Lab 1 - Linux Shell Accounts and Tutorials, Internet Mapping Examples

During this course, you will be working on UNM's Linux servers (linux.unm.edu) and later in the class will need to work on the server that has been created for the class. The class server is running Debian Linux (http://www.debian.org/) which is a broadly deployed, well supported Open Source (http://www.opensource.org/) operating system and computing platform that has excellent support for many Open Source geospatial applications, including those that we will be using in this class. The first set of lab exercises relate to learning some basics about working with the Linux Operating system, applicable both on UNM's server and the class server.

Linux Commands, Server Interaction, Initial Web Page Creation

Review (but don't worry about memorizing) the material in the Linux Online Getting Started with Linux tutorial (http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/toc.html). Pay particular attention to Lessons 3-9 as they contain information about commands you are likely to need quite frequently.

QUESTION 1: What command would you use to list the contents of a directory on a linux system?

QUESTION 2: What command would you use to read the "manual page" for a specific command?

Log into UNM's Linux server, create a directory for your class work, and create your first web page

  1. Open PuTTY on your lab workstation
  2. Start a session with UNM's Linux server, which is located at linux.unm.edu (you will use your UNM NetID and password to open the connection)
  3. Create a directory named "public_html" in your home directory on UNM's server (using the mkdir command)
  4. Change to the newly created directory (using the cd command)
  5. Open the pico text editor using the following command:
    pico hello_world.html
  6. Enter the following HTML code into the editor:
    <html>
    <head>
    </head>
    <body>
    <p>Hello World</p>
    </body>
    </html>
  7. Save the changes you entered and exit pico
  8. Make your created web page accessible over the web by running the webupdatecommand from the command prompt
  9. Test the create web page by entering the web address for the page you just created (e.g. http://www.unm.edu/~<NetID>/<filename>)

QUESTION 3: When you've created the web page, provide the web address for the new page.

Geospatial Data Discovery and Internet Mapping Applications

Central to the work that will be performed in this class are concepts relating to remote data discovery, access, and delivery over the Internet. The following exercises provide an initial taste of how you might go about finding data on the Internet, and how various online mapping systems work.

Find three online resources for online geographic data.
QUESTION 4: Answer the following for each of the three online data resources that you found

Find three online mapping applications.
QUESTION 5: Answer the following for each of the three online mapping applications