Investigate Possible Future Effects of Climate Change in the U.S.

Comparisons and Research Using the Climate Change GIS Shapefiles

Using the data one could look at things like increases or decreases in temperature and precipitation over decades for any area or region in the contiguous U.S. of interest. All sorts of interesting comparisons may result for example, higher precipitation along with lower temperatures may indicate more snowfall and less rain. An increase in temperature later in the year may indicate a flood risk as the snowpack melts. You can probably imagine all sorts of scenarios to investigate with this data.

Data Units

Temperature: The monthly figures within each year represent the air temperature in degrees in K (Kelvin). You can convert K to Farenheit using the following formula:

F = (K - 273.15) * 9/5 + 32

or convert to Centigrade using this formula:

C = K - 273.15

Precipitation: The monthly figures within each year represent the precipitation in mm (milimeters). You can convert mm to inches using the following conversion factor:

1 millimeter = 0.0393700787 inch

or convert mm to cm (centimeters) using the following conversion factor:

1 millimeter = 0.1 centimeters

Click here to access the Climate Change GIS Shapefiles

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Caliper's Maptitude 2012 On Its Way

Caliper corp. just released the latest Maptitude GIS 2012. Mine is on its way. As soon as I've had a chance to use it, I'll post a review. Maptitude has always been my GIS of choice for several reasons - affordability, ease of use, tons of free current data.... While you wait for the review you may want to check out Why We Use Maptitude GIS and new Maptitude 2012 features and bundled data.

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act - Environment and Human Health

As GIS users and creators we use a lot of high tech electronic equipment. It behoves us in the U.S. to do the best we can to assure that the disposal of this equipment is done in a way that does the least amount of harm to the environment and human health.

A new bill, H.R. 2284, The Responsible Electronics Recycling Act, would prevent the export of non-functional or shredded electronic scrap to developing countries. This is an important bill and one that I think should be passed. For starters, it would result in more U.S. based jobs and it would also mean less material containing toxics being sent to places that have lower environmental and labor protection standards than the U.S.

It's time! Over 20 years ago Bill Moyers wrote Global Dumping Ground: The International Traffic in Hazardous Waste that I realized what I had done. I'm not sure if the environmental and human abuse overseas is as bad now as it was then, but I'm quite sure that conditions are below U.S. standards.

You might take a look at H.R. 2284 and if you feel like I do, urge your representative to vote for it.

Free GIS Software Maps Shapefiles Tutorials

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

GIS for Home Schoolers, Students, Job Changers

GIS is a wonderful way to visualize trends and connections in data that might otherwise not be so obvious or might be missed altogether. GIS can be learned by young and old, school students and home-schoolers. For those already in a career, GIS can add extra value to your position. If you are new to GIS, I've prepared a brief introduction.

Next, consider learning the basics of GIS with the free Learn2Map GIS Tutorial and Shapefile Atlas. It includes free GIS software and access to free GIS shapefiles.

Once you have completed the tutorial, you can find free GIS software applications and free GIS shapefiles at MapCruzin.com.

You can check out some of the things we have done with GIS at Maptivist.com.

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Maps + Activism = Maptivism

We are putting together a new website called Maptivist.com. It is basically a chronicle of our efforts towards maptivism (maps + activism).

In it I point to some of the projects we have done since the early 1990s beginning with our Santa Cruz Toxic Release Inventory - the first U.S. based interactive toxic maps on the internet.

I have two hopes for this. First, I'm hoping that our work will inspire you. Secondly, I'd like to highlight your maptivist projects. So if you are working on a project, know of one or plan one, let me know. I'd love to describe it and link to it from Maptivist.com.

Visit Maptivist.com

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Maps for Wildfire Season

All the precipitation in the West means increased fuel for wildfires. We've collected quite a few resources that should be of interest. Here's an example maps:



Check here for more wildfire related mapping and GIS resources

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Download Tornado GIS Shapefiles

U.S. Tornadoes from 1950 through 2008. The United States Tornado Touchdown Points 1950-2008 map layer includes tornado touchdown points for tornadoes that occurred in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Descriptive information includes the latitude and longitude of the touchdown and lift-off points, the number of fatalities or injuries, an estimate of damage costs, and the classification of the storm on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale.

Download U.S. Tornado GIS Shapefile Map Layers

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

What GIS Shapefiles Are You Looking For?

Hi - I'd like to hear from you. I try to create maps and shapefiles that are useful and of interest, but most of the time it's all about my own interest so I thought I'd ask all of you to let me know about the shapefiles that you need, are looking for, can't find, wish you had...

Please post here or email me at mike@mapcruzin.com

Once I've compiled your want-lists, I'll get to work on them. Thanks so much.

Mike Meuser

GIS Project Development, Data Research and Custom Shapefile Creation
Free GIS Software, Shapefiles, Maps and Tutorials
Free GPS, Aerial, TOPO Maps and News

If you have data, GIS project or custom shapefile needs send me an email

Premium Shapefiles: ZipCode, Indian & Federal Lands, School Districts, Tornadoes, Dams, Climate Change & Global Warming

Nevada Geographic Information Society Annual Conference, Reno, Nevada

Here's a headsup to all of you in Nevada or Northern California. The Nevada Geographic Information Society is holding their annual conference in Reno at the Atlantis Casino, May 9 – 11, 2011.

The 2011 Annual Conference theme is "GIS At Your Service". This is a particularly apt theme, as geographic information systems have expanded in to every facet of public life. From routine commerce to personal navigation, to emergency services, geographic information systems have become an integral part of the fabric of our society. Once the province of a few experts, geographic data systems are now so ubiquitous that it is taken for granted. The 2011 conference will showcase many of the services that GIS provides and give us all a glimpse of many such services that lie just over the horizon. See the link on this page to get more conference information, to register, and to submit papers and session plans.

More information and to register for the NGIS 2011 Conference

Visit MapCruzin.com for Free GIS Software Programs, Shapefiles, Maps, and Tutorials

Maptitude GIS YouTube Video Tutorials

Learn how to geocode, work with and create geodatabases, work with images and more.

View Maptitude GIS Videos

2010 National Transportation Atlas ArcGIS Map Layer Shapefiles Download

The free 2010 NTAD (National Transportation Atlas Database) shapefiles include railroads, ports, national parks, counties, states, highways, hazardous waste routes, airports, runways and much more.

Download the 2010 NTAD Shapefiles Here

Climate Change Global Warming Shapefiles - Changes in Temperature and Precipitation from 2010 through 2099

With these detailed shapefiles you can find out more about the effects of climate change from 2010 through 2099 anywhere in the United States.

IPCC 4th Assessment scenario A2 temperature and precipitation GIS shapefile map layers for the years 2010, 2020, 2030, 2040, 2050, 2060, 2070, 2080, 2090 and 2099. The data points are spaced approximately 4.5 km (2.8 miles) apart. The data covers the lower 48 United States. Each point includes data for each of the 12 months of the year, making comparisons and calculations of increases or decreases between months and decades possible.

About the A2 Scenario

The A2 storyline and scenario family describes a very differentiated and heterogeneous world. The underlying theme is self-reliance and preservation of local identities. Emphasis on economic, social, and cultural interactions between regions is less than in other storylines. Fertility patterns across regions converge very slowly, which results in high population growth. Economic development is uneven, the income gap between now-industrialized and developing parts of the world does not narrow, and per capita economic growth and technological change are more fragmented and slower than in other storylines. Main characteristics A2 scenario include: high population growth, medium GDP growth, high energy use, medium-high land use changes, low resource (mainly oil and gas) availability, slow pace and direction of technological change favoring regional economic development.

Learn More and Download IPCC 4th Assessment GIS Shapefiles

GIS Software Program Application for Students & Educators

When I needed to learn GIS it was not supported in my college sociology program so I had to finance myself. Unfortunately then there were few free options and none suited my purpose. Things have changed in the 20 years since then. Students and educators can now take advantage of the free and open source GIS programs and tools that are available. Also, we offer a free GIS tutorial and shapefile atlas. See links at bottom of this post. Here are some of the GIS software applications and tools available there are many many more:


Chameleon is a distributed, highly configurable, environment for developing Web Mapping applications. Chameleon is OpenSource, this means that you can use it freely for your own applications, and that you also have access to the source code.

Community MapBuilder - MapBuilder is a powerful, standards compliant, open source geographic mapping client which runs in a web browser. Using MapBuilder, Web designers can concentrate on the presentation and usability using HTML with simple links to the MapBuilder JavaScript code.

CPSGeo - Simple GIS for CPS - Cartographic maps are extremely useful tools for analyzing and summarizing information with a spatial component, and many CPS documents have a spatial component: events happen at places, and reports are often concerned with places.

CRAN Task View: Analysis of Spatial Data - For spatial analysis, disease and ecological mapping and more.

CrimeStat III is Windows-based and interfaces with most desktop GIS programs. The purpose is to provide supplemental statistical tools to aid law enforcement agencies and criminal justice researchers in their crime mapping efforts.

CycleAtlas is a free, open-source software for managing track rides, mainly intented for cycling and other open air sports.

DC Maintenance Management System - A web-based maintenance management system for water and wastewater networks. Allows to store customer complaints and issue workorder sheets.Rather than using street names, maps and landmarks are used for navigation.

deegree - Free Software for Spatial Data Infrastructures - offers the substantial building blocks for the building of a Spatial Data Infrastructure by implementing the standards of the Open Geospatial Consortium. Deegree components can be used to either develop a standalone desktop mapping solution to be locally installed on a users machine, or to set up a highly distributed and service-based infrastructure.

Free GIS Software and Tools for Students and Educators

Free Learn2Map GIS Mapping Tutorial and Shapefile Atlas

GIS Mapping Software Applications and Tools Download Free

More new additions to free and open source GIS mapping programs. Here are a few:


NRDB (Natural Resources Database) is a free database and mapping application for developing and distributing environmental databases. Its aim is to provide people in developing countries with a powerful yet simple tool to assist in the managing of their own resources.

OGR Simple Features Library is a C++ open source library (and commandline tools) providing read (and sometimes write) access to a variety of vector file formats including ESRI Shapefiles, and Mapinfo mid/mif and TAB formats.

OpenDMTP, is a protocol and framework that allows bi-directional data communications between servers and devices (clients) over the Internet and similar networks. OpenDMTP is particularly geared towards Location-based information (LBS) such as GPS, as well as temperature and other data collected in remote-monitoring devices.

OpenEV is a software library and application for viewing and analysing raster and vector geospatial data. OpenEV is used by private companies, universities, governments and non-profit organizations around the world.

OpenGTS - The "Open GPS Tracking System" is the first available open source project designed specifically to provide web-based GPS tracking services for a "fleet" of vehicles.

OpenLayers is a pure JavaScript library for displaying map data in most modern web browsers, with no server-side dependencies. OpenLayers implements a (still-developing) JavaScript API for building rich web-based geographic applications, similar to the Google Maps and MSN Virtual Earth APIs, with one important difference -- OpenLayers is Free Software, developed for and by the Open Source software community.

OpenMap is a Java Beans based toolkit for building applications and applets needing geographic information. Using OpenMap components, you can access data from legacy applications, in-place, in a distributed setting. At its core, OpenMap is a set of Swing components that understand geographic coordinates.

Orbit EOS Lite Free GIS Map Server - EOS is the scalable, extenable Orbit Server system, used for corporate and internet GIS data sharing. EOS supports most popular data formats, and can be extended with functionalities such as geoprocessing or gis-data related database access and transaction control.

Orbit Explorer GIS Freeware - Orbit Geospatial Technologies presents Orbit Explorer Freeware 4.4 for Windows 32 and 64bit, 4.1 for Linux and Unix 32 and 64bit, and 4.3 for Mac OSX systems on G4, G5 and Intel Dual Core machines. The Orbit Explorer Desktop solution now comes with full OGC WMS supportover 50 new and improved functionalities.

Find more and download free GIS mapping program software

Free GIS Software Program Download, Page 3 of 9

edbsilon is a converter for data coming in EDBS or BZSN. After reading the EDBS- resp. BZSN-files the converter exports into various format, such as Oracle, PostGIS, ArcGIS Shapefiles and many others.

EPANET - Software That Models the Hydraulic and Water Quality Behavior of Water Distribution Piping Systems.

Erdas Titan 3D Visualization Client - In ERDAS TITAN Client 2010, users may connect to ERDAS APOLLO catalogs via the TITAN Viewer to execute geoprocesses and visualize results in a 3D virtual globe. Descriptive metadata search results from ERDAS APOLLO catalogs are now also available in an easy-to-read display pane. Search and discovery of data in an APOLLO catalog is much faster, due to integration of REST/JSON API.

FGS Linux Installer is a self-extracting file that will install MapServer with PHP/MapScript and all of their dependencies on your Linux system. It provides a stand-alone environment with all the required software (incl. Apache and PHP) to run PHP/MapScript webmapping applications.

FlightGear is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License. This is not GIS software but may be of interest to some. Atlas creates free charts of the world for FlightGear.

Flowmap is a software package dedicated to analyzing and displaying interaction or flow data. This type of data is special in the sense that there are two different geographic locations connected to each data item: An origin location where the flow starts and an destination location where the flow ends. The flow data itself can be people (e.g. commuters, shoppers, hospital visitors), goods, usage of agricultural services or telecommunication and so on.

Fusion is a web-mapping application development framework for MapGuide OS and MapServer built primarily in JavaScript.

FWTools is a set of Open Source GIS binaries for Windows (win32) and Linux (x86 32bit) systems produced by me, Frank Warmerdam (ie. FW). The kits are intended to be easy for end users to install and get going with. No fudzing with building from source, or having to collect lots of interrelated packages.

geGIS is an open source platform that allows you to manage your Geo Data using a standard browser. geGIS first and foremost involves the management and exchange of authentic source data between equal servers.

gen2shp is a simple C-Progam which can read the format required by the ESRI ArcInfo generate command.

Gen2shp - Implemented in Avenue, can be directly incorporated into AV projects. Converts 2D or 3D ASCII data from one or more generate format text files to one or more (multi-part) shapefiles. Available as Extension or just Scripts.

Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) is a collection of about 60 UNIX tools that allow users to manipulate (x,y) and (x,y,z) data sets (including filtering, trend fitting, gridding, projecting, etc.) and produce Encapsulated PostScript File (EPS) illustrations ranging from simple x-y plots through contour maps to artificially illuminated surfaces and 3-D perspective views in black and white, gray tone, hachure patterns, and 24-bit color. GMT supports 30 common map projections plus linear, log and power scaling, and comes with support data such as coastlines, rivers, and political boundaries.

GEO/Garnix free coordinate conversion and GPS communication tools.

geocoder.us / geocoder.net - find the latitude & longitude of any US address - for free

Download MapCruzin.com free GIS software programs

Free Geographic Information System Software 8 of 9 - Python through Thuban GIS

Comprehensive collection of GIS software program applications and resources that is updated
frequently. Most are either freeware or open-source. They are organized in
alphabetical order.

Python is a remarkably powerful dynamic programming language that is used in a wide variety of application domains.

Python Cartographic Library (PCL) - Python is rapidly becoming the language of choice for GIS programming. At the fore of this movement have been AVPython, OpenEV, and Python bindings for GDAL and OGR. On their heels, ESRI now distributes Python with Arc 9 and other commercial vendors are following suit.

Quantum GIS (QGIS) is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) that runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, and Windows. QGIS supports vector, raster, and database formats. QGIS is licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS lets you browse and create map data on your computer. It supports many common spatial data formats (e.g. ESRI ShapeFile, geotiff). QGIS supports plugins to do things like display tracks from your GPS. QGIS is Open Source software and its free of cost.

RevPG (Revision and Product Generation software) - RevPG is a collection of ARC/INFO Arc Macro Language (AML) programs, C routines, shell scripts, and interface menus that support the revision of digital line graph (DLG) data with ARC/INFO.

R-Project (rgeo) is a comprehensive statistics package including several support modules for geospatial analysis, among them an interface for GRASS.

SAGA - System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses - is a hybrid GIS software. The first objective of SAGA is to give (geo-)scientists an effective but easy learnable platform for the implementation of geoscientific methods, which is achieved by SAGA's unique Application Programming Interface (API).

SAMT - Spatial Analysis and Modelling Tool - A modeling system with a few GIS-features, like spatial analysis, some spatial techniques and a simple in and export function to a GIS. The main focus is to have an open system to include different models.

SaTScan is a free software that analyzes spatial, temporal and space-time data using the spatial, temporal, or space-time scan statistics. It is designed for any of the following interrelated purposes ...

sdts2d is a Translator for SDTS DEM Files
The sdts2dem program translates USGS DEM files from SDTS format to "native" format. It is in the public domain and may be freely redistributed.

SDTS Public Domain Software - Although these programs have been used by the USGS, no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the USGS as to the accuracy and functioning of the programs and related program material, nor shall the fact of distribution constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the USGS in connection therewith.

SharpMap is a simple-to-use map renderer that renders GIS data for use in web and desktop applications. The engine is written in C# and based on the .NET 2.0 framework.

Spatial Index: This package provides a general framework for developing spatial indices. Currently it defines generic interfaces, provides simple main memory and disk based storage managers and a robust implementation of an R*-tree, an MVR-tree and a TPR-tree.

SPRING is a state-of-the-art GIS and remote sensing image processing system with an object-oriented data model which provides for the integration of raster and vector data representations in a single environment.

Thuban is an interactive geographic data viewer. Main features are its cross-plattform GUI, extensability and flexibility for deriving individual GIS applications. Thuban is implemented with wxPython which allows its GUI to blend in with desktop on different platforms.

Download Free GIS Software from MapCruzin.com

Free GIS Software 9 of 9 - TNTmips to Water Resources GIS Software

Comprehensive collection of GIS software program applications and resources that is updated
frequently. Most are either freeware or open-source. They are organized in
alphabetical order.

TNTmips Free is a free version of TNTmips Pro for small-scale projects. TNTmips Free is not a demo, but a large, full-featured geospatial analysis software package. TNTmips Free is the same program as TNTmips Pro except that the license to use it free-of-charge limits the size, number, and complexity of the geodata layers you can use in your project.

uDig - The User-friendly Desktop Internet GIS (uDig) is both a GeoSpatial application and a platform through which developers can create new, derived applications. uDig is a core element in an internet aware Geographic Information System. It is a spatial data viewer/editor, with special emphasis on the OGC standards for internet GIS, the Web Map Server and Web Feature Server standards. uDig provides a common Java/Eclipse platform for building spatial applications with open source components.

UMN MapServer - The heart of UMN MapServer is a CGI-based application for delivering dynamic GIS and image processing content via the World-Wide Web (WWW). The package also contains a number of stand alone applications for building maps, scalebars and legends offline. Access to the development environment of MapServer is possible with a number of different programming languages.

USGS Formal metadata: information and software

USGS GeoData software - USGS and non-USGS public domain software that can be used to display or manipulate USGS digital data.

VGMap is a new library created by Eyebeam R&D that allows designers, developers, and mapping geeks to overlay data on top of Google Maps in a richer way than is possible using their standard system. It is called VGMap because it adds vector-drawing capability to the already-awesome GMap API.

Virtual Terrain Project (VTP). The goal of VTP is to foster the creation of tools for easily constructing any part of the real world in interactive, 3D digital form. This goal will require a synergetic convergence of the fields of CAD, GIS, visual simulation, surveying and remote sensing. VTP gathers information and tracks progress in areas such as procedural scene construction, feature extraction, and rendering algorithms. VTP writes and supports a set of software tools (VTP Toolbox) and an interactive runtime environment (VTP Enviro).

Vis5D is a system for interactive visualization of large 5-D gridded data sets such as those produced by numerical weather models. One can make isosurfaces, contour line slices, colored slices, volume renderings, etc of data in a 3-D grid, then rotate and animate the images in real time. There is also a feature for wind trajectory tracing, a way to make text anotations for publications, support for interactive data analysis, etc. GRASS can import and export Vis5D raster data.

Vis5D+ is intended as a central repository for enhanced versions and development work on Vis5d.

Water Resources Applications software - A collection of programs and utilities that are used in research and hydrologic studies to determine the quantity, quality, and location of water resources in the United States.

Download Free GIS Software from MapCruzin.com

5 New Pages of Free GIS Software Programs - Make Your Own Maps

Just added 5 new pages of free GIS programs for you to download. If you are new to GIS, begin with "What is GIS? Then learn GIS basics with our Free Learn2Map GIS Tutorial and Atlas.

Once you've done that, check out all 9 pages of Free GIS Software Programs and all of the Free ArcGIS shapefile map layers that you can use to make your own digital maps.

If you are interested in a formal GIS education, check out our page of resources for online GIS certificates and degrees.

Mike

Click here for the first page of the Free GIS software programs.

Online GIS (Geographic Information System) Education Resources - Distance Learning for Bachelors, Masters, Certificates

Online GIS Degree & Certificate Programs

Birkbeck Online GIS (geographic information system) Part Time Distance Learning and Evening Programs. Birkbeck's Department of Geography, Environment & Development Studies is one of the UK's leading geographical information research centres, hosting large GIS projects for several government departments.

City University London giCentre is one of the largest UK research groups focussing on mapping, analysing and visualizing information with a geographic component. We welcome partnerships with organisations seeking innovation, individuals looking for high quality Masters or PhD level training in GI and international researchers such as Leverhulme Fellows and visiting academics undertaking sabbatical study.

Elmhurst College Online GIS Geographic Information System Certificate Program. The Program is aligned with the core guidelines of the National Center for Geographic Information Analysis (NCGIA) and with the proposed standards of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) as well as the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) for professional GIS Certification.

John Hopkins Online Certificate in Geographic Information Systems. Study GIS ONLINE with the flexibility of Johns Hopkins Graduate GIS Certificate Program. Johns Hopkins' Online Certificate Program in GIS is a graduate program providing a strong foundational education that delves into the principles and real-world applications of GIS.

Northwest Missouri State Master of Science in Geographic Information Science. The Master's program requires 32 credit hours and centers on a core of seven online courses (21 credits) that are required of each student. Students choose three elective courses (9 credits) and also complete a thesis.

Penn State Online GIS (geographic information system) Master's Degree and Certificate Programs. Since GIS is a relatively young and rapidly evolving technology, many users learn on the job. Thanks to Penn State's online GIS programs, practitioners can advance their knowledge, skills and careers without putting their lives on hold.

Purdue GIS (geographic information system) Programs. Our Mission is to apply GIS tools in inter-disciplinary education, outreach and research efforts, both for Purdue University and for Indiana municipalities.

UNIGIS Network offer postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and Masters courses in Geographical Information Systems by open and distance learning. UNIGIS courses are modular and flexible study programmes. The content varies to meet local student needs.

University of Colorado (UCD) accredited Master of Engineering program - Geographic Information Systems. Program option is focused on growing and improving your skills in using and managing the rapidly developing spatial data theories and technologies used to support decisions on resource allocations and management.

University of Denver Online Geographic Information System GIS Master's Degree & Certificate Program. The master�s degree specialty and graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems can be earned entirely online or evenings on campus.

University of North Dakota GIS Online and Distance Learning Graduate Certificate Program. To keep up with the national demand for qualified GISc professionals, the University of North Dakota has launched an online Geographic Information Science (GISc) Graduate Certificate Program.

USC (University of Southern California) Online GIS (geographic information system) Master's Degree and Certificate Programs. There are too few trained GIS professionals to meet the demand for their expertise. Recognizing this disparity, the USC Geography Department in 1998 developed one of the first online GIS graduate Certificate programs.

Online GIS Degree & Certificate Related Resources

GIS Certification Institute (GISCI) - Becoming a Certified Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Professional (GISP). A GISP is a certified geographic information systems (GIS) professional. A GISP has met the minimum standards for educational achievement, professional experience, and manner in which he or she contributes back to the profession.

The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) is a non-profit professional and educational association that promotes the effective and ethical use of spatial information and information technologies for the understanding and management of urban and regional systems. It is a multidisciplinary association where professionals from all parts of the spatial data community can come together and share concerns and ideas.

Free Learn2Map Tutorial and Atlas - Learn the basics with free software and data.

GIS Jobs and Careers - Post your job wanted listing, read help wanted postings.

Best of Luck

Mike

GeOxygene OGC / ISO Open Framework for Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

GeOxygene aims at providing an open framework which implements OGC/ISO specifications for the development and deployment of geographic (GIS) applications. It is a open source contribution of the COGIT laboratory at the IGN (Institut Géographique National), the French National Mapping Agency. It is released under the terms of the LGPL (GNU Lesser General Public License) license.

GeOxygene is based on Java and open source technologies and provides users with an extensible object data model (geographic features, geometry, topology and metadata) which implements OGC specifications and ISO standards in the geographic information domain. The support of the Java interfaces developped by the open source GeoAPI project is planned.

Data are stored in a relational DBMS (RDBMS) to ensure a rapid and reliable access to the system but users do not have to worry about any SQL statements: they model their applications in UML and code in Java. Mapping between object and relational environments is performed with open source software. At present, OJB is supported and the mapping files for the storage of geographic information in Oracle or PostGIS are provided to users.

Learn More & Download GEOxygene.

I Hope this proves to be useful for you. If you are new to GIS, check out the Learn2Map GIS Tutorial and Atlas. We have more free GIS software available and there is plenty of free data and shapefiles that will work with these programs. More to come!