mapschool is an open source text: that means that it is licensed under
CC0, basically an equivalent
of Public Domain. That means
that if you contribute something to mapschool, you're agreeing that it should
be free for everyone forever.
If mapschool becomes a thing that gets distributed in a fancy way, like
in print, we'll do our best to credit everyone who contributes, thanks to
the power of git and GitHub's contributors feature.
mapschool is an introduction to geospatial and map concepts. It is not a guide
to specific software, and is unconcerned with busywork and historical notes. It
is an introduction that covers as much of the field as possible, without attempting to define every term and explain everything.
It is written for a high-school reading level and tries not to rely on deep knowledge of any other domain.
Prior art is maintained in the SEEALSO.md document alongside mapschool. Cross-references, if any, should be recorded in this document.
The content of mapschool is a single page document (README.md) maintained in the Markdown format. The content in that file is used to generate the web version of this text that lives at at MapSchool.io, and so all contributions should be made by editing README.md.
It should be readily accessible as a web page, but should also be understandable in full as a printout or PDF; that is, it does not rely on dynamic examples or hyperlinks.
The structure of the document is defined by headings, which range from h1 to
h4. The fifth heading, h5, is a special case: h5 sections are considered
'additional reading' and may be hidden and toggled by web interfaces.
mapschool is designed for self-learners and usable for traditional classroom
experiences and industry. To make this possible, it is a free document under a
CC0 License. In practical terms for
this project, that means that printouts, re-publication, adaptations into
product manuals, and any other creative usage is permitted, as long as attribution - a reference back to mapschool - is given.
mapschool is written in casual Standard Written English.
We love translations, and are keeping it simple for now. While mapschool is
maintained in American English as README.md, please add translations as
README.language.md, preferably using a standard language subtag.