GIS   :   GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Subject Guides: Geography & Environmental Science 

Teaching
Online tutorials
Free ebooks

GIS datasets and online viewers

New Zealand data online
New Zealand data via University of Auckland Library
New Zealand data held by the School of Environment

Worldwide online

Imagery - satellite, remotely sensed and aerial photography

Bathymetry

Open source GIS software
Free GIS software (not all open source)

GIS serials in the University of Auckland Library
GIS dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibliographies

GIS theses presented at the University of Auckland

GIS at New Zealand universities
GIS at overseas universities

Websites


Teaching
The School of Environment's Spatial Analysis Facility provides a University focus for expertise in Geographic Information Systems, including Remote Sensing. For further information contact the Director of the SAF, Professor Pip Forer.

GIS is taught at the School of Environment. The following papers are offered:

Digital Worlds
Introduction to GIS and Spatial Thinking
Remote Sensing and GIS for Physical Environment
GIS for Human Environments
GIS Project
GEOG 759 Research Topics in Geography
GEOG 771 Spatial Analysis and Geocomputation
GEOG 772 Sensing Technology and Data Analysis
Visualisation and Cartography
GIS Customisation, Programming, Web-mapping

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Online Tutorials

ArcGIS Online
Experiment with a simple online GIS and make your own maps using Make a Map and ArcGIS explorer using free online maps and data

Getting started with GIS (for ArcGIS 10)
A free 9 hour online course for beginners, from ArcGIS vendors ESRI
This course provides a foundation for understanding what a geographic information system is and the possibilities it offers for discovering patterns, relationships, and trends. You will learn how GIS maps are different from other types of paper and digital maps, what makes the data used in a GIS unique, and how to use GIS software to obtain information and create meaningful maps. In interactive exercises and activities throughout the course, you will work with ArcGIS software and see how a GIS supports problem solving in many different contexts.

EOEdu
Introduction to remote sensing

ESRI training for subscribers
Accessible to staff and students of University of Auckland. Identify courses from ESRI training, then request relevant courses access codes from Graeme Glen. Go to the training website, create a training account and use the codes supplied to access the relevant courses.

Geographic Information Systems
Super-basic explanation of GIS from United States Geological Survey

VerySpatial podcasts
Weekly podcasts on GIS topics

Open Web Mapping
Free online course from Penn State

Spatial Humanities
A project of the Institute for Enabling Geospatial Research, hosted by University of Virginia Library. Mapping using GIS for the humanities - includes tutorials

 

Free ebooks

DiBiase, D. [last modified 2011]. Nature of geographic information : an open geospatial textbook. Pennsylvania State University (used for GEOG210)

ESRI ebooks - free

National Academies Press
The National Academies Press - the US publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council - is offering all of its books free in PDF format.
The books cover a range of science topics, including hundreds of geospatial books.

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GIS datasets and viewers

New Zealand data online

2006 Census: meshblock dataset
The meshblock dataset can be downloaded in MS Excel and Access format. It contains counts, starting at the meshblock level, for selected variables from the 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings. Digital boundaries can be integrated with the dataset.

Auckland Council GIS viewer
Property, services and environmental monitoring data, as well as topology and aerial photographs for the Auckland region can be viewed on screen and downloaded.

CliFlo
Hosted by NIWA, CliFlo provides access to New Zealand's National Climate Database. Register to obtain free access. Not available as shapefiles.

DOCgis
Online viewer for conservancy boundaries, ecological districts and regions, land cover, land resource inventory, place names etc.

Geodata.govt.nz
Indexes geospatial information for New Zealand with examples of its applied use. Included are sources of raw data, image archives, interactive applications and more. Sites are sorted by subject and listed alphabetically.

LINZ Data Service
Access to topographic, hydrographic, property and adminstrative spatial data from Land Information New Zealand

LRIS portal
The LRIS Portal provides access to environment data held by Landcare Research for use in GIS, including biota, climatology, land and soil. The data includes the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory, LENZ underlying layers, national digital elevation models, and regional soils databases. You may search for data using keywords, browse for data using subject categories, use a map-based search interface, download complete layers or clip out smaller areas of interest, and data is available in a wide variety of formats such as Shapefiles, KML, DWG, TIFF. The library also holds CDs for the classification layers (General Library CD 03-596) and underlying data layers (General Library CD 03-595). Ask at the Lending desk to borrow the CDs

Koordinates
Datasets from New Zealand government, local government and commercial sources, across a wide range of subjects, including land cover, river environment classifications, catchments, boundaries, LiDAR, DEMs, contours and terrain, topography, census data, transportation and utilities and communications

New Zealand 2009 digital boundaries
2009 Digital Boundaries covering New Zealand are available to download. Compressed in zip format, the files contain the following geographic layers: meshblock (MB), area unit (AU), urban area (UA), territorial authorities (TA), regional council (RC), wards, General (GEDs07) and Māori (MEDs07) electoral districts. The annual pattern starts from 2007 and covers only New Zealand. Also available are Census-based digital boundaries for year 2001 which covers only New Zealand. The 2006 Census boundaries cover New Zealand and are broken down into regions.

New Zealand Social Science Data Services
Tablular data not shapefiles

StreetLink
StreetLink is made up of two parts: Streets file, and Areas file. The Streets file is an electronic list of address ranges and street names that fall within meshblocks. The Streets file is used to geocode addresses to meshblocks. This enables users to analyse businesses, trends and the like, in any of the geographic areas in the Areas file. The Streets file is updated on a monthly basis with information on new or altered streets and other land developments.
The Areas file is an electronic list that classifies meshblocks into larger geographic areas, such as area units, territorial authorities and regional councils. The Areas file, also known as a concordance file, provides a mapping of the geographic hierarchies so you can see how the various geographic boundaries link together. For each meshblock, there is a series of codes that link to any meshblock-defined geographic areas. All areas are set as at 1 January of the specified year. Concordance files are available from differing years, to enable data for the same area classification to be compared over time. A concordance file is useful to geographic information system (GIS) users. Currently available are the 2006 Census Areas, 2008 Annual Areas and 2009 Annual Areas.

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New Zealand data via University of Auckland Library

Manuakau City Council district plan shapefiles

New Zealand Marine Environment Classification
Marine classification layers for the EEZ region and the Hauraki Gulf. Classifications are presented as pdfs, ESRI shapefiles, ESRI grids and ascii grids. Other outputs from the classfication procedure are also included. GENERAL LIBRARY Map Room Level M CD-ROM 05-354. PDF

New Zealand River Environment Classification
River classification layers for each region (ESRI Shapefiles) -- REC watersheds for each region (zipped Shapefiles) -- REC User Guide (PDF format) -- "Tracer" installation files -- "Grouper" installation files. GENERAL LIBRARY Map Room Level M CD-ROM 07-066. An update file is available from NIWA. Also see http://koordinates.com

QMAP Vector and Image Data
The Library has vector and image data for the published 1:250,000 geological QMAPs covering New Zealand. Data includes DEMs.
This data is on CDs held in the Map Room of the General Library. The CDs are borrowable.

QMAP map images are also available online from GNS

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New Zealand data held by the School of Environment (For Staff and Students of University of Auckland only)

The School of Environment and the University library have purchased a number of New Zealand wide geographic datasets for use in teaching and non-profit research. Access via https://winfiles.fos.auckland.ac.nz/Share/GDH/ If you are a member of the university and you can't access this file contact Graeme Glen

Data includes:

  • Auckland Council data sets
    Includes aerial photos (File names refer to Topo50 sheet numbers and grid references- see LINZ map chooser), hydrology, LiDAR.
  • Environment Canterbury - post quake LIDAR
  • KiwImage
    KiwImage is an All of Government project to capture accurate, high resolution imagery of all of New Zealand and the Offshore Islands. The project is group funded by various Government Agencies, Territorial & Regional Authorities, State Owned Enterprises (SOE), Emergency Services, Crown Research Institutes, and Universities. KiwImage is available to members of these agencies. To access images, check the coverage using this index map then contact the Geo-graphics Unit at the School of Environment or else go to https://winfiles.fos.auckland.ac.nz/Share/GDH/
  • New Zealand Aerial Mapping - historic imagery of Piha 1940 - 2010

Worldwide

Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University : Public data resources lists

Change matters Landsat imagery
Access to multi-temporal, multi-spectral worldwide Landsat GLS data

ChinaDataOnline
An online service provided by the All China Market Research Company in association with the the China Data Center at the University of Michigan, China Data Online offers a wide range of statistical reports on China.
The Library has licensed the DemographicsNowChina segment of CDO, providing spatial data reports and maps using census statistics.

Consortium for Spatial Information
Collections of data on population, poverty, climate, soils, crops, livestock, transportation, and biodiversity and other geospatial global public goods

David Rumsey Map Collection
Georeferenced historical maps. Worldwide coverage

DIVA-GIS
Free spatial data at country, continent and global scales. Includes climate, elevation, species occurence data and high resolution satellite imagery

Earth Explorer
from United States Geological Survey. Includes elevation data, satallite imagery and remote sensing data from multiple sources

EDEN : Emerging Diseases in a changing European eNvironment : Global GIS data links

EROS : Earth Resources Observation and Science (United States Geological Survey)

FAO GeoNetwork
Covers food, agriculture, climate, hydrology, soils etc as well as indicators of human health and wellbeing

Geodata.gov
US maps and data

GeoCommons
Free online visualisations of spatial data. Create and share maps online

GIS Data Depot -Data Catalog
Free and for fee. Register to access both.

Global Change Master Directory
NASA directory for environmental and earth science data

Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Association
Lists of portals worldwide

Infomine: Maps and GIS
Search by subject. Collection from the University of California

Libre Map Project (US)
Access to open access US data

National Climatic Data Centre (US)

Natural Earth Data
Free vector and raster map data at 1:10m, 1:50m and 1:110m scales. Supported by the North American Cartographic Information Society

Spatial Services Information Stack
Australian geological spatial data, open access, from CSIRO and AuScope in collaboration with other research institutions

WorldClim - Global Climate Data
From Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley

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Imagery - includes remotely sensed satellite imagery and aerial photography

Useful list of satellites and their sensors and spatial resolutions at EOEdu - remote sensing education site.

Auckland Council GIS viewer
Includes current and historical aerial photographs for the Auckland region. Can be viewed on screen and downloaded.


Change matters - Landsat imagery
Access to multi-temporal, multi-spectral worldwide Landsat GLS data

DIVA-GIS
Free GIS data including imagery

Earth Explorer
from United States Geological Survey. Includes elevation data, satallite imagery and remote sensing data from multiple sources

Global Land Cover Facility - Map search interface
The GLCF develops and distributes remotely sensed satellite data and products that explain land cover from the local to global scales.

KiwImage (For Staff and Students of University of Auckland only)
Check the coverage using this index map then contact the Geo-graphics Unit at the School of Environment or else go to https://winfiles.fos.auckland.ac.nz/Share and then navigate to GDH folder. (For Staff and Students of University of Auckland only)

Koordinates (NZ)
Datasets from New Zealand government, local government and commercial sources, across a wide range of subjects, including land cover, boundaries, contours and terrain, topography, census data, transportation and utilities and communications

Landsat
Remote sensing data from satellites which have been observing earth since 1972. Jointly managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey

LINZ
recent orthorectified aerial photography of New Zealand

USGS Global Visualization Viewer

Prints of New Zealand Aerial Mapping surveys
The map room on level M in the General Library holds prints of some the historical collection of aerial photography commissioned by the Department of Survey and Land Information - now LINZ. Please check the index maps in the map room for flight paths and ask the Subject Librarian for help

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Bathymetry

NIWA New Zealand Region Bathymetry
This dataset provides the most up-to-date bathymetry of one of the largest areas of deep-water seabed under national jurisdiction. The 250m resolution gridded bathymetric data set encompasses New Zealand's Exclusive Economic Zone and is available in multiple high-resolution file formats to suit a range of imagery and mapping needs.

NOAA Bathymetry and Global Relief
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) compiles bathymetry, topography, relief, and elevation models. Products include imagery, posters, slides, GIS layers, digital models, grids, and contours

Open source GIS software

Open Source Geospatial Foundation
Portal to all open source GIS. Notable ones are uDIG, QGIS, GRASS, NASA WorldWind and gvSIG

Free GIS software (not all open source)

FreeGIS.org

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Some of the GIS Serials accessible through the University of Auckland Library

A complete list can be found through Library Search. Search for Geographic Information Systems and refine your results by format = journal.

Applied GIS

Applied spatial analysis and policy

Cartography and geographic information science

GeoInformatica

GeoWorld

GIM interational

International journal of geographical information science

Journal of geographical systems

Journal of map & geography libraries

Position

Transactions in GIS

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GIS Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Bibliographies

Held by the University of Auckland Library

Encyclopedia of GIS [electronic resource] / Shashi Shekhar, Hui Xiong (eds.). New York, Springer, 2008.

Encyclopedia of geographic information science [electronic resource] / Karen K. Kemp (ed.). Thousand Oaks, Sage Online, 2007.

Open access online

Dictionary of Abbreviations and Acronyms in Geographic Information Systems, Cartography, and Remote Sensing
Created by staff at the University of California - Berkeley Library, this dictionary decodes abbreviations and acronyms found in various publications including maps and websites. These abbreviations or acronyms, therefore, are not necessarily authoritative or standardized in format or content.

ESRI GIS Bibliography
This bibliography covers the literature of geographic information systems, science, and technology. It indexes journals, conference proceedings, books, and reports from the origins of GIS to the present. There are currently more than 78,000 entries in the bibliography, making it one of the world’s largest online repositories for information about geographic information science (GIScience) and geographic information system (GIS) technology.

GIS Dictionary
From the ESRI Support Center, this dictionary includes terms from GIS operations such as analysis, data management, and geocomputation; from rapidly evolving uses of GIS for modeling, GIScience, and Web-based GIS; and from the GIS foundation fields of cartography, spatial statistics, computer science, surveying, geodesy, and remote sensing. This online GIS Dictionary also includes ESRI software-specific terminology.

GIS Dictionary
Includes definitions for 980 terms compiled from a variety of sources which either relate directly to GIS or which GIS users may come across in the course of their work. The dictionary is also supplemented by 52 diagrams. Developed by the Association for Geographic Information.

GIS Tools Online
Allows conversions to be calculated for length, area, DegMinSec to DecDeg, DecDeg to DegMinSec, degrees to radians, time to GPS seconds. There is also a scale calculator.

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GIS at New Zealand universities

Auckland University of Technology

Massey University

University of Canterbury

University of Otago School of Surveying

University of Waikato

Victoria University of Wellington

GIS at overseas universities

Arizona State University GeoDa Center

Center for Geographic Analysis, Harvard University

Columbia University GIS Working Group

Geospatial Innovation Facility, University of California Berkeley

Penn State

Stanford

University of Bristol Spatial Modelling Group

University of California Santa Barbara

University of Edinburgh

University of Southern California GIS Research Laboratory

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Web sites

ANZLIC the Spatial Information Council

Geospatial Data Integration Portal (Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research)

GIS Domain

GIS Lounge

Globetrotter - from the (US) National Geospatial Digital Archive

Land Environments of New Zealand (LENZ)

National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (US)

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (US)

New Zealand ESRI Users Group

New Zealand Geospatial Metadata Standard

New Zealand Geospatial Strategy

Open Geospatial Consortium for development of standards for geospatial and location based services

Open Source Geospatial Foundation portal for open source GIS

Terralink International

Visualization of Remote Sensing Data (NASA)

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Subject Librarian: Environment - Priscilla Cameron


File last updated : April 13, 2012 .
Comments and suggestions to : Priscilla Cameron