In my training, one thing I found immensely valuable, was even a small amount of cross-training. For example, if the course is primarily given with Arc, showing students how easily similar operations can be conducted in a differnent tool - your course might give 'proficiency' in a main tool of focus, but also a 'working knowledge' of other tools (I originally learned primarily in Manifold GIS, with some Arc sprinkled in by the professor). I think the titles of different software packages that exist can be a hinderance and overwhelming, particularly to new GIS users who 'only learned on Arc/QGIS'. Thus, even a small bit of cross training can go a long way - both in terms of actual knowledge and working confidence to try new things.
hope that helps. best, Mike On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 2:31 PM, Jochen Albrecht <[email protected]> wrote: > > It really depends on who your audience is, Markus. > In general, the advice that you got is (still) true but: > I am not aware of any GIS program from small consultancies to large > multi-hundred seats enterprise systems that don't now also use QGIS. > I have put this question to employers as part of a graduate class, where > in the course of 15 weeks, we visited a range of GIS employers once a week. > Without exception, they told me that we would be remiss if we skipped > ArcGIS completely. But they also, unanimously (public, private, and > non-profit) were adamant that if we don't teach our students open source > software that we would be doing our students a disservice. > So, if this is only one course, and if the audience is in wealthy > countries, then the answer is ArcGIS. If your audience is people who cannot > afford commercial licenses or organizations that are just starting to get > into the GIS business, then the answer would be QGIS. If you are offering > more than one course, then I would recommend to teach both. > Cheers, > Jochen > > Dr. Jochen Albrecht > Computational and Theoretical Geography > Hunter College CUNY > 695 Park Avenue > New York, NY 10065 > > On Thu, Dec 15, 2016 at 2:07 PM, Markus Weidenbach <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Dear List, >> >> I was asked to give a 5 days international GIS training course at the >> university and proposed to do it with QGIS. The program leader finally >> insisted on doing it with ArcGIS arguing that the students had better >> chances to find a job knowing ArcGIS rather than QGIS. This argumentation >> does not reflect my long professional experience as a GIS consultant at all! >> But how can I proof that knowing QGIS is the better choice for young GIS >> professionals than ArcGIS (or at least that both systems are equally >> suited)? >> Does anybody know any official numbers of GIS users worldwide or on the >> worldwide application of QGIS over ArcGIS? >> >> I know the Master thesis from Boku Vienna (https://geoobserver.wordpress >> .com/2016/02/09/arcgis-vs-qgis/) but it is focused on a technical >> comparison of both systems only. >> Also the link https://www.g2crowd.com/grid_r >> eport/documents/gis-winter-2016-report is not really helpful because it >> is based on some 40 reviews only and therefore not representative. >> I really need to know some proven facts on the number of global QGIS >> users and renown companies using QGIS worldwide. >> >> Thanks for your help in advance, >> Markus >> >> -- >> Dr. Markus Weidenbach >> *landConsult.de* >> Geographical Information Management >> and Environmental Planning >> D-77815 Bühl >> Germany >> e.mail see: http://landConsult.de >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Qgis-user mailing list >> [email protected] >> List info: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user >> Unsubscribe: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Qgis-user mailing list > [email protected] > List info: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user > Unsubscribe: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-user >
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