Micro Resources

Sometimes the "out-of-the-box" GIS applications don't fulfill your need. While writing your own application isn't something to enter into lightly, sometimes it is the best solution.

A custom application might be the answer when you need:

• A simplified interface
• Special functions and tools
• Integration with other tools and data

The key to a successful custom application is to leverage the available toolkits and libraries---in other words let someone else do the hard work for you.

Some open source resources for writing your own applications are:

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Eventually, most of us are interested in getting our GIS data from the desktop to the web. If you use Quantum GIS (QGIS) there are a couple of handy plugins/tools that allow you to do just that.

There are two ways to convert a QGIS project file to a MapServer map file:

1. The MapServer export plugin included with QGIS
2. The new standalone QgisToMapServer application

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If you are using a newer version of QGIS, you may find that the icons do not match those found in Desktop GIS. You can revert to the "classic" icons in newer versions of QGIS by going to Edit|Options, choosing the General tab, and then selecting "classic" from the Icon theme drop-down box.

If you want to work through the examples in Chapter 3. Working With Vector Data, the bird observation data can be downloaded here:

http://desktopgisbook.com/files/desktop_gis_birds.zip

For the backdrop, use the world mosiac raster which is available from the Data page.