government employees to Teachers to “hey whats this QGIS thing I keep hearing about” people. I crammed 8 hours of information into 4 hours (probably too much) and it went well. It’s just tiring. I equate training to a 4 or 8 hour stand up comedy special where it just doesn’t stop. It is interesting at the number of people looking at QGIS who are ArcGIS users. I can’t say that there is a “war for desktop users”. I can say that the Open Source side is providing a compelling argument on switching if you can. If you’re an ESRI user I believe that ArcGIS Pro will lock you in from here on out and breaking free will get harder with each passing year (not necessarily a bad thing overall – just boring IMO). I’m blown away by the passion on the QGIS end. ArcGIS is sorta slipping into irrelevancy currently for me (jut me). I hate it – as a consultant I need to remain up to speed on both – but……….

I did decide to change things a wee bit and  move the class into Sphinx That’s going to let me get a bit more long winded and provide a search tool for the Class. Plus updates will be quicker. So I’m learning Sphinx. Yippee for new Job skills.

I did bump the price up to $375 from $325. I’m also attempting regularly scheduled classes like once a quarter. I actually had more success from agencies looking to not purchase ESRI products. The quote was “We can bring you in cheaper than buying an Arcview license”. So I did that quite a few times which was unscheduled and random. I didn’t even attempt online training. I thought about it and decided no again.

After diving head over heels into PostGIS this year I’m going to try to add a second day centered on databases. I started it and then wavered as I want it to tie into the QGIS class – but not stretch out. If I do it the way I’m currently doing it – it’s bordering on 3 full days. It will be good – but I don’t know who wants to listen to me for 3 days. Which leads me to wanting to do a few other things in which I turn this into a week long boot camp and no one is going to want to listen to me for a week (I guess). I can dream though. If I gave myself a dollar for every time I mentioned the PostGIS class I’d have more money than I’d probably make on the class.

I wrestle with the original spirit of the business in regards to training. Way back when I was an ESRI Business Partner training was 1/3 of my business. Training is fun mostly – but I do mostly services oriented work and that has picked way up. Training is almost an outreach of sorts and I hope I break even doing it. I like work and I like problems and I like providing answers. Training is fun for meeting people…….but I don’t know how much of the core of my business I want to remain in training. Which really all comes down to $$$. Do I make enough to justify the time? Sorta. I did have a few instances where conferences contacted me wanting to do the QGIS class and those fell through. Which – no harm in that happening.

I did see a lot more people dive into providing QGIS training. Which is fine. I think a few are attempting to replicate what I’m doing and good for them. This class now has 4 years of teaching behind it – it’s pretty solid at this point. I use the software everyday – so it’s hard to replicate that. Hey – the more the merrier. It’s good for the QGIS Community as a whole.

Hmmmmmm – what to review next…..Maybe Personal…….

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