For many years I have given training in GIS using proprietary software
(mainly ArcGIS) but for a course I co-presented last week I decided to
try FOSS GIS software instead. This was not only because we wanted a GIS
that was intuitive and easy to learn but also because we wanted to give
participants a copy of the software and training data to take home with
them afterwards.
The course, GIS for Disaster Management, ran over five days at the
University of the Free State in Bloemfontein and was presented entirely
with Quantum GIS. The participants used QGIS to develop management plans
for various possible disasters, e.g. campus shootings, bomb scares,
chemical spills. They also used the GPS Tools plugin to download their
GPS data straight into QGIS - things like evacuation routes, assembly
areas, risk zones, etc. The great thing about using QGIS was that IT
JUST WORKED and the participants were able to process and analyse all
the data they collected. They also used QGIS to produce all the maps
illustrating the disaster management plans they developed.
After having such a positive experience with Quantum GIS I'll certainly
be using it again for future courses.
Frank.
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