Sign up for our weekly newsletter!
This workshop will introduce students to QGIS, a free and open source desktop software tool for working with geographic data. We will use geographic and tabular data from the US Census to demonstrate the functionality of QGIS as well as to discuss GIS (geographic information systems) in general. Participants will learn how to load data in CSV and ESRI shapefile formats into QGIS. We will demonstrate how to join census tabular and geographic data files so that we can create thematic maps based on the census variables. For example, we may map population densities using a graduated color ramp. You will learn the basic data preparation, loading, joining, and mapping functionality in QGIS. This workflow is also applicable to other desktop GIS software such as ArcGIS.
No prior knowledge is required but some experience with geographic data is recommended.
Please install the latest long-term release of QGIS on your laptop to follow along with the exercises in the workshop.