Help:FAQ

How is wiki.GIS.com different from Wikipedia.com?
Whereas Wikipedia is a comprehensive general knowledge site with encyclopedic content, wiki.GIS.com is a comprehensive GIS-related knowledge site with encyclopedic content focused on GIS and GIS concepts.

What is the vision for wiki.GIS.com?
We are trying to build a GIS-community resource that will contain GIS-focused content which is neutral/unbiased in tone. As with any wiki, the user community’s involvement is key to the success and comprehensiveness of the wiki. We welcome the user community and invite all of you to enrich the wiki by adding new GIS content. Regular contributors and thought leaders would also be invited to become the moderators of wiki.GIS.com.

Why did you copy content from Wikipedia?
As with any content-driven resource, wiki.GIS.com needed a foundation of content in order to exist. We chose to seed the initial wiki.GIS.com content by using content from Wikipedia that was GIS and geography-focused. This, of course, brought a lot of content into wiki.GIS.com that is not specific to GIS but may somehow relate to geography (and some content that seems totally random and out-of-place). We believe that the current content in wiki.GIS.com will evolve with your participation and contributions to the wiki.

Is copying content from Wikipedia.com legal/ethical?
Yes, under the Creative Commons Share-Alike license, it is legal and ethical to use current content on Wikipedia to seed a new/blank wiki. Since we have been sure to leave the page history intact from the Wikipedia seeded pages, we have taken the measures necessary to ensure that we are following the guidelines of the Creative Commons Share-Alike license and any other copyright(s) that may be in place. Keep in mind that any of the content on wiki.GIS.com can be shared in the same way that the content on Wikipedia can be shared and used by the community.

Why should I write content for wiki.GIS.com and not Wikipedia.com?
Whereas Wikipedia.com is a great source for general knowledge, wiki.GIS.com is intended to be a great source of GIS knowledge. This means that the GIS content you have created will be quickly found and used by other GIS professionals. And, as an additional benefit, being a frequent contributor to wiki.GIS.com is an excellent way to get your name out there in the GIS community!

What are the guidelines for posting on wiki.GIS.com?
wiki.GIS.com is intended to be, first and foremost, a professional wiki site. Childish or offensive content will not be tolerated. When you are writing content, make sure that you are keeping the tone neutral. Try not to be biased. The information or text that you are providing should be fact-based and have an authoritative and encyclopedic tone.

Always write your content in the third person. Be original. Just because this is a wiki, does not mean that it is open to plagarism. Copyrights still exist and are valid, as well as authoritative text written by someone else. If you are going to use someone else's material or text, then cite the content properly.

What are the questions I should be asking myself when creating a new wiki page?

 * Critical
 * Does the page violate anyone's copyright (including ESRI copyright)?
 * Is there derogatory content on the page?
 * Does page have GIS-related content?
 * Was the page name created correctly (Title Case / unique title)?
 * High
 * Does page comply with Terms Of Use?
 * Does the page have proper categories?
 * Does the page contain original content?
 * Is the page properly formatted (with headers, bullets, numbered lists, quotes, tables, code)?
 * Does the page require copy editing (grammar, spelling)?
 * Does the page need technical editing?
 * Medium
 * Is the tone of the content correct (encyclopedic, conceptual, 3rd person)?
 * Are there citations or references on the page?
 * Are the citations and references properly created and valid?
 * Does the page contain multiple internal and external links?
 * Nice to Have
 * Does the page link to Web Help and KB articles when possible?
 * [[Help:Manual_of_style|If the wiki page relates to software, does it use the Infobox_Software template (i.e.,

)?]]
 * Does the page make use of images?

Will content on wiki.GIS.com be moderated?
Yes, all content that is added to wiki.GIS.com will be moderated. Moderation can always come from the GIS community, by way of adding to content, editing current content, or adding comments or suggestions to a particular wiki page's talk page that can be followed up on by the original author of the page or an established adminintrator or moderator. Initially, we have a group of people currently taking on the role of wiki.GIS.com moderators, but eventually this will trickle down throughout the GIS community.

What are moderators moderating?

 * Whether or not the content conforms to the wiki.GIS.com Terms of Use
 * Derogatory or offensive content
 * Content that has nothing to do with GIS or ensuring the content has a GIS focus
 * A neutral/unbiased tone, for instance, ensuring that the content is not a sales pitch for a particular company or product
 * Content is cited/referenced properly and accurately
 * Checking categories for relevance
 * Checking for the proper disclaimers and To-do's

What will happen if content not allowed under the Terms of Use is written to wiki.GIS.com?
The wiki.GIS.com Administrator will contact you via e-mail to let you know that you have violated the Terms of Use. You will be asked to edit the page and/or add any information that will validate that the page is following the Terms of Service. If you do not or cannot make the necessary edits/additions, then a moderator or administrator will make them for you. If the page is in such violation that it cannot be edited or changed to follow the Terms of Use, the page will be removed from wiki.GIS.com. Upon your first offense of not following the Terms of Use, you will be warned and advised in how not to violate the Terms of Use in the future. If you continue to violate the Terms of Use, you will be blocked from wiki.GIS.com for a period of time. If the violations to the Terms of Use continue after you have been blocked, you will be banned from wiki.GIS.com.

What is the relationship between ESRI and wiki.GIS.com?
ESRI has generously agreed to sponsor the wiki.GIS.com community resource. This means that ESRI pays to host the content on a 3rd party host. It does not mean that ESRI owns the content on wiki.GIS.com. That content is owned by you under the terms of the Creative Commons - Share Alike License. In terms of user privacy, ESRI values your privacy and takes reasonable and prudent precautions to ensure that your personally identifiable data is protected against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. Please review the privacy policyfor a more complete understanding of your privacy.

Content on wiki.GIS.com is whatever the user community feels it should be within wiki.GIS.com's Terms of Use. That means that content may be about ESRI products, or it may be about the products of other companies such as SmallWorld, Intergraph, GRASS, etc.

Can I log on to wiki.GIS.com using my ESRI Global Login account?
Wiki.GIS.com is intended to be a community resource created and used by a user community that will include all GIS users, not just users of ESRI products. While ESRI sponsors wiki.GIS.com, the wiki is not directly tied to ESRI and therefore there are currently no plans to enable logins to wiki.GIS.com with ESRI Global accounts.

Can I use OpenID technologies to log in to wiki.GIS.com?
While OpenID technologies are an exciting new method for logging on to multiple websites using a single ID, we have not yet integrated OpenID with the Mediawiki software that runs wiki.GIS.com. OpenId is on our "to-do" list but as yet we do not have a date for the rollout of OpenId on wiki.GIS.com.

Will wiki.GIS.com be translated into languages other than English?
At this time, there are no formal plans to translate wiki.GIS.com into other languages. As a user of or contributor to wiki.GIS.com, feel free to create wiki pages which translate/convert any current wiki pages you feel may be useful to others. Also, you can contribute new wiki pages to wiki.GIS.com in any language you would prefer.

Can wiki.GIS.com page titles be edited?
No, the current "CamelCase" titles are not editable. Once a page is created, meaning the title has been generated, the title cannot be edited; therefore, please use careful consideration and be sure to check your title for accuracy before saving your wiki page.

Why are there red links on some of the wiki pages?
Any red links that you see can be thought of in two ways: they are pages that need to be created, or they are links that need to be removed. If you click on the red link, a page appears with the following text: "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, search the related logs, or edit this page." If you click on the 'edit this page' link, you can begin creating the page associated with that term or red link. If the red link is not associated with GIS and/or seems out of place, click the 'edit' tab and remove the square brackets from around the word. When you save the page, the red link will be gone and the word will appear as normal text within the wiki page.

What can I use my User: page for?
The above listed items are just some suggestions to give you a better understanding of how your User page can be used.
 * You can use it as a page to talk about yourself, your experience with GIS, your education, your hobbies, or whatever other biographical information you might want to let the other wiki members know about you.
 * It can be used as your own Sandbox to practice using wiki markup or create a mock-up page before creating the actual page on wiki.GIS.com.
 * You can use it as a brainstorming space to keep your ideas or topics for future wiki content in one place that you can refer back to when necessary.
 * You can utilize your User page for whatever you feel is necessary, or however you want to use it.

Can I subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed on individual wiki pages?
Yes, you can subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed on any given wiki page. The RSS and Atom feeds are only available from the "history" of the wiki page. You must click on the "history" tab (located along the top of each wiki page) to subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed for that wiki page. Then, anytime a change is made to the page, you will be notified via the RSS or Atom feed. You can also subscribe to an RSS or Atom feed on the "Recent changes" page. This sends a feed to you each day indicating the recent changes that were done throughout wiki.GIS.com. Enjoy the feeds!!

Is there a way to set up email notifications for any changes made to my "watched pages"?
Yes, you can set your preferences so that an email is sent to you whenever any changes are made to any wiki pages that you are watching. To set up the email notifications:


 * Login to wiki.GIS.com
 * Click on the "my preferences" link next to the "my talk" link along the top right hand side of any wiki page
 * Under the "User profile" tab > "E-mail" section, check "E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed"
 * Click Save