Customer Reviews

Principles of Geographical Information Systems (Spatial Information Systems)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is arguably the best introduction to GIS available. A worthy successor to Burrough's earlier work, this book provides a very broad perspective of spatial information systems, ranging from the basics of data modelling and representation, to more complex (but essential) issues such as geostatistics, fuzzy logic and data quality. A lot of so-called "introduction to GIS" books are in reality books about one commercial product. Not this one. Many books only cover the very basics, and thus narrow the reader's perspective. This book will open your mind about many aspects of GIS, since it provides a very rich perspective of the field. I have been using this book in my graduate courses on GIS, with excellent results.

This is one of the best texts currently available on the topic of GIS. It gives an overall perspective of GIS to any level of user, from the basic to the advanced. After being educated in the American system (BS, Geography, United States Military Academy) and the British system (MSc, GIS, Cranfield University and U.K. Army Survey Course) I found this book to be the most unbiased and easy to follow GIS text on the market. In fact, I am recommending it to be the reference text for the GIS curriculum at NIMA's National Geospatial Intelligence School.
This book remains true to its aim: "To provide an introduction to the theoretical and technical principles that need to be understood to work effectively and critically with GIS."
It is neither a geography text nor an earth science text, so those involved in that educational environment should choose another book.

I'm currently a student in a GIS program. This is the required text for one of my courses this session. My previous session I used the Heywood book and I found it dated and out of touch and dull. I much prefer this one. While it is very detailed, I appreciate the more comprehensive explanations of how things actually work behind the scenes. Managing data is one of the most crucial aspects of GIS and having a broader overview is proving most helpful. It is written in a formal, rather "dense" style, but I didn't find the British English to be much of a hindrance. I'm actually quite tired of books that "fluff" over topics and talk down to the audience by giving overly simple explanations.

I checked out this book from the library for reference and decided to get a personal copy of the same book. This is probably one of the best books that one can get for GIS introduction. Other books do not talk as much about the specifics of the spatial data and its nuances. They are busy selling the applications of GIS (geographic information systems) to their domain.

Good luck.

Only get this book if your class requires it. It was among the most boring text books I have ever been forced to read. As far as the content it is to vague to make it really useful.

This book is dry but thorough. A good grasp of maths is handy when reading. They go through the basics, which are still relevant to GIS, so don't worry that it's more than 10 years old now. If you want something more accessible though, and something which can sometimes be fun (and isn't written with a fear of not upholding the reputation of oxford), get 'geographic information analysis' by o'sullivan and unwin (2003).

This text will be a chore to read for most American students who are new to GIS. Although the author(s) manage to cram alot of information into the relatively short chapters, the sentences are long and difficult to understand because of the overly wordy, jargon-filled 'proper' use of British English & spellings. If you decide to purchase this book, then I highly recommend the 'Oxford Unabridged English Dictionary' to go along with it. The majority of the students in my class "Geographic Information Systems I" at Southwest Texas State University, which has one of the best geography programs in the nation, felt the same way I do, and also thought that the book was too advanced for an introductory GIS class. I think that the professors at Southwest Texas State University are now using a different text for that class. Also, people always complain that books tend to be geared toward a single software program- Well, like it or not, in the United States, ESRI has a monopoly on geographic software so you are going to have to learn ArcView/Info one way or another.