GIS Books

Books On My Desk

The following is a list and brief description of GIS books that will be of interest to you, as they have been to me.

Business Site Selection, Location Analysis and GIS. If your organization is like most, you will likely face relocation decisions, need to open a new location, build a new factory or build an off-site server facility. Business Site Selection, Location and GIS covers the convergent use of GIS for Location Science analysis. It begins with two introductory chapters; one on GIS, hte other on mathematical modeling. From there you learn how to build on technologies such as ArcGIS and other pertinent software.
GIS for Homeland Security (Case Studies in GIS) (Paperback). A presentation of 15 case studies that demonstrate how public agencies and private entities are putting GIS (using ArcGIS) to work on the front lines.
Getting to Know ARC GIS Updated for ArcGIS 9.3. Getting to Know ArcGIS Desktop, Second Edition Updated for ArcGIS 9.3 contains introductory concepts followed by scripted software exercises that reinforce an understanding of the conceptual material presented. This format encourages readers to acquire functional GIS skills in a variety of areas. Offering the most comprehensive overview of ArcGIS 9.3 available on the market today, Getting to Know ArcGIS is valuable as both a classroom text and as a manual for individuals learning ArcGIS.
GIS Tutorial for Homeland Security, comes with a CD so you can follow along with ARC GIS. This is one in a series of hands-on learning exercises covering GIS applications for homeland security.This guide supports the US Department of Homeland Security intitiative driving the government's efforts to safeguard the country.
GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9 GIS Tutorial Updated for ArcGIS 9.3, Updated for ArcView 9.3, GIS Tutorial: Workbook for ArcView 9, Third Edition, provides effective GIS training in an easy-to-follow format. By combining ArcGIS tutorials with self-study exercises intended to gradually build on basic skills, GIS Tutorial is fully adaptable to individual needs as well as classroom settings. In addition to the range of GIS functionality covered by its predecessors, the third edition of this best-selling workbook features two new tutorial chapters that utilize 3D Analyst and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst applications.
In the early development days, the utilities preferred calling the technology AM/FM and would often debated how different itw as from GIS. Things have changed in 25 years, as you will read in Empowering Electric and Gas Utilities with GIS. “Utilities are awakening to the dramatic impact a GIS can have on their overall opertions.” says author Bill Mehan, who provides three dozen examples of multifarous ways that utilities from Burbank, California, to Beirut, Lebanon, use geospatial technology.
Back in the days of the one rooom school house, when you were taught geography you also were taught history. So here is the modern version: Nick Chrismans' “Charting the Unknown: How Computer Mapping at Harvard Became GIS.” You will learn how the Havard Library for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis had an idea that gave you the career you so much enjoy.

Feeling a bit ill lately? Then GIS Tutorial for Health is just for you. Wait. that's wrong. It isn't “…For Your Health,” is it? This book is a tutorial for anyone who wants to teach or learn how to use ArcGIS 9 in the health industry. Kristin Kurland and Wilpen Gorr provide you with a clear path for understanding teh pwoer of GIS is tracking disease. The book comes with two CDs. One has the data needed to comlete the tuturials, excrcises and case studies. The other includes a 180-day trial of ArcGIS9.1.
A to Z GIS: An Illustrated Dictionary of Geographic Information by Shelly Sommer and Tasha Wade, is the book we all wish we had written. Of course! A GIS dictionary. How obvious can it get? sure, we think we know what the lingo means, but what about our managers, and the newbies? What about all of us? Do we all know what the acronym IFSAR means? How do you explain a hysometric map to your kids? Now you can, with the help of your very own GIS dictionary. It is all there, from A to Z

Mapping Global Cities by Ayse Pamuk, describes how to use GIS technology for intelligent urban planning and policymaking. Part I of the book shows how analysts use GIS to explore global metropolitan regions, and provides an overview of spatial data used in GIS analysis. Part II shows how urban planners and policy makers use GIS, emphasizing the issues of local government and social service delivery. Part III shows how researchers use GIS to analyze spatial patterns in metropolitan areas, including locating immigrant clusters with census data and comparing immigrant clustering patterns across metropolitan areas. There is a CD included that lets you make maps and explore themes that are coverd in the book (you'll need ArcView®, ArcEditor™, or ArcInfo® 9 and the ArcGIS® Spatial Analyst extension).

Learning to Think Spatially is a new report from the National Research Council (NRC) that stresses the importance of spatial thinking in everyone's life. The book examines how spatial thinking might be incorporated into existing standards–based instruction across the school curriculum. Spatial thinking must be recognized as a fundamental part of K–12 education and as an integrator and a facilitator for problem solving across the curriculum. With advances in computing technologies and the increasing availability of geospatial data, spatial thinking will play a significant role in the information–based economy of the twenty–first century. “A blue ribbon committee has validated the importance of spatial thinking in everyday life and recommended its inclusion across the curriculum in all grades,” says Charlie Fitzpatrick, comanager of the ESRI K–12 Education Program for ESRI. “We continually witness the power of spatial analysis and the value of integrating data to explore situations and solve problems,” echoes George Dailey, ESRI K–12 Education Program comanager for ESRI.

Learning GIS techniques is one thing; learning how to use GIS to solve real-world problems is quite another trick. In Think Globally, Act Regionally : GIS and Data Visualization for Social Science and Public Policy Research, Richard Le Gates provides social science and public policy students ways to identify and think about urban problems to devise solutions. This 500+ page book comes with hundreds of diagrams, screenshots and maps to guide your way from understanding GIS to using GIS. Included is a CD with the spatial data used in the excercises. However, you must have ArView^®, ArcEditor™ or ArcInfo^®9 and the Arview Spatial analyst extension to complete the exercises.
Mapping Our World: GIS Lessons for Educators, ArcGIS Desktop Edition. Now there’s a title that leaves little to the imagination. Except this: It is easy to follow and well prepared. Now understand, this is GIS the ESRI way, so if you want to teach about Intergraph, MapInfo or any other GIS program, this book is not for you. Since ArcXXX dominates most markes, this is most likely to your advantage. To assist you in your teaching, there are two CDs that come with the book to let the students have a hands on experience learning GIS, or at least ArcGIS.
Last Spring, I had the honor to teach Remote Sensing at the GIS Certification course at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The course book was pre-chosen, so I had no choice. I would have given up my first born if Aronoff’s “Remote Sensing for GIS Managers” were available. I spent most of my spare time trying to first understand, then simplify the complex mathematics presented in the text book we used. Now understand, remote sensing is a complex subject. But GIS managers do not have to understand the inner secrets of film emulsion or scientific of chloryphill to use the resulting technology. As I thumbed through Aranoff's book, it reminded me of my class notes and PowerPoint presentation. It was clear, concise and easy to understand. Aranoff did it better than I did, and of course he put it all in book form. If you are struggling with the basics of remote sensing, or just want to better understand it, without getting an advanced degree, this is the book for you.
The GIS Guide for Local Government Officials
Dealing with some government officials can be a delight or an ordeal. Recently, I was with one of the ordeal “persuasion.” He was a nice enough person and a dedicated civil servant. However, understanding GIS was not one of his strengths. Out of desperation, I gave him a copy of “The GIS Guide for Local Government Officials,” edited by Cory Fleming. Since then he has moved from a position of GIS-What? to “this looks like something we need.” This handy reference is a must have for all government officials and those who deal with them.
GIS Tutorial : Workbook for ArcView 9.0 If you prefer to use software from Intergraph, MapInfo, open source or home grown, this is not a book for you. But if you are about to migrate or already have migrated to ArcView 9, Gorr and Kurland have a book that you probably need to read. No matter how proficient you may be in your discipline it is always prudent to have a quick reference book on hand. Of course, if you want to tweak that SmallWorld-using buddy of yours, this could be the ideal gift.
Spatial Portals: Gateways to Geographic Information. Portals are everywhere you look on the Internet. It is one of those clever words that the nerds adapt for their secret language to force you to think they know what you do not know. In truth, an Internet “portal” is simply a way to organize information; it is an organized web page on a single or related topic. The great benefit of these portals is that someone has taken the time to sort through all the gagillions of web sites and organize a page by subject matter. If you have ever looked for GIS data, you already what a pain it can be to find what you need. Thanks to DR. Winnie Tang (CEO of ESRI Hong Kong) and Jan Selwood (an independent GIS consultant) we have a great source of information and discussion of spatial portals. You will learn how to find, share and use geographic knowlege and even how to design your own spatial portal. The book contains great graphics, tips, case studies and strategies.
Children Map the World: Selections from the Barbara Petchenik Children's World Map Competition. Think your kid’s “refridgerator drawings” are ready for Louvre? Before you book your flight, you may want to check out Children Map the World This is a great coffee table collection of the best of The Barabara petchenik Children’s World Map Competion. The competition was created by the International Carotgraphic Association in 1993 in memory of its past vice president, Barbara Bartz Petchenik. Inside this wonderful collection you will see just how well an enthusiatic child can turn a Crayola into a fine cartographic tool. You will see the world through a child's eye and perhaps wonder if our efforts of an accurate depiction of a map of the world, isn't in fact mere child’s play.
Cartographies of Disease by Tom Koche. Are you concerned about your health? Afraid that your parrot will suddenly infect you? Perhaps, we hope, you are geniunely concerned about tracking disease to stop worldwide epidemics. Check out Cartographies of Disease and understand how to use GIS to keep us healthy.
Fun with GPS Donald Cooke. Any book written by Don Cooke is a must read. He is one of the true founders and innovators in the field of GIS. This book, though, is an especially good book for anyone who has kids, is a kid, or was a kid. Don’s imagination runs wild with fun ideas to teach, learn and just play with GPS. Go get it now!
GIS Worlds: Creating Spatial Data Infrastructures by Ian Masser. While way planned and written, this book is not for everyone. If you are a casual GIS user, you can skip this one. However, if you want to make your GIS more effective in your organization this is a must read. At the heart of any enterprise system is how the data relate. GIS is no exception. So before you can begin to demand enterprise use of GIS, you must first understand the underpinnings of the data, or the spatial data infrastructure. Masser does an excellent job explaining the history and implementation of various DSI’s providing a rock solid foundation for your very own SDI.
Measuring UP: The Business Case for GIS by Christopher Thomas and Milton Ospina. Unless you are a lone GIS user and do not give a rip about anyone else, go get this book! It is a logical explaination of why GIS is useful. Chock full of great real examples and cases, Measuring Up is a must-have reference for building your own business case for GIS.
Designing Better MAPS: A Guide fpr GIS Users by Cynthia A. Brewer. Information technology, including GIS, reduced complex tasks to a few mouse clicks. Mostly, that is good news. However, in some cases, the ease of use factor results in junky output. Surely you've sat through the PowerPoint presenation that never passed by the trained eye of a graphics artist or semi-intelligent writer. You know the kind: 10 point type, 20 lines per slide and every bell and whistle available tossed in just to show you it can be done. GIS is no different. I hate to break it to you, but the skills required to build a GIS–that is to relate an event or asset to a location–are not the same skills needed to create comprehensible, easy to ready, informative maps. So, if you refuse to employ a cartographer or artist, at lease go read Designing Better MAPS.
These and other books are available through Harlow's Books and CDs or through Amazon.com

GIS Books

Books On My Desk

Volume 31