Using QGIS to work with Biological Records

Formerly known as Quantum GIS, QGIS is a freely available open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) of the highest quality. Thanks to a community of dedicated and talented developers and an active and vocal user community, QGIS matches the functionality and usability of commercial products like MapInfo and ArcGIS.
An increasing number of ecologists and biological recorders are using this free GIS software to help them visualise, explore and analyse spatial data.
During this course, participants will find out how to visualise and work with biological records using QGIS. In particular, instruction will be given on using the FSC Tom.bio Productivity Tools plugin for QGIS.
We will cover topics like mapping biological records from spreadsheets, linking to NBN web services to display NBN grid maps in QGIS, styling biological records, downloading raw biological record data from the NBN through QGIS and mapping them, working with OS grid references and grids within QGIS, ‘mashing up’ maps from other sources to display alongside your own biological records.
Participants should leave with an understanding of how to work with biological records within QGIS.
This course is not suitable for QGIS novices. Previous experience of QGIS and an understanding of how to carry out basic operations within QGIS are pre-requisites for this course. If you are a complete novice, consider attending our ‘Introduction to the Fundamentals of QGIS’ course first.