(Part 2) Best products from r/gis

QGIS equivalent to ArcPy is PyQGIS, so you can write scripts and plugins.

https://docs.qgis.org/2.2/en/docs/pyqgis_developer_cookbook/

Book by Gary Sherman (who founded the QGIS project)

And a YouTube video about the new QGIS plug-in builder

I transferred 16 Gb of data in 7 databases from my laptop to PC but between PostgreSQL installations, via the pgAdmin GUI (backup and restore command). It didn't take long, about an hour to restore everything.

Yes, ogr2ogr is used to migrate ESRI databases to PostgreSQL....

http://www.bostongis.com/PrinterFriendly.aspx?content_name=ogr_cheatsheet

(ogr2ogr comes with GDAL that installs with QGIS, so there's no need to install FW Tools).

By the way, QGIS / GDAL now supports ESRI File/(Personal) Geodatabases via the OpenFileGDB driver. So there's a possibility you can import GDB files straight into QGIS and from there import data into PostgreSQL. GDAL supports GDBs saved from ArcGIS 9 and above. It used to be finicky but since GDAL version 1.11, the current version, its reliability has improved.

http://www.gdal.org/drv_openfilegdb.html

p.s. By the way, last week someone was asking for help as ArcMap was very slow georectifying 60 Mb aerial photos or maps. Here's a guide for how to georectify in QGIS. The image size is 588 Mb. Welcome to QGIS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYBhhAW7QEk

Some good suggestions so far.

I've actually taught with both the [Slocum et al.] (http://www.amazon.com/Thematic-Cartography-Geographic-Visualization-Information/dp/0130351237) and [Tyner] (http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Map-Design-Judith-Tyner/dp/1606235443/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588286&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=tyner+principles+of+math+design) books. I would say the Slocum book is both dryer and more in depth while Tyner is easier to read, but that comes with it being a bit more cursory.

Honestly, it depends on where you are and what you want to get out of it. With a strong enough GIS background and some core principles already understood (generalization, for example), you might only need something like [Designing Better Maps] (http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Better-Maps-Guide-Users/dp/1589480899/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588425&sr=1-1&keywords=designing+better+maps). If you truly want to understand things like how color works, why and when to choose various projections, etc., you probably want the Slocum text.

For what it's worth, much of Cindy Brewer's course material from her Intro Cartography class can be found online [here] (http://www.personal.psu.edu/cab38/GEOG321/321_syllabus.html). It's worth a look.

I'll give you an option that will go a little against the grain, and won't follow the general opinion:

Get one (or two, since you have the budget) of these:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1938#subForums

and add one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Dual-Electronics-XGPS150A-Universal-Bluetooth/dp/B006M49G80/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377575170&sr=1-2&keywords=bluetooth+GPS+android

And combine it with this package (I prefer ODK because once deployed you can build forms with a lot of power very easily. Also, its free and open source):
http://opendatakit.org/

Or any of these:
http://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/21296/list-of-gis-applications-for-android-os

Essentially, by using an android-enabled camera with a full 22x optical zoom, wifi, bluetooth GPS, and all the other features you get from having android in a camera, you can collect a lot of information all-in-one.

You get:

A 15mp camera with optical zoom and video capabilities.

You can take high-quality pictures with embedded GPS tagging of decent accuracy (via the extra bluetooth GPS module)
Better data-logging. Think of this: http://i.stack.imgur.com/qGaqs.jpg with a good camera and GPS included.

Some of the other solutions suggested will give you good positioning, but lack the ability for buitl in data collection. The juno has both, but requires expensive software, and is itself quite expensive (whereas you could get 2 cameras for the cost of a juno). Using a data-gathering package like ODK would allow you to combine good GPS accuracy, a good camera, and great data logging forms that can sync to a central server.

The cameras could also serve more than just field data gathering purposes. If your non-profit is pretty small, a camera could have other general uses.

Here is what it sounds like to me what you are wanting to do, correct me if I'm wrong:

• Input a list of coordinates in some format (e.g. table view, csv file, etc) along with a search radius value
  
  
• Have something, ArcMap or a python script, go through each set of coordinates and return pertinent information within the designated search radius for each input coordinate
  
  You could possibly do this in model builder using a table object, table view, or a linked Access database as the input object containing the coordinates. Honestly, I have never been able to figure out the iteration tool in model builder and find it much easier to write everything in Python. Perhaps another user could be of assistance if you take the model builder route.
  
  If you were to go about it in Python, as a script in a custom ArcTool, you would have the user put in a table object of some sort as mentioned above and could also go the CSV file route which would allow you to easily convert Excel related files to a more friendly file type. You could also make a standalone script which would allow you to do everything without having to open ArcMap.
  However, if you are very new to Python and are not familiar with object oriented program, I would say that model builder is your best bet as what you describe is very likely outside of your current programming capabilities.
  
  Here are some great books for learning Python and using Python within ArcGIS.
  Python Scripting for ArcGIS
  Introduction to Computing Using Python: An Application Development Focus
  

Always been a HUGE fan of gaming mice. I've always used Razer and recently a logitech gaming mouse. The key is the sensitivity settings and multiple buttons. You can assign two buttons to set the sensitivity up / down. So if you are streaming / digitizing and need nice slow movement you can set it for very low. Also the multiple buttons come in handy for assigning common tasks so you don't have to mess with the keyboard or moving the mouse away from you work.

Here are the two that I've been using with great pleasure.

Razer Orochi bluetooth mouse (it is small, but I really like it) http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Orochi-Mobile-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B00AAS88K6 5 programmable buttons. And on-screen display to show you what sensitivity stage you are. Which is helpful.

Logitech Wireless G700 http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414162387&sr=8-1&keywords=Logitech+Wireless+Gaming+Mouse+G700 I like how it fits my hand and there are more buttons than the Orochi. I think it has 9 programmable buttons.

I've never used a graphics tablet but can see how it could be useful. I do have a trackball mouse (Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball) because of a wrist injury. But it's just not the same. I find it to be a bit jerky and doesn't have the fluid, smooth movement of my gaming mice. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-910-001799-M570-Wireless-Trackball/dp/B0043T7FXE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414162541&sr=8-1&keywords=trackball+mouse

The good news is that you don't need to know how to code to use ArcGIS. As others mentioned, if you start with some books, you can learn the basic tasks. I don't think it would be too hard to learn the basic functionality-- I learned to use the software when I worked at a botanical garden one summer. What takes longer is learning to use if efficiently/correctly; you may run into some snags at the beginning. If there are already some GIS resources and staff who know GIS at the workplace, then it's pretty feasible. It might be a bit harder if you're starting from scratch.

My favorite book to suggest is Getting to Know ArcGIS. Sometimes, books come with free short-term software licenses! A local university may also have books and the software on some of their computers. There are a bunch of free online resources and short courses as well. Good luck!

The program itself (I learned on the 2013 version) comes with three guides, as I recall. The tour guide is the only one that comes to mind at the moment. Maybe the field guide is another. I used the tour guide primarily. The annoying thing was learning the program with the guides that were not updated. So if a lesson says it should take x amount of time, it will take more, due to you having to figure out where certain tools have been moved to.

Here is the 2010 tour guide, its probably the one I used.

I would also suggest taking the time to learn about the chip & subset tool, and supervised and unsupervised classification. Those are the most powerful tools I learned to use. I really like remote sensing, and would love to land a job doing at least some rs. Its a great way to create your own raster data.

If you are looking for reading on the topic of RS, I used two books by John R. Jensen, Remote Sensing of the Environment, and Introductory Digital Image Processing. The latter being the most useful imo.

Honestly I recommend taking a course in cartography.Many GIS software packages (ArcGIS in particular) are absolutely fantastic at analysis, but generally poor when it comes to producing maps that are readable for a general audience. As a side note, not to disparage anyone, but it also seems that there is a sizeable subset of the GIS-using population that doesn't fully understand the fundamentals of cartography -- such as comprehending what exactly projections are and how they work, etc.

Now, if you are producing maps for geography-minded people (researchers, etc. who are used to looking at maps produced in ArcGIS), perhaps you don't have much to worry about. But I find that when I show people maps produced in ArcGIS, even with enhancements, they don't find them particularly agreeable.

Thus, if I am producing a map for a general audience, I do all analysis in ArcGIS and then take the final product into Adobe Illustrator for enhancement. I won't even mess with text, a legend, etc. -- I'll generate all of that in Illustrator itself (except maybe a scale bar, which I'll modify in Illustrator).

If you're looking for a good book in this field in lieu of a cartography class, perhaps this might be a good selection: http://www.amazon.com/Mapping-Out-Expository-Cartography-Humanities/dp/0226534170
It's becoming a bit dated, but all the information contained within about map design, statistical representation, color, etc. is great information.

Just finished taking a cartography course actually and our book was "Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization". It's pretty good, just dry. This is the 2nd edition and it's very cheap on Amazon, though there is a 3rd addition as well.

Another extremely useful book all about GIS, geodatabases, etc. is "Modeling Our World: The ESRI Guide to Geodatabase Concepts". This was the textbook for another GIS course I just completed. It's fantastically easy to read and has tons of visuals in it. It's way more interesting/dynamic than traditional textbooks.

Windows and MacOS have built in utilities to help calibrate monitors, but I've been using the test images from here for about 10 years:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

That page will do a pretty good job, but if you really want to get it 100% right, something like this is what is needed:

https://www.amazon.com/Datacolor-Spyder5PRO-Designed-Photographers-Designers/dp/B00UBSL31Q/

There is the GeoHipster calendar, which is always good for inspiration: http://geohipster.com/2019/11/14/on-postgis-day-we-reveal-the-map-authors-for-our-2020-calendar/

There has been, at least in Europe, a lot of great historic mapping books published in recent times. I always find them fascinating: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scotland-Mapping-Nation-Christopher-Fleet/dp/1780270917

This is the laptop I bought a couple months ago and have been very happy with it, I also travel constantly and needed a laptop that could run ArcGIS well. As u/messiahmuralitharan mentioned, get a SSD no matter what: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HFUBQ1U/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'd also highly recommend you pick up a portable second monitor as well. I purchased this one and it's worked out great for me. It doesn't take up much room in a laptop case and hardly adds any weight: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H0FK2A6/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cool. "Know your audience" is important to any map design, and you'll obviously know more about that than me. Like I said, these were just my first impressions.

I don't think the font size for the title is a huge problem.

This has the makings of a slick-looking map. I think the fact that your title text and legend/notes text is the same color as the warehouses is a bad idea. Try this: Close your eyes, then open them. In that first fraction of a second, where do your eyes go? For me, it certainly isn't the data. My eyes immediately drop the the lower left, where the legend and the (hugely over-sized) notes are. Then they jump up to the title. Then down to the compass rose. Only after that do they want to notice the data.

This is off topic, but I suggest you read Edward Tufte's books. This one is my favorite: http://www.amazon.com/The-Visual-Display-Quantitative-Information/dp/0961392142

His books aren't really about map-making, but how to display and communicate with data. They really got me thinking, and I hope have made me better at making maps. I'm cheap, so I just got them from my local library.

Get this book (be sure it is the latest edition).

http://www.amazon.ca/Mastering-ArcGIS-Video-Clips-DVD-ROM/dp/0077826264

It is a good introduction to gis text with a lot of hands-on tutorials and a fair amount of theory to help understand what you are doing.

ESRI has a $100 home use ArcGIS lisence available here:
http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/arcgis-for-home

And they also have a free 90 day trial.

QGIS is great and works really well but it doesn't have this type of material available for learning. There are lots of blogs and forums for it, but not much in terms of a well compiled learning resource.

Can't speak to the DB-professional end, but one of the best intros to GIS and geographic data on computers I read is Chrisman's Exploring GIS, particularly Chapters 3-7, talking about basic data types and operations. That's the user perspective, completely divorced from platform/software packages.

For a more manager/networking perspective Tomlinson's Thinking About GIS might be more useful

Thanks! I have a student license, I've been working my way throught the GIS Tutorial Series and will be getting Python Scripting for ArcGIS. Do you have any recommendations for any other books in perticular? Personal projects sound like a great option too.

In my intro GIS class, we used this book. It is friendly to learning the basics of the program and some geoprocessing.

In the next class, we moved to this one, which overlaps some and expands more on the geoprocessing bit.

Each book comes with a 6 month license for ArcMap 10.0.

I'm in my last class finishing up my certificate through Penn State. One thing I can tell you is put all your class projects into an online portfolio. I didn't do that so I will have to go back track and put them all up.

I have no background in GIS and started the program out of genuine interest. The program was well worth the money but since I have no prior experience it was kind of a GIS intro/immersion program. Basically I wouldn't apply to GIS jobs based on my certificate alone. Because of this I plan on studying on my own using ESRI's books to reinforce what I learned through Penn State . Again, I plan on posting the associated projects from these books into an online portfolio.

Current books I will be going through:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1589482824/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1405071816&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1589483359/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1405071858&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/158948214X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1405071905&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40