on Brains

Make Smarter - Python, Postgres Refcardz, Agile

There’s a lot of stuff in the Make Smarter department this month, so let’s jump right in.

I ran across a couple of really good Python resources available online this month. Dive Into Python 3 by by Mike Pilgrim is due out on October 16th, but it’s also available online for free. It’s very highly rated on Amazon, so it should be an excellent resource. Slashgeo links to Utah State University’s RS/GIS Laboratory’s course Geoprocessing with Python Using Open Source GIS, which has all of its course materials online. It looks like a really good course, and the slide shows are very detailed with code samples.

Speaking of GIS courses online, Free Geography Tools links to Introducing GIS, an introductory course put out by the Department of Land Affairs, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Materials include videos, worksheets, and QGIS built with sample data used in the course. While it’s an introductory course, it isn’t fluff - topics include vector editing, topology, raster and vector spatial analysis. If you already have QGIS, you can download just the data at the very bottom of the page.

The Boston GIS Blog has put out a RefCardz on PostgreSQL, and it’s great. It’s a bit of a stretch to call it a reference card (unless you normally cram 6 pages into your wallet), but there’s a lot of really great material that will keep you from having to hunt in various books spread across your office. To download it as a PDF you’ll need to sign up for a free account.

Finally, here are a few quick ones that I haven’t delved into yet but that caught my eye: