Fundamentals of GIS

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Below are the top discussions from Reddit that mention this online Coursera course from University of California, Davis.

Offered by University of California, Davis. Explore the world of spatial analysis and cartography with geographic information systems (GIS). ... Enroll for free.

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Taught by
Nick Santos
Geospatial Applications Researcher
and 10 more instructors

Offered by
University of California, Davis

Reddit Posts and Comments

1 posts • 9 mentions • top 7 shown below

r/gis • post
24 points • koolf7
Best Course For Someone Looking to Get Back Into GIS After a Decade

Hi all - I have a Geography degree and did a bit of computer mapping about 7-9 years ago after college. I went on to do something completely different, but wouldn't mind getting back into GIS for career reasons.

I'm taking some Python classes, but was looking over a few options on Coursera to juice up my GIS knowledge. This "specialization" looked to be the most promising: https://www.coursera.org/learn/gis

I imagine I can breeze through parts of it, but I know a lot has changed in recent years, so I don't mind kind of redoing my undergraduate work — and heck, I probably didn't pay enough attention then.

I know that simply being able to show your skills is paramount, but figure a refresher certificate would be good to show employers, and test myself to see if I can get back into the workforce doing GIS.

Has anyone taken that specialization or any of the courses that are included?

(PS: has anyone figured out how to run/have experience running ARCMap on an M1 Mac using Parallels? I have a Windows desktop but would love to not be tethered to it. At least I can use QGIS to keep things oiled.)

r/gis • comment
3 points • btwork

Maybe it's just because you're in a different location than me, but I don't find Esri marketing their data at all. They sometimes put out updates on what they have improved or added (things like vector basemap updates in ArcGIS Online), but generally they market themselves on their software and the comprehensiveness of their software solutions. I haven't met a single person who uses Esri data in their workflows, with the exceptions of some basemaps. On the other hand, I have met hundreds/thousands of people who use Esri software on a daily basis, through my schooling, work, and networking.

From reading your responses throughout this thread, I can see clearly that you are quite inexperienced in GIS, which makes sense. That being said, you are making decisions based on things you clearly know little about, one example of which is this idea that Esri markets themselves on their data.

GIS is a complex subject, and not just a simple tool that can be picked up and used like a hammer or screwdriver. The analyses you say you want to perform are relatively complex types of analyses that were covered in my degree and my GIS certificates, which represent years of study.

What I recommend you do, as one other person in here has mentioned, is spend some time learning the fundamentals of GIS. Whether that means taking courses at a university or college, or finding courses online, you really need to learn the basic fundamentals of GIS before you can really effectively perform the analyses you want to perform.

I'm not an architect, and I wouldn't presume to be able to go look up some architect-oriented software and be able to begin being an architect with the help of some online courses and YouTube videos. In the same vein, I would recommend you not attempt to pick up professional level GIS skills with a little bit of online tutorials. GIS isn't the same as using Microsoft Word. Don't expect to be able to figure it out the same way.

Here's an example of where you should begin. Maybe look up the course calendar from a reputed GIS program at a university or college somewhere, and try to find courses online that match the course calendar. I wish you luck in your studies.

r/gis • comment
1 points • cma_4204

https://www.coursera.org/learn/gis?specialization=gis this fundamentals of gis class from uc davis is a good intro

r/gis • comment
1 points • assblast_asphyxia

Last I checked, you can get a one-year license for a student copy of ArcGIS through this course on Coursera. Just audit the course for free, no need to buy anything.

r/coursera • comment
2 points • PiratesOfTheArctic

It was actually very good, a lot of information to study each week, you will get a lot out of it. Sometimes there are too many videos to watch and it feels like a killer, I generally watch one video in the morning, and another at night just to give my brain time to process each one, check the reviews -

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https://www.coursera.org/learn/gis/reviews

r/UpliftingNews • comment
1 points • PyroDesu

There's a couple options, from free tutorials compiled for the open-source QGIS software, ESRI's tutorials (also technically free, but you only get a limited-time license for the full ArcGIS program), and even free online courses through the likes of Coursera that I've found.

One of the nice things about GIS is a lot of data is free. For example, everything that's been compiled by any US government agency is free for the public to use - USGS, National Census, you name it. It might be a little overwhelming at first, but once you start to get into it, there's a lot you can just play around with to learn how things work.

r/gis • comment
1 points • charlies_angel29

If you have a background in programming and data you may not have such a hard time picking up the spatial component of data. If you have no data/CS/programming background then QGIS/ArcGIS \~ may be a steep learning curve. In any case, the first course in both of the Coursera specialisation's don't seem to need any pre-reqs.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/gis?specialization=gis

https://www.coursera.org/learn/introduction-gis-mapping

Since both are a 4-5 course specialisation I would assume it would start slow and pick up pace and end with some sort of project. Personally I haven't done them so can't comment on their approach but from what I could gather both are really basic and start from the fundamentals. Depending on what your after you could decide between the QGIS book/ online mooc.