Product Description
The first edition of Geographic Information Systems and Science has taken the GIS textbook market by storm, selling over 22,000 copies since publication. It is the most current, authoritative and comprehensive treatment of the field, that goes from fundamental principles to the big picture.

GISS 2e builds on the success of the first edition:

• Completely revised with a new five part structure: Foundations; Principles; Techniques; Analysis; Management and Policy
• All new personality boxes of current GIS practitioners
• New chapters on Distributed GIS, Map Production, Geovisualization, Modeling, and Managing GIS
• Specific coverage of current hot topics:
  • GIS and the New World Order
  • Security, health and well-Being
  • Digital differentiation in GIS consumption
  • The core organizing role of GIS in geography
  • The greening of GIS
  • Grand challenges of GIS science
  • Science and explanation

A new suite of instructor resources including a companion website with an on-line lab resource and personal student sullabus and a cehensive Instructor’s Manual that maps the textbook to various disciplines and levels of courses. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Geographic Information Systems and Science
If you want to know how GIS works, this book will give you a complete picture of it.

Excellent Reference
This is a great reference book.Initially purchased for a class, I have returned to it several times to review key points.

Easy to understand
It has examples and explains things clearly. It is a book about GIS theory and design, and understanding GIS systems in general although they use Arc software primarily for examples. Overall a useful book that is not too expensive.

As described
I needed this text book.It was exactly as described and arrived very quickly and in good condition. For me, it provided a good overview of GIS and the management of that technology.

Helpful and good price
This book was helpful for those new to GIS.I am taking a grad course and found this text useful in giving background information. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 5e is designed to provide students in a first or second GIS course with a solid foundation in both GIS concepts and the use of GIS. Introduction to GIS strikes a careful balance between GIS concepts and hands-on applications. The main portion of the chapter presents GIS terms and concepts and helps students learn how each one fits into a complete GIS system. At the end of each chapter, an application section with 2-7 tasks presents students with actual GIS exercises and the necessary data to solve the problem. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Buy Bolstad's Book Instead
This book is not very well-written.I agree with the previous reader that it reads more like an encyclopedia than a textbook.It discussed practical topics, but in a very theoretical way.The exercises do walk you through ArcGIS examples step by step, but they do have some mistakes in there.All of the examples use the same data from Idaho.If you are looking foor a book that is a good read with interesting exercises, this is not the book for you.Instead, try Bolstad's Intro to GIS.

textbook
It's a textbook...it serves its purpose.Got here in good time & good condition

reads more like an encyclopedia than a textbook
This textbook covers a LOT of information.Unfortunately, it reads like an encyclopedia on GIS-- definitely NOT like a textbook for beginners.It is a good reference book, but is very user-unfriendly for the novice.Endless terminology is presented with little or no conceptual explanations. Each chapter has a corresponding ArcGIS exercise in which you are asked to answer questions which were not really addressed in preceeding material. Honestly, my Intro to GIS prof. isn't really using the text at all.

great book
shipping took a bit longer than expected, but it was just in time for my first assignment

Great Price
The price for this GIS book beat my university's price hands down and i also didn't have to wait long to receive it. Two thumbs up! I love getting all my books from amazon.com ... Read more

Product Description
The Third Edition of this bestselling textbook has been fully revised and updated to include the latest developments in the field and still retains its accessible format to appeal to a broad range of students.

Now divided into five clear sections the book investigates the unique, complex and difficult problems that are posed by geographic information and together they build into a holistic understanding of the key principles of GIS.

This is the most current, authoritative and comprehensive treatment of the field, that goes from fundamental principles to the big picture of:

• GIS and the New World Order
• security, health and well-being
• digital differentiation in GIS consumption
• the core organizing role of GIS in Geography
• the greening of GIS
• grand challenges of GIScience
• science and explanation

Key features:

• Four-colour throughout
• Associated website with free online resources
• Teacher’s manual available for lecturers
• A complete learning resource, with accompanying instructor links, free online lab resources and personal syllabi
• Includes learning objectives and review boxes throughout each chapter

New in this edition:

• Completely revised with a new five part structure: Foundations; Principles; Techniques; Analysis; Management and Policy
• All new personality boxes of current GIS practitioners
• New chapters on Distributed GIS, Map Production, Geovisualization, Modeling, and Managing GIS

Customer Reviews (1)

New book?
If you are going to sell on amazon under the new book category you have to make sure the book is in new condition when it reaches the user.I don't know if the book was damaged in transit or prior to shipping, but it sure isn't new now. ... Read more

Product Description
A unique approach to learning and teaching GIS, updated for ArcGIS 9.3

Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS, Second Edition serves as both an easy-to-understand introduction to GIS and a hands-on manual for the ArcGIS 9.3 software. This combination theory-workbook approach is designed to quickly bring the reader from GIS neophyte to well-informed GIS user from both a general knowledge and practical viewpoint.

Replacing the traditional separate texts on theory and application, the book integrates a broad introduction to GIS with a software-specific workbook for ESRIs ArcGIS in a single comprehensive volume.¿Easy to read, interesting, and at times quite amusing, the new edition is even more accessible to a wide variety of readers.

Each chapter presents two mutually supporting sections:

Overview- a discussion of theory and ideas relating to GIS, laying the groundwork for spatial analysis

Step-by-step instructions on how to use ArcGIS software. There are sixty exercises and nine review exercises throughout the book, covering most of the topics students need to gain GIS jobs or continue work in GIS or GIScience

Complete with a CD-ROM containing data for working out all of the exercises, this Second Edition provides an updated examination of file geodatabases including vector, raster, and 3D GIS with terrains. On completion of this text, students will have acquired in-depth understanding of GIS theory and how to operate the ArcGIS software. They will have been exposed, through additional hands-on demonstrations, to virtually everything about GIS that supports spatial analysis.

Written by an author with over thirty years of experience writing software manuals, Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS, Second Edition puts readers on the quick road to mastery of GIS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

rest in peace, evan
to the author, Mr Kennedy: a chance encounter brought me to this book and a chance encounter connected me to your son, evan, years ago here in sf. i didn't know him terribly well, but well enough to appreciate him. it was nice to see your dedication to him and to his memory

Great book
Great Book, has everything for an introduction, the only low point is that some topics are treated very short (one page), but well, for an introductory book is enough. ;-)

Good intro book
I purchased this book to help me with an Intro to GIS course.The book is very detailed in it's presentation of how to use ArcCatalog and ArcMap.At times,however, it seems that the author wrote it for someone who'd never turned on a computer.I found the first 150 pages to be extremely boring.Other times, my ArcMap 9.3 didn't match up with his step by step instructions and I had use my instructor as a resource to figure out how to complete the exercise.Overall it's a well written book but the mismatched instructions cause me to give it a 4 star rating.

Great book
The book was in great condition.I received it in a timely manner.Great service!

Intro to GIS with Arc GIS
very good quality book, CD included. Service was excelent it arrived very quickly, overall very good! ... Read more

Product Description
Geographic Information Systems for the Social Sciences: Investigating Space and Place is the first book to take a cutting-edge approach to integrating spatial concepts into the social sciences. In this text, authors Steven J. Steinberg and Sheila L. Steinberg simplify GIS (Geographic Information Systems) for practitioners and students in the social sciences through the use of examples and actual program exercises so that they can become comfortable incorporating this research tool into their repertoire and scope of interest. The authors provide learning objectives for each chapter, chapter summaries, links to relevant Web sites, as well as suggestions for student research projects.  ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

excellent guidebook for good research practices
I bought this book several months ago, but only just recently finished reading it. I got it on the recommendation of a colleague who recommended it, and I was not disappointed.
While the book is geared more towards social scientists and graduate students pursuing a career in social scientists, it does an excellent job of showing researchers common fallacies in using GIS for research. The book does not use many case studies, as other books do, which I think is more helpful because it allows the reader to think out how they would like to pursue their own direction in researching a topic, as opposed to a reader thinking, "well now, that doesn't really work for me," and tossing out the advice that comes from examples altogether.
The book is generic enough when talking about GIS systems that you don't get the feeling that you're reading a 200-page advertisement on the glories and wonders of ArcGIS. I also appreciate the layout of each chapter, opening with an outline of topics, an introduction, the main chapter, and then a summary. It gives you several opportunities to check to make sure you understand exactly what the authors are talking about. ... Read more

Product Description
Major advances in the use of geographic information systems have been made in both anthropology and archaeology. Yet there are few published discussions of these new applications and their use in solving complex problems. This book explores these techniques, showing how they have been successfully deployed to pursue research previously considered too difficult--or impossible--to undertake. Among the projects described here are studies of land degradation in the Peruvian Amazon, settlement patterns in the Pacific northwest, ethnic distribution within the Los Angeles garment industry, and prehistoric sociopolitical development among the Anasazi.The book is divided into a general section on the theory of geographic information systems, followed by sections demonstrating actual applications in cultural anthropology, archaeology, paleoanthropology, and physical anthropology.The work will be of much interest within all these communities. ... Read more

Product Description

Fully updated to reflect advances in GIS concepts and techniques, this guide approaches the subject from the broader context of information technology. Gives complete, up-to-date coverage to the concepts and techniques pertaining to every stage of the systems development life cycle of GIS, as well as its applications to various areas of spatial problem solving and decision making.

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent and thorough
I purchased this book for a Fundamentals of GIS course I am taking online, it is very thorough.I can't imagine what a better book would look like.This one has it all.Lots of detail, highly recommended.

Concepts and Techniques of Geographic Information Systems
Book was in good condition as described on Amazon. Very informative and perfect for my class.

Broad yet thorough treatment of GIS techniques and issues
The focus of this book is on the concepts and techniques needed by GIS professionals. Thus, this book stands out for its intentional focus on professional education. The reader should be proficient in geometry, algebra and trigonometry and also have some background in computer science and geography. While this book deals with the range of topics normally included in introductory GIS courses, coverage of many subjects is deep enough for the advanced reader. The authors definitely had a problem trying to place the many interconnected topics of GIS into a linear sequence of chapters. Thus, there are many times where a topic is briefly introduced in one chapter only to have it reappear in greater depth in some subsequent chapter.

Sometimes, the connection between the original introduction and the later details is not clear. For example, in Chapter 2, surveying gets a much more thorough treatment than photogrammetry. However, in chapter 8, six chapters later, photogrammetry reappears as a topic and is covered in tremendous detail. The references at the end of each chapter are very good and are usually in sources that should be accessible to most readers. Once past the simple scale and map theme topics, students face their first mathematical challenge in meaty sections on planar coordinate transformations, projections, geodetic datums, UTM, state plane systems and even a brief introduction to land surveying and GPS . Thisdemonstrates that the authors decided not to shy away from the difficult details of GIS. This would make a good textbook in an upper undergraduate class as well as a good professional reference. Since the table of contents is not shown, I do that next:

1. INTRODUCTION - This chapter explains the context for studying GIS in both the academic and professional settings.

2. MAPS AND GEOSPATIAL DATA - This chapter explains the relationship between maps and GIS.

3. DIGITAL REPRESENTATION AND ORGANIZATION OF GEOSPATIAL DATA - Explains the concepts and techniques of representing geographic data in digital form using different data models. Includes a quick reference to important geographical foundations such as Berry's geographic matrix, then introduces the concepts of objects and fields and rasters and vectors. This chapter also includes a useful section on representing temporal relationships and a good level of detail on object-oriented data models and database systems.

4. GEOSPATIAL DATA QUALITY AND STANDARDS - Defines the basic concepts and terminology commonly used for the description and evaluation of data quality with special reference to GIS. Includes an introduction to spatial autocorrelation and error propagation covered in much greater detail later in the book. Interoperability and OGC get one page here and one more page later in Chapter 12. Finally the chapter includes an extensive section on data standards both in the US and elsewhere.

5. RASTER GEOPROCESSING - Includes rasterfile formats and various topics related to acquiring raster data such as rectification, registration and mosaicing. Brief reference is made to various ways in which raster operations might be categorized. Then the local, neighborhood, extended neighborhood and regional classification system is used to explore the range of operations. Logical overlay operations are thoroughly covered. The determination of slope is also covered here under extended neighborhood operations. Map algebra and cartographic modeling are discussed later in the chapter along with some worked examples.

6. VECTOR GEOPROCESSING - Covers a variety of vector topics including digitizing, scanning, editing, topology building, attribute data conversion, address geocoding, a selection of basic vector operations such as buffering and topological overlay, and a good introduction to network analysis, picked up in much greater detail in Chapter 10.

7. GEOVISUALIZATION AND GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION PRODUCTS - An eclectic mix that covers GIS as information communication channel, human-computer interaction and user interfaces, scientific visualization, 3D, animation, web cams, hypermaps, digital spatial libraries, and how CRTs work.

8. REMOTE SENSING AND GIS INTEGRATION - Deep coverage on such topics as orthophotography production, thermal infrared energy equations, radar imaging theory, photogrammetric considerations of satellite imaging systems, and image classifiers.

9. DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELING - Deep coverage of a range of topics including sampling terrain data, geometric characteristics of DEMs, construction of TINs (including their topological datastructure), more on GPS, stereoplotter operation, sources and quality of existing DEMdata, extraction of topographic features, viewshed analysis, terrain visualization (including tables summarizing various software packages for terrain modeling). It also includes brief coverage of interpolation, surface fitting and trend surface analysis.

10. SPATIAL ANALYSIS, MODELING, AND MINING - Examines spatial analysis at a higher level than the simple map data manipulation of chapters 5 and 6. Good coverage of advanced topics include spatial autocorrelation indices, quadrat counts, nearest-neighbor analysis, gravity models and network analysis. A few detailed examples of integrating GIS with mathematical models concludes the chapter.

11. GIS IMPLEMENTATION AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Thorough coverage of important topics such as the value of a software engineering approach, stages of GIS project planning, system analysis, database design methodology (including several pages on E-R modeling, logical schema and normalization), application software design, system implementation and maintenance.

12. GIS ISSUES AND PROSPECTS - Overview of the key issues facing GIS users today. It also examines the emerging concepts and techniques that are rapidly changing the nature of using geographic information. ... Read more

Product Description
"Introduction to Geographic Information Systems, 5/e" is designed to provide students in a first or second GIS course with a solid foundation in both GIS concepts and the use of GIS. "Introduction to GIS" strikes a careful balance between GIS concepts and hands-on applications. The main portion of the chapter presents GIS terms and concepts and helps students learn how each one fits into a complete GIS system. At the end of each chapter, an application section with 2-7 tasks presents students with actual GIS exercises and the necessary data to solve the problem. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

confusion about this product
This product causesmore confusion than is normal. But I will home in only on a mistake made by Amazon.com. They show a picture of the fifth edition paperback with an arrow that says look inside. When that is clicked you are taken to the second edition. Amazon.com are you selling the fifth edition paperback or the second edition?

I had to buy the book for a class. So now I will tell you what I think aboout the 4th edition. I gave a poor review for the first edition because of the mistakes in explaining the way the CD data was to be used. The back of the fourth edition says "Learn GIS the Easy Way" I assume that is put there because the CD is supposed to walk the student through the subject. The problem is that the exercises are sometimes wrong and sometimes assume you understand what is meant, without a proper explanation. Instructions are abreviated in some cases and assume the student understands how to accomplish the task. It appears in order to learn GIS from this book, using the included data, one has to know GIS.

There is no discussion of the included CD in the book. After awhile I concluded that you are supposed to simply copy the entire disk to your hard drive. when that is done things work better, but it does not get rid of the typos and mistakes and cryptic wording in some of the tasks. The text itself is OK but it could explain some subjects better.

... Read more

Product Description
This text puts the high-tech field of geographic information systems within reach for students like you. It provides a basic, non-technical, and friendly introduction in one convenient source. It examines the basic GIS material that is traditionally found throughout the Geography curriculum—e.g., in Cartography, GIS spatial analysis, and quantitative methods. Clarke’s “learn-by-seeing” approach gives you clear, simple explanations, and an abundance of illustrations and photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Terrific Introductory Text
Clarke's Getting Started with GIS has been a staple of the Introductory GIS student's diet for well over a decade.One of the grand masters of Geographic Information Science, Clarke is an authoritative and experienced voice.Unlike other texts that are too parochially associated with one software package, this text is broad enough to be applicable to any GIS class, regardless of software.As in previous editions, Clarke insists on one lengthy chapter that introduces students to cartography, coordinate systems, projections, and geodesy before delving into the nuts and bolts of GIS itself.This text is also replete with numerous, and very up-to-date, websites that offer free data, free software, or GIS community opportunities.Clarke is very current not only with the latest trends of GIS, both with stand-alone software as well as online sources and community, but also devotes an entire chapter to explore the future of GIS.This is excellent preparation for a student looking towards eventual GIS employment.Also, his new chapter on Terrain Analysis is very welcome as it explores not only DEMS but also TINs and contouring.

Finally, ignore other reviews that say this text is out of date because they are referring to an OLDER version of this textbook, NOT this new one, which addresses the very items they are complaining about.It is very misleading to associate those criticisms with this new text.

I teach GIS at the University level and have used this text to great effect.Therefore, this book is highly recommended as a broad and authoritative Introduction to GIS.

useless
the author teaches in UCSB,I took his class last quarter. it was useless and wasting time. the book is expensive and useless.

Not bad for an intro to GIS
This book seems like it would work for an intro class to GIS anywhere from the middle school to the college level (I used it for a graduate level intro course).For the most part, it does a good job introducing broad, central, concepts in GIS without getting too technical or bogged down with detail.

That being said, it also doesn't offer a whole lot to sink your teeth into.Some of the parts are painfully outdated, too.After reading some of the stuff about the advent of the new fandangled world-wide web, I had to check the copyright date.AOL??Really?I also felt like it did a bad job introducing database concepts.Regardless of these flaws, it does work as an intro text.I am now on the 'Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization' text in the series, and I'm hoping it will be a little more useful.

Horribly out of date
As a part time community college GIS instructor, I selected this book as the text for an "Introduction to GIS" course. I should have dug a little deeper and found something better because this book is completely inadequate.My two biggest complaints are: 1) the text is out of date and badly in need of revision.2) the "free" copy of ArcView that comes with the book is obsolete and worthless.

Part of my reason for selecting this book was the trial version of ArcView that you get with it. I thought my students would benefit from having access to their own copy of the software without having to travel to campus to use it. When I tried to install the application, I immediately ran into problems.I called ESRI technical support and when I told them about the problems I was having, it was all they could do to keep themselves from laughing out loud at me.The version of ArcView that is included is AT LEAST SIX YEARS out of date.ESRI no longer supports that version. I might as well have been teaching my students how to drive a chariot for all the good it would have done them.

When I contacted the publisher with my concerns, the two best suggestions they came up with were: 1) call ESRI for help and 2) the author is working on the 6th edition and it should be ready some time next year.Neither idea was particularly helpful.

As for the text itself, it is rather lean on practical and useful information on the current state of the geographic infomation systems. (WARNING: Sarcasm alert!) My favorite part is the book's discussion ofdata sources that mentions the World Wide Web as if it is some recently developed phenomena. The book was originally published in 1997 and gives the feeling that it has been on coasting on autopilot ever since. If you are interested in getting started with Geographic Infomation Systems, find somewhere else to start.

messy
As an "introduction" to GIS this book is muddled. It will begin an explanation very simply and then jump off the deep end, going into complicated, erratic explanations. ... Read more

Product Description
This text focuses on the ways in which GIS could be made multi-dimensional, based on modelling limitations of current two-dimensional GIS. It suggests extending GIS to incorporate the third dimension, 3D GIS, and spatio-temporal GIS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Vast New Applications
With the incipient rise of the mobile web, this book describes potentially vast new applications for Geographic Information Systems. New cellphones now often have GIS locator capability builtin. Plus, we can easily imagine other mobile devices like laptops, PDAs and vehicles having GIS by default. Combine this with an ever-increasing pervasive web, as suggested by WiFi and next generationWiFi, and you can see the need for ever more GIS databases. Where these would have street information, for example.

One future direction is in developing innovative ways to query the GIS data, and to hook it up to other databases, like weather maps.

Thus far, GIS has existed for what will one day be seen as small, specialised applications, like oceanside and mining activities. In reality, the much larger markets exist in urban areas, where most people are. By checking out this book, you can get a feel for how these new applications might be developed. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Geographic Information Systems," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Geographic Information Systems in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Geographic Information Systems when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Geographic Information Systems, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

Product Description
Geographic Information Systems: Applications in Natural Resource Management is intended for introductory-course students in forestry and natural resource management, field forestry, biology, and other natural resource or natural resource-related fields. The emphasis of this book is on the application of Geographic Information systems (GIS). It provides detailed coverage of GIS operations such as querying, buffering, clipping, and overlay analysis; as well as background information on the history of GIS, database creation, editing and acquisition, and map development. The applications provided can be extended to any region of the world, although the primary emphasis is on Canada and the rest of North America. This book also examines current GIS trends and the opportunities and challenges likely to face GIS users. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed for a comprehensive coverage of GIS topics, this book is organized into three parts. Part 1 (chapters 1 to 8) covers the fundamentals of GIS including coordinate systems, data models, data input, data management, and data display. Part 2 (chapters 9 to 12) includes data exploration, analysis using vector and raster data, and terrain analysis. Part 3 (chapters 13 to 16) covers spatial interpolation, GIS modeling, regions, and network and dynamic segmentation. Also included in the book are new developments in GIS such as the object-oriented model and research-oriented questions such as the effect of spatial scale.

This book stresses both concepts and practice. GIS concepts from fields such as geography, cartography, spatial analysis, and database management explain the purpose and objectives of GIS operations and the interrelationship among GIS operations. A basic understanding of map projection, for example, explains why we must project map layers to be used together to a common coordinate system and why we need to input numerous projection parameters. Each chapter in this book is divided into two main sections. The first section covers topics and concepts addressed in the chapter. The second section covers applications, usually with three to five problem-solving tasks.

To include data sets and instructions for the practice sections, we chose GIS packages as examples for this book, and ArcView software is included complimentary with this textbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Decent mix of GIS theory and arcview specifics
I just finished using this book for a second-level ArcView class.At first I didn't like it that much, mostly because the writing is very soporific, but also because it blurs coverage of GIS topics and ArcView specifics together, without a clear sense of what kind of information was being presented.(E.g. tutorial GIS material appears in the middle of exercises.This should be separated and stand off in a separate font, for instance, than the low level instructions of what ArcView commands to perform for the exercise.)

However, as I read this book more, I got to like it and appreciate it much more.It occupies a unique niche in the GIS literature field, because *NO OTHER BOOK* that I have been able to track down (with one exception given below) combines high level GIS concepts with their realization in ArcView (if there are others I'd like to know).

Most other books are either GIS theory alone, or very *very* low level bloated books about ArcView as a program (e.g. practically everything esri publishes), with little or no connection to, or explication of, high level GIS concepts, theory, and data structures. (Also as I read on, the writing became less soporific: I don't know if this was because I got used to the author's writing style, or if the writing actually improved.)

In contrast to all those other ArcView books, this book presents some GIS theory, and then shows how to actually do something with these concepts in ArcView.The exercises on the CD provide data and shapefiles specific to what is being taught, so that the reader learns how to actually do quite powerful things in ArcView. It became quite exciting to see some of the cool things that could be done as the chapters went on.(For learning and using ArcView, this book goes along well with Theobald's excellent reference on ArcView, which also bridges the gap between GIS theory and ArcView by presenting almost every nut and bolt relevant to ArcView usage, organized by high level GIS concepts.)

Regarding the complaints in the other review:I encountered just a couple of bugs in the supplied CD exercises, and most of them could by remedied in one way or another.(The newer printing of the book may or may not have these bugs fixed.)Although a trial version of ArcView is included on the CD for installing on your home computer (I used a Mac with Virtual PC), the text includes exercises using the ArcInfo program when there was something that couldn't be done in ArcView.On the book's cover, they clearly mention that only ArcView is included on the CD.For the exercises which required special extensions such as 3D Analyst, we used the college's computers which had those extensions installed, so that was not a problem.It is unfortunate that not every tool covered in the book could have a trial verision included in the CD (not the fault of the publisher, but of esri), but I'd rather have the knowledge coverage in the book so I can learn about it even if the program is not on the CD.

I think this book deserves five stars for content, but I'm giving it four because of the stylistic problems described above.

Introduction to GIS by Chang
This book was recommended reading for a class. Like many other books that include a CD, it relies heavily on the CD to teach the material. It was frustration from the begining. The overall content of the book is sufficient but the teaching process falls far short. The author or publisher should have checked the CD to see if it contained what they said: no spatial analyst like they said--which is very important in the book, no arcinfo which is important. One reference to a software extension was misnamed, leaving me to search and experiment till I discovered they did not mean "Grid Data Source" but rather "Image Data Source". And we have not yet left chapter 1! Chapter 2 was no different, View Projection Utility does not work. Oh well I give up. I do not recommend this book as a way to learn GIS--maybe as a reference but not as a tutorial. ... Read more

Product Description
This exploration of geographic information and geographic information systems (GIS) expands the discussion beyond the normal input-processing-output sequence. It begins by examining the manipulations that support analytical uses of GIS, including measurement and frameworks, representations, data quality, transformation and operations, parametric mapping, simple logic and overlay, taxonomy, distance transformations and surfaces. It then moves on to discuss operations that connect the practical exercises in the book to professional applications of GIS techniques in bureaucratic, social and cultural contexts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

A refreshing perspective
This book is the main text for an undergraduate course in GIS in my university department. The book serves as a nice introduction to some fundamentals of GISs and does a particularly good job at linking the theoretical constructs and concepts with specific application domains. There are many examples of the applicability of the theories on specific industrial and governmental projects.

Chrisman is a gifted author and provides a refreshing perspective of how to think about geographic information systems. It all startsrather abstractly with levels of measurement, reference systems and measurement frameworks. Choices in these levels turn out to be what dictates the adoption of field vs. object data models (the classic dichotomy in GISs) and raster vs. vector structures consequently. The author then proceeds in exposing operations of increasing complexity on these structures, and does a very systematic work on categorizing them. A plethora of diagrams, figures, and footnote-definitions of important terms complement the text nicely. The final chapters on the ties of GISs with society and culture are also very interesting. The whole book has a flow and a strong structure, a feature that I value especially in technical books. There are no loose chapters and everything builds on what has been discussed before.

Of course as an introductory textbook it leaves out some areas of investigation and comments only scarcely on others. For example the chapters on comprehensive operations and transformations are just very generic overviews. Models such as spaghetti or topological database structures are also very superficially presented, hence the 4-star rating.

Overall, a very interesting, clearly written, and consice introduction to GISs.

An excellent second book for learning GIS
OK, so you've figured out how to drive the software and you've learnt the basic operations. Now, what does it all mean? This book is a great attempt to answer that question.
Nick Chrisman has drawn on his wealth of GIS experience to go beyond the basics. Don't expect to learn them here, you'll have to do that elsewhere. But when it gets down to just what it means, this is the place to be.
If you want GIS to work in a decision-making environment (which is 100% of its real applications, after all), learn from this book. We have used it as the second GIS text at The Ohio State University's Geodetic Science graduate program, and the students have appreciated its approach and content.
BTW, get the second edition (2002), noted here as 'Wie Exploring GIS' for some reason.

Outstanding high-level overview
I am an experienced GIS professional and this book is one of my favorites in my library. It is the best single source for understanding the scientific and technological context of GIS. This book has changed the wayI think about GIS.

The comment from the reader from Hong Kong iscompletely off-target. Did this person really read this book?

A pathetic attempt to cover the subject.
The author ought to stick to romance novels.

Excellent overview of Geographic Information Systems
Nick Chrisman, a legend in the field of geographic information systems, provides a refreshing perspective on GIS.I recommend this book to anyone involved in the field, particularly to those planning on teaching GIS.He places GIS in a societal context that is becoming increasing important as this technology becomes mainstream ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is where raster GIS started...
...well not really, but this book sparked the scientific interest in it. The concepts surrounding surface analysisdate back to late 1970s and were championed by Dana Tomlin with his PhD dissertation in 1983, which was later published as this book. Here, Tomlin introduces map algebra operators based on how a computer algorithm obtains data values for processing raster surfaces. He identifies three fundamental classes: local, focal and zonal functions.
Tomlin is a must to any academic student of GIS, since much or nearly all work on raster GIS springs off from Tomlin's work. The illustrations clearly show that this is an old book, but the knowlegde still remains as brilliant today as it was then.
This is a book you want to own, simply because it is very sought after and constantly unavailable from your university library. ... Read more

Product Description
Presents strategies for application development, interface design, and enabling Web-based access.
* Includes numerous case studies and examples from the private and public sectors.
* Provides information on integrating legacy MIS systems and planning for future developments in database design. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

GIS design and implementation
The book is overpriced. The content needs to be edited and all the spelling mistakes corrected. I learned more from free content on internet sites than from this book.

Good content, bad writing
Based on content and organization, it's good, maybe really good.But the poor writing makes it hard to read.It's also kind of expensive.

I was new to GIS design and implementation, so I can't compare this to what else is out there on these topics.I do have some experience with databases and GIS software, so I'm not that green to the concepts.I'm a thorough reader and like for reading to flow, especially when it's explaining something techy.This book has many punctuation errors (e.g. a period where a comma should be), uses the wrong word (e.g. their for there, or where for were), uses the wrong form of the verb "is", uses plural where it's really singular, etc.Sometimes a sentence is just worded in a way that makes it difficult to follow.

I have learned a lot about design and implementation of GIS with this book.I just wish it would have been less taxing to get through. ... Read more

Product Description
The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the health sector is an idea whose time has come.The current applications of GIS in health are diverse and extensive. The present GIS environment is heavily driven by technology and such an approach is indeed logical for the most part. However, the needs of less-developed countries in utilizing the concepts and technologies of mapping should not be neglected in the continuing evolution of GIS.Geographic Information Systems and Health Applications presents ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive and interesting
I thought the book was a nice compilation of work from around the world.It is not exhaustive like a textbook but the fact that each chapter is a seprate entity makes it interesting reading.Chapters cover some major themes of interest in GIS. I liked it and will probably use individual chapters as course material. It should be good for practitioners too.The format would be good for a continuing series along the lines of this book. ... Read more

Product Description
For one-quarter or one-semester courses in Geographic Information Systems.Approaching the study of GIS from the broader context of information technology, this text gives complete, up-to-date coverage of the concepts and techniques pertaining to every stage of the systems development life cycle of GIS and its applications in various areas of spatial problem solving and decision making. The authors, who have over 50 years of professional experience between them, stress a rigorous, but balanced treatment of the concepts and techniques of GIS to provide real-world experience of using and implementing GIS while retaining a strong academic flavor. ... Read more