“Hello World” introduction for ubuntuGIS?

Question

Is the GIS equivalent of "Hello world!" = "You are here?"

I installed ubuntuGIS recently, but I'm a little overwhelmed navigating the network of many packages to begin accomplishing simple things. I'd like to explore GIS more thoroughly (I have made maps using R and techniques like these).

Are there any resources minimally illustrating going from...

Point A: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntugis/ppa && sudo apt-get install qgis to

Point B: Here is a simple world map with a marker for your location?

Or could someone propose this "hello world" to get newbies started? I think a tiny, simple project like this---"print where you are in the world" analogous to "print words on a screen" would be a very good learning tool for providing some narrative, tutorial context---something like giving a newbie a "roadmap" to making maps.

(Not required, but my personal preference on a thing like this would be that the output be d3 or kartograph, something in-browser.)

Answer 1

As you've already discovered UbuntuGIS is not a GIS itself but a repository of GIS and related software. I suggest you try installing QGIS (from UbuntuGIS or qgis.org) and having a look at the How do I do that in QGIS page.

Answer 2

A good source of basic tutorials to get you started is the OSGEO Live-DVD. It contains most of the open source GIS packages that you'll need to get started and each one has a quickstart and tutorial to get you going.