Community member Michelle Ballinger has put together a short tutorial on creating an open source web map using GeoServer.

This tutorial is designed for a beginner and is easy to follow. The steps she uses are:

  1. Creating and editing data with QGIS

  2. Designing SLDs with uDig

  3. Serving maps with GeoServer

  4. Creating a custom OpenLayers application

  5. Posting to the web

The introduction mentions the benefits of using open source and also, interestingly, discusses the pros and cons of making a “mash-up” versus serving one’s own data.

Once again, we see Penn State as a proponent of open source GIS. Have you looked at their Master of Geographic Information Systems program lately?