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You're reading from  Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python - Third Edition

Product typeBook
Published inSep 2019
Reading LevelIntermediate
PublisherPackt
ISBN-139781789959277
Edition3rd Edition
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Joel Lawhead
Joel Lawhead
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Joel Lawhead

Joel Lawhead is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP), a certified GIS Professional (GISP), and vice president of NVision Solutions, Inc., an award-winning firm specializing in geospatial technology integration and sensor engineering for NASA, FEMA, NOAA, the US Navy, and many other commercial and non-profit organizations. Joel began using Python in 1997 and started combining it with geospatial software development in 2000. He has authored multiple editions of Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python and QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, both from Packt. He is also the developer of the open source Python Shapefile Library (PyShp) and maintains a geospatial technical blog.
Read more about Joel Lawhead

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GIS

Computer mapping evolved with the computer itself in the 1960s. However, the origin of the term GIS began with the Canadian Department of Forestry and Rural Development. Dr. Roger Tomlinson headed a team of 40 developers in an agreement with IBM to build the Canada Geographic Information System (CGIS). The CGIS tracked the natural resources of Canada and allowed the profiling of those features for further analysis. The CGIS stored each type of land cover as a different layer.

It also stored data in a Canadian-specific coordinate system, suitable for the entire country, which was devised for optimal area calculations. While the technology that was used was primitive by today's standards, the system had phenomenal capability at that time. The CGIS included software features that seem quite modern:

  • Map projection switching
  • The rubber sheeting of scanned images
  • Map scale...
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Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python - Third Edition
Published in: Sep 2019Publisher: PacktISBN-13: 9781789959277

Author (1)

author image
Joel Lawhead

Joel Lawhead is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional (PMP), a certified GIS Professional (GISP), and vice president of NVision Solutions, Inc., an award-winning firm specializing in geospatial technology integration and sensor engineering for NASA, FEMA, NOAA, the US Navy, and many other commercial and non-profit organizations. Joel began using Python in 1997 and started combining it with geospatial software development in 2000. He has authored multiple editions of Learning Geospatial Analysis with Python and QGIS Python Programming Cookbook, both from Packt. He is also the developer of the open source Python Shapefile Library (PyShp) and maintains a geospatial technical blog.
Read more about Joel Lawhead