QGIS SERIES- MAKING GIS AFFORDABLE?

The QGIS (formerly known as Quantum GIS) platform is an open source GIS platform run by contributors from all over the world. Before the advent of QGIS, similar GiS software packages have been proprietary like MapInfo and Esri ArcGIS. These proprietary packages are expensive and mostly were targeted at corporate users. If the Americans and Europeans mourn about the cost of acquiring these proprietary softwares then we in Nigeria and Africa as a whole are just about at our wits end.

The long term effect of these inaccessibility to affordable GIS software packages has been a software market awash with faulty, half complete, unstable and pirated copies of ArcGIS and Mapinfo. Of course, one should forget the calm group that always managing through on trial versions.

Suffice to say QGIS on the scene  and for free naira is a cool relief. And here comes the catch, we hope to help in making it as popular and useful on the scene as ArcGIS and MapInfo has been for years.

We intend to be posting basic tips on how to use QGIS and the plugins.  QGIS statement is clear, you don’t have to pay so much to become a GIS user. We start this series with a presentation on how to georeference a raster  image with QGIS  using the 2.8 version.why georeferencing? Most times in our clime her, the first thing most people want to know is how to georeference their raster images so as digitize the features into vectors.

QGIS 2.8 is a free application downloadable from the web. Just google ‘download QGIS 2.8′ on your browser.

If you are a user of QGIS, what do you think? we welcome your feedback. Just go to our Feedback page and fill the form.