This is an excellent Introduction course for GIS Mapping. I highly recommend it to evryone that want to start learning about GIS Mapping.

very simplified it is the perfect place to start your GIS journey.

Great class! Good design and wonderful videos!

Very detailed and beginner friendly!

Course video fundamentals were excellent but were weak on teaching the software. My software did not behave the same as depicted in the week three video. The assignment required a lot of self learning of the software and ALL of that self learning came from google and not course resources. I estimate I spent more than 30 hours trying to learn setup and the basic features of this software needed to do this work. The software is not intuitive so there needs to be much more explanation of the steps. For example, I now have separate folders for each 'layer'. These layers are referred to as layers in some 'help' inquiires and attributes in others. I have 30 years of computer experience in over 30 pieces of software, including some CADD but I still do not understand the basic file mangement protocol for this software. (I think my project actually was drawing points, lines, and polygons from separate folders on my computer instead of one folder. Also, I was very disappointed I could not understand how to get items in my table to show labels on my image (many hours looking). My employment will not afford me this many hours to complete a project stated as a 4 hour project. If I just wanted to randomly search for 'how to do A, B, C, etc on google to learn the software, I would not need this course.

I enjoyed the course. The only issue I had was the peer-reviewing of the final assignment - I had undertaken the task as required, and one peer reviewer gave full marks and the other seemed to not understand what was required and provide me with a very low grade, so I wasn't able to pass. I resubmitted the exact same thing so it was assigned to other peer reviewers and was able to earn my course certificate.

Good

Great background on what goes into making maps and how to interpret map projections. I learned more from this course than from a very expensive GIS course I took years ago. It gives you time to install and play around with ArcGIS, and it comes with a 1 year student license for the software. Information is well presented, and care clearly went into this course! I'm happy to have done it and I will continue on with the specialization. Thanks Prof. Boyes!

One of the most important thing you need as a learner is intuition and prof Don is good at that , the concept I have leant have finally stick in my brain. I can always relate them to real world

This is the most basic course about GIS. The course is really worth taking. I am thankful to University of Toronto, Don Boyes and coursera for providing us the opportunity to take the course.

Great course. Don Boyes is very clear when explaining. I think you get to understand a lot of the concepts behind the software that are not easy to get when browsing through ArcGIS.

This course does not focus on the software tool such as ArcGIS.

This course does focus on the spatial reference system etc.

For me, that was very helpful.

For a newbie like me, they have laid out a simple and easy to comprehend modules, and with these, I am eager to learn more

Great introduction to theory, I really liked the way a lot of the information about projections and basic concepts were presented. I wish there had been a bit more of a practical component (like in the UC Davis course) to put to work the things that were being taught.

OMG. The information is great, but the quizzes...omg...they are the worst. I swear, they make me want to quit the course. They are poorly designed in my opinion and seem haphazardly designed. Just lazy, unhelpful and outright frustrating. Also, why does it take so bloody long to get some interaction going? You literally won't use arcGIS until after week 4. I can't wait to get offered to fill out a survey on this one. B

Course specifically geared toward year of release as ArcGIS software is no longer available for free with course enrollment. Course content specifies student package of Arc GIS is available but multiple attempts to sign up or use were unsuccessful. Attempted January/February 2021. Course needs significant revision to remain accessible to the public.

Joined Coursera especially to do this training but it's not till you go in to start the course that you find out you need to purchase the GIS software to actually complete the course. So unless I pay $100 to download it I can't do the course. You need to make this clear when the course is advertised.

A little bit unuseful due to Arcgis license to work by your own

This has been an excellent and informative introduction to GIS! The videos have been clear and engaging. One request/thought that I have: perhaps consider providing downloadable or linked data for small practice projects. Many of my favorite tutorials - where I've learned the most by doing hands on, guided projects - provide learners with the basic data and then walk them through the steps. I know that we've been able to see walk-throughs in these videos - which is quite helpful - but actively doing small, buildable projects oneself is a way to solidify that learning. And, while I get the sense that being able to find accurate, reliable, and usable data is a huge skill and portion of the work within GIS, being an introductory student and trying to make your first maps with data that might be incomplete, less than helpful, or even impossible to download in the first place can be quite frustrating and makes for difficult practice. Other than that request, I just wanted to say thanks for putting together these excellent courses!

I recently completed the online Introduction to GIS Mapping course taught by a professor from the University of Toronto, and I highly recommend it for beginners. The course is well-structured, making complex concepts accessible and easy to understand. The professor excels at breaking down technical information into simpler terms, ensuring that all students, regardless of their prior knowledge, can follow along. The assignments and quiz questions were particularly effective, as they were directly aligned with the course content and reinforced key concepts. This practical approach allowed me to apply what I learned in real-world scenarios. The professor's enthusiasm for the subject and commitment to student success created a supportive online environment. Overall, this course is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in GIS mapping, providing both theoretical knowledge and practical skills in a user-friendly format.

Prof Boyes is a great teacher, introducing you to GIS in a way that requires no prior background at all. Software used is ArcGIS, but ArcPRO seems to be the dominant version now, so not all software steps he demonstrates might be applicable. But, the fact that it's not at all hard to figure out what to do in ArcPRO by simply watching him explaining how to do it in ArcGIS is testament to how clear his explanations are. You'll never just get the steps, you'll get the "why the steps are important" and "what the steps are doing" also. Refreshing to have software taught in such a demystifying way!

Es un excelente curso de introducción. De verdad es el mejor curso que he tomado en Coursera. Es muy completo, el profesor es excelente, dinámico, con ejemplos variados y alguno que otro chiste. Sin duda lo recomiendo a todos los que quieren iniciar en este campo. Yo estoy ya involucrado con el manejo de software GIS pero hay conceptos y algunas cosas prácticas que me ayudó a comprender al ciento por ciento. Me gustó mucho la manera de ilustrar todos los ejemplos, los entendí muy claro. Espero poder terminar todos los cursos de especialización.

Overall the course was structured promisingly and moreover learnt very basic things as they were beautifully explained and would like to congratulate proffessor Don Boyes and team for designing the course chapters accordingly to the title and lastly it gives me immense pleasure to thank university of toronto for providing me with financial aid which i was in much need of and this course has benifitted me lot and would like to hear from the university end about any opportunities for me further wherein i can serve the university .

The course is really great especially the instructor. The material is really well done. There are some issues with the software of course, if you are not a Windows user. ESRI only runs on a Mac using a windows emulator. So the install instructions on a MAC needs some external, ESRI web site, research.

The submission of the material for the lab is confusing. as it asks for three JPEGS but only accepts one. Some external knowledge is needed.

Then the dreaded peer review, as always in MOCs a poor process.

Don Boyes is an outstanding teacher. He is probably one of the best teachers I have ever seen in my entire life. By completing this course, I have learned the basics of GIS and learned about the projection system in a more detailed way. It is an outstanding course for GIS. Those who are going to learn it for the first time will have no problem understanding it. Don Boyes visualizes his discussions in the learners' minds. That is one of the many reasons I have enjoyed this course a lot.