Didactical Principles of Using Open Source GIS for Thesis Writing at the Faculties of Geography and Environment

(original in Russian). While writing term papers and/or thesis, students often deals with certain methodological difficulties caused by search for necessary data, materials and selecting the best software. This papers contributes to the question of finding optimal solutions in such problems. Namely, it suggests that all practical works at the geoscience faculties should be based on the open source GIS and data. Freely available data and resources provide effective methods for processing materials, such as thematic maps, atlases, databases and literature sources. The effectiveness of the open source approach is based on the fundamental objectivity of the GIS principles, semiotics of the cartographic visualization of the natural environment phenomena. Using open source data and tools students can effectively perform environmental analysis and assessment, for example, ecological stability of the water areas, spatial analysis of the marine and coastal ecosystems. The fundamental principle of the open source GIS lies in the availability: students can make thematic maps both in the classrooms and at home as independent young researchers. The use of open source GIS techniques for writing thesis or term papers in geographical faculties is a promising and sound scientific and practical approach, providing a high level of study intensity, transparency of the data sources.