This introductory course provides planners with a practical foundation in creating basic GIS maps for everyday planning work. It is designed for participants with little or no prior GIS experience who want to confidently produce clear, professional maps that can be used in reports, planning applications, and decision-making processes.
The course focuses on creating core planning maps, including locality and context maps, land use and zoning maps, constraint and overlay maps, and simple demographic and catchment maps. Emphasis is placed on producing maps that meet industry expectations for clarity, scale, symbology, labelling, and attribution, and that are suitable for inclusion in strategic plans, reports, submissions, and presentations.
Participants will work through a practical, end-to-end mapping workflow, from finding and assessing spatial data (including aerial imagery and census data) to map preparation and visualisation, and finally, exporting maps for use in reports and other planning outputs.
This course also highlights how planners can work more effectively with other planners and GIS support teams within their organisation or when engaging with consultants and clients, using shared data and consistent mapping approaches.
The course is delivered using QGIS, a free and open-source GIS platform available on both Mac and PC. While all exercises are demonstrated in QGIS, the concepts and workflows taught are directly transferable to other commonly used GIS platforms, including ESRI ArcGIS and MapInfo.
Designed For
This course is designed for planners across public and private sectors who are new to GIS or want to strengthen their confidence in producing basic planning maps. It is suitable for strategic, statutory, environmental, social, community, transport, and economic planners who regularly need to include maps in reports, planning applications, or presentations, and who work with spatial data as part of their professional role.
Learning Outcomes
By completing this course, participants will:
• Understand core GIS concepts relevant to planning practice
• Produce basic GIS maps that meet industry standards and are suitable for planning reports and applications
• Find, assess, and use commonly available spatial datasets such as aerial imagery and census data
• Apply consistent map design principles to improve clarity and communication
• Use QGIS to create planning maps and understand how these skills transfer to other GIS platforms
• Work more effectively with planners, GIS specialists, and external consultants using shared spatial data
Presenter
Dr. Daniel Paez is a transport planner and policy specialist with over 15 years of experience in transport, land use, and strategic planning. He holds a PhD in Geomatics from the University of Melbourne and a Graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Canberra, and is currently studying a Juris Doctor. Daniel is an experienced lecturer and works with Swinburne University’s Business and Law discipline as a sessional academic.
Alongside his academic work, Daniel has advised on complex policy reforms for Australian state and federal governments, as well as international organisations including the World Bank and the United Nations. His professional practice bridges technical spatial analysis and applied planning, supporting planners to produce clear, defensible, and decision-ready outputs that meet policy, regulatory, and organisational requirements.
Terms & Conditions
Registrations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the event date will not incur any fees and a full refund will be granted.
If you cannot attend and you are within 14 days of the event date, you can transfer your ticket to another person.
In all other situations we cannot issue a refund or credit.
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