There are a number of great online GIS ( Geographic Information System ) solutions out there, ranging from Mappoint to Mapquest to some cool PHP projects. However, it is still nice to be able to plot your own data and put some basic mapping utilities on your site with a minimum of fuss and bother. Over the next couple of articles I will hopefully be able to give you a few pointers on how to create your own basic GIS system for free. I do not claim to be a GIS expert, and there may be better ways to do things, but hopefully these articles will give you a start in the right direction.

In this article we will start with the absolute basics - plotting a single location on a pre drawn map of the world. Later articles will go into drawing vector maps, drawing roads and rivers and labeling objects all using the principles in this article.

For this article you will need:

PHP with GD installed
A pair of scissors
And, an adult to help you.