Traditionally, when working in a GIS application, one first seeks out the data files one wishes to use from various organizational websites. Ideally, one stores these in some logically organized folder structure on the local computer, and from there, one can load the data into the GIS application. In this section, we add functionality to help the user manage their files and access and alter basic file contents.
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For some great examples of the varied types and sources of GIS data available online, see the list at http://freegisdata.rtwilson.com/.
Vector data is very versatile; its table-like data structure means that it can contain data on a wide variety of concepts in a single file, or contain data for only a very specific concept. For practical usage, it is easier if each file is tailored exactly to the data one needs, since these are represented as layers when loaded in the application. There are therefore many cases where the user may wish to reorganize the...