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Book Resources > Thinking About GIS, Fourth Edition

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Thinking About GIS: Geographic Information System Planning for Managers, Fourth Edition

Thinking About GIS: Geographic Information System Planning for Managers presents a planning model for designing data and technology systems that will meet any organization's specific needs. Designed for two primary audiences - senior managers who oversee information technologies and technical specialists responsible for system design - this book provides a common platform on which to conduct GIS planning.

Resources

Examples and templates
Read sample mission statements and portions of a successful GIS planning report; view information product description (IPD) templates.

• Mission statement for Parks Canada
• Mission statement for Stirling Council (Scotland)
• Mission statement for Washington State Departmentof Natural Resources
• Table of contents of the Jasper National Park final report
• Executive summary taken from the Jasper National Park final report (PDF)
• Information Product Description forms (PDF)

Exercises
Quiz yourself as you go through the material to reinforce what you've learned and get prepared for your own project.

• Gauge your knowledge of GIS planning - Chapter 2
• Error quiz - Chapter 6
• Benefits Quiz - Chapter 6
• Estimate error tolerance - Chapter 7
• Determine map scale - Chapter 7
• Use a relational model to answer GIS questions - Chapter 8
• Use an object-oriented model to answer GIS questions - Chapter 8
• Use an object-relational model to answer GIS questions - Chapter 8
• Perform a benefit-cost analysis for Jasper National Park - Chapter 10

Recorded Seminar
View 8 hours of the "Planning and Managing a GIS" seminar, delivered by Dave Peters at the 2010 Esri International User Conference.

• Planning and Managing a GIS - Video 1
• Planning and Managing a GIS - Video 2
• Planning and Managing a GIS - Video 3
• Planning and Managing a GIS - Video 4

GIS Dictionary
An online dictionary of GIS-specific terminology. Click here.