GIS projects and geospatial research is seldom carried out without a few unexpected issues cropping up that hinder progress in one way or another. If you have consulted the appropriate documentation for the software, API, program language, etc. that you are using and are still stuck trying to get past a particular issue there is still hope for finding help online. Fortunately, there are several extremely helpful troubleshooting online resources that GIS users and geospatial researchers can take advantage of to learn from others who have already solved the same problem they are experience or to ask for assistance from a large community of knowledgeable GIS users. Unless you are attempting something completely new and unique, it is likely that you are not the first person to run into any particular GIS problem that you might run up against and the odds are fairly good that others who have had the same problem have discussed it online on one of the platforms listed below. The best approach to take when you run into a new issue is 1. consult the relevant documentation for the technology you are using to check and see if you are making any obvious errors 2. search for previously posted questions on the platform below using key terms that describe the important characteristics of your problem (software, programming language, API, error code/message, etc.) to see if these questions have received any helpful answers 3. if you cannot find any useful answers on one of these platforms, perform a search using a regular web search engine to see if helpful information can be found somewhere else online (other less popular question answer platforms, blogs, etc.) 4. if no one else has had the same problem or you cannot find a helpful response anywhere online, submit a detailed question to one (or more) of the platforms below. Keep in mind that if you are submitting a question of your own you increase your chances of receiving a helpful response by being extremely detailed in describing the problem you are running into so that others who might want to help can try replicating the problem (if you are having scripting trouble, posting portions of the code you are having problems with is highly recommended), being courteous in responding to others, and by quickly following up with any users who provide recommendations to let them know if their advice was or was not helpful and why.
