Intro to GIS for Natural History Visualisations

This presentation was given during the WiNoDa winter school, a five-day intensive course on the topic of Research with Natural Science Collections. Data, Quality, and Methods from 24-28 November 2025.

Organization: German Federation for Biological Data e.V. (GFBio) with support from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin (MfN), German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Vernetzungs- und Kompetenzstelle Open Access Brandenburg (VuK).

Abstract: This hands-on introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) will explore how spatial data can be used to visualise and understand natural history information. This is a complete introduction, ideal for those new to GIS. Using QGIS, participants will learn about basic GIS data types, map point data such as specimen or observation locations, and create a simple print layout for a vector map. By the end of the session, attendees will have the confidence to start using GIS tools to explore and present their own natural history or biodiversity data.