Gis Open Source: GRASS GIS, Quantum GIS and SpatiaLite

The authors are all prominent experts in Open Source GIS in Italy and, in many cases, the international community. They are all professionals with involvement in training and scientific research and are highly motivated by their common goal of supporting Free Software. This is, therefore, an innovative undertaking in that it provides the user with immediate access to the software tools and to the numerous resources and documents described in the text and available via the Internet.The first part of the book, which is divided into nine chapters, deals with describing reference systems and helping the user install the software packages on Microsoft, Apple, GNU/Linux operating systems.Subsequent chapters present the most important functionalities of well-known software, such as QGIS and GRASS GIS, and describe ways of managing geographic data using relational database engines (SpatiaLite). Next, a few examples and applications in landscaping, geomorphology, hydrology and geology are presented and the various online resources where users may obtain free help and support are described.The book closes with a few remarks on advanced functionalities.