GIS Resources

Geographical Information Systems, or GIS, is a set of technological tools for placing data layers on maps. Basic skills in and access to GIS tools are essential to any research-based approach to coastal adaptation. The following set of links may help people get a start in casual GIS usage, although professional level applications of GIS often require expertise derived from extensive training and fairly powerful computers running expensive, specialized software.

• Marshfield Online GIS
• MassGIS, Massachusetts GIS services.
• The 600 pound gorilla of the GIS software world is ArcGIS. The personal use version is around $100/year. The fully powered version is typically licensed by institutions for an order of magnitude more dollars than the personal version. QuantumGIS is a free, open source alternative.
  • ArcGIS tutorials
  • Getting Started with ArcGIS