About the exercises
===============================================================================

Now that you know why you want to use QGIS, we can show you how.

.. warning::

   This course includes instructions on adding, deleting and altering GIS
   datasets. We have provided training datasets for this purpose. Before using
   the techniques described here on your own data, always ensure you have
   proper backups!


How to use this tutorial
------------------------
Any text that :guilabel:`looks like this` refers to something that you can
see in the QGIS user interface.

Text that :menuselection:`looks --> like --> this` directs you through menus.

``This kind of text`` refers to something you can type, such as a command.

:file:`This/kind/of.text` refers to a path or filename.

:kbd:`This+That` refers to a keyboard shortcut comprised of two buttons.

Tiered course objectives
------------------------
This course caters to different user experience levels. Depending on which
category you consider yourself to be in, you can expect a different set of
course outcomes. Each category contains information that is essential for the
next one, so it's important to do all exercises that are at or below your level
of experience.

|basic| Basic
.............
In this category, the course assumes that you have little or no prior
experience with theoretical GIS knowledge or the operation of GIS software.

Limited theoretical background will be provided to explain the purpose of an
action you will be performing in the program, but the emphasis is on learning
by doing.

When you complete the course, you will have a better concept of the
possibilities of GIS, and how to harness their power via QGIS.

|moderate| Intermediate
.......................
In this category, it is assumed that you have working knowledge and experience
of the everyday uses of GIS software.

Building on the instructions for the beginner level will provide you with
familiar ground, as well as to make you aware of the cases where QGIS does
things slightly differently from other software you may be used to. You will
also learn how to use analysis functions in QGIS.

When you complete the course, you should be comfortable with using QGIS for all
of the functions you usually need for everyday use.

|hard| Advanced
...............
In this category, the assumption is that you are experienced with GIS software,
have knowledge of and experience with spatial databases, using data on a remote
server, perhaps writing scripts for analysis purposes, etc.

Building on the instructions for the other two levels will familiarize you with
the approach that the QGIS interface follows, and will ensure that you know how
to access the basic functions that you need. You will also be shown how to make
use of the QGIS plugin system, database access, and so on.

When you complete the course, you should be well-acquainted with the everyday
operation of QGIS, as well as its more advanced functions.

.. _data_downloadlink:

Data
----

The sample data that accompanies this resource is freely available and comes
from the following sources:

* Streets and Places datasets from OpenStreetMap
  (https://www.openstreetmap.org/)
* Property boundaries (urban and rural), water bodies from NGI
  (http://www.ngi.gov.za/)
* SRTM DEM from the CGIAR-CGI (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/)

Download the prepared dataset from the `Training data repository <training_data_>`_
and unzip the file. All the necessary data are provided in the :file:`exercise_data`
folder.

.. _training_data: https://github.com/qgis/QGIS-Training-Data/archive/master.zip

If you are an instructor, and would like to use more relevant
data, you will find instructions for creating local data
in the :ref:`tm_preparing_data` appendix.


.. Substitutions definitions - AVOID EDITING PAST THIS LINE
   This will be automatically updated by the find_set_subst.py script.
   If you need to create a new substitution manually,
   please add it also to the substitutions.txt file in the
   source folder.

.. |basic| image:: /static/common/basic.png
.. |hard| image:: /static/common/hard.png
.. |moderate| image:: /static/common/moderate.png