This page provides information about the workbooks which have been created to accompany GIS For Biologists: A Practical Introduction For Undergraduates (including links to download required to complete the exercises in each one). These workbooks provide practical training in additional aspects of using GIS in biological research.If you wish to attend an of the in-person courses we run based around GIS For Biologists: A Practical Introduction For Undergraduates or any of the accompanying workbooks, click here to find out when the next ones are scheduled. Links to download the data sets used for the practical exercises in each workbook can be found in the title-specific sections below.
Downloading The Software Required For These Workbooks
These workbooks assume that you are using QGIS version 2.8.3 (Windows OS users) or 2.8.4 (Mac OS Users). If you are using a Windows computer, click here to download the 64 bit version of QGIS 2.8.3, or here to download the 32 bit version of QGIS 2.8.3. If in doubt as to which version to install, try the 64 bit version first, and only if this does not work on your computer, try the 32 bit version. To install it, follow the instructions here. Alternatively, watch a video which show you how to download, install and set up QGIS here.
To install QGIS on a computer running a Mac OS, download a compressed file containing the QGIS .dmg file for version 2.8.4 clicking here. Once you have downloaded it, open the folder and install the .dmg file called QGIS-2.8.4-1.dmg. NOTE: You will probably need to change the security settings on your computer to allow you to install software from an unauthorised source before you can install QGIS. If you run into any problems, this video may help (this is not a GIS In Ecology video). The other .dmg files provided in this compressed folder are optional, but it is worth installing them too, after you have installed QGIS. If you choose to install these files, install them in the following order: NumPy-1.8.0-1.dmg, NumPy-1.9.2-1.dmg, SciPy-0.13.1-1.dmg, SciPy-0.16.0-1.dmg.
The workbooks also assume that you have a copy of the analytical package R installed on your computer. You can find out how to download and install a copy of R at www.r-project.org.
Workbooks Currently Available In This Workbook Series
1. An Introduction To Integrating QGIS And R For Spatial Analysis (GIS For Biologists Workbooks series): This workbook contains five exercises which provide practical experience in integrating QGIS and R to allow you to conduct high quality spatial analyses by accessing and combining the powerful mapping, data layer creation, editing and processing tools from QGIS with the equally powerful analytical tools from R. These exercises are based around data from a real biological field study and include: Creating a GIS project to process you data and create a map suitable for publication; creating environmental raster data layers; linking environmental data to biological data and conducting basic descriptive analyses on the resulting data set; and running statistical analyses (GLMs and GAMs) to investigate spatial relationships in this combined data set.
To download the data required for this workbook, first create a new folder on the C: drive of your computer (assuming you are using a computer running a Windows operating system (if you are using a different operating system, you will need to create this folder elsewhere and change the folder addresses provided in the instructions for the practical exercises in this workbook accordingly), and rename it QGIS_R_WORKBOOK. Next, click here and save the compressed file to the folder you have just created (which should have the address C:\QGIS_R_WORKBOOK). Once this file has been downloaded, open the compressed folder, copy its entire contents and paste it into the folder C:\QGIS_R_WORKBOOK. Once you have done this, you are ready to start working through the practical exercises in this workbook.NOTE: You only need to download and unzip this compressed file once as it contains all the files you need to complete every exercise contained in An Introduction To Integrating QGIS And R For Spatial Analysis.
If you wish to attend an of the in-person courses we run based around this workbook, click here to find out when the next one is scheduled.
2. An Introduction To Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) Using QGIS And R (GIS For Biologists Workbooks series): This workbook contains five exercises which will introduce you to the basic spatial processing and analytical techniques required to create a biologically meaningful species distribution model (SDM). Taken together, these exercises allow you to work through an example of an SDM project form processing survey data and making raster data layers of environmental variables to constructing an SDM, visualising its predicted distribution and validating its predictive ability.
To download the data required for this workbook, first create a new folder on the C: drive of your computer (assuming you are using a computer running a Windows operating system (if you are using a different operating system, you will need to create this folder elsewhere and change the folder addresses provided in the instructions for the practical exercises in this workbook accordingly), and rename it SDM_WORKBOOK. Next, click here and save the compressed file to the folder you have just created (which should have the address C:\SDM_WORKBOOK). Once this file has been downloaded, open the compressed folder, copy its entire contents and paste it into the folder C:\SDM_WORKBOOK. Once you have done this, you are ready to start working through the practical exercises in this workbook.NOTE: You only need to download and unzip this compressed file once as it contains all the files you need to complete every exercise contained in An Introduction To Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) Using QGIS And R.
If you wish to attend an of the in-person courses we run based around this workbook, click here to find out when the next one is scheduled.