{"id":107,"date":"2015-09-04T16:31:14","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T20:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/?page_id=107"},"modified":"2015-09-10T16:58:27","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T20:58:27","slug":"gis-hardware-software-and-data","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/resources\/gis-hardware-software-and-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Using GIS at Vassar"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the GIS Lab and SciVis\u00a0Lab<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vassar maintains two computer laboratories (the GIS Lab<\/a> in Ely Hall and the SciVis Lab<\/a> in Mudd-Chemistry) equipped with the latest versions of Esri\u00a0ArcGIS Desktop<\/a>, Quantum GIS<\/a>\u00a0(or “QGIS”), and Google Earth Pro<\/a> for geospatial mapping lessons and applications. The\u00a0Earth Science and Geography Department also maintains a set of tablet computers for moblie GIS applications.<\/p>\n

Esri ArcGIS is the industry standard commercial software for geospatial mapping applications ranging from academic\u00a0research in the sciences and humanities to facilities mapping and management to marketing research and crime analysis.\u00a0Quantum GIS is an open-source geospatial mapping application and alternative\u00a0to ArcGIS Desktop; it has many of the same features and functions and\u00a0is available for no cost under the\u00a0GNU General Public License.\u00a0Google Earth is a free\u00a0virtual globe, map and geographical information program.<\/p>\n

The computers in both the GIS Lab and SciVis lab are equipped with commonly-used geospatial data about infrastructure (e.g. roads, railroads), natural resources (streams, waterbodies, wetlands, habitat), political and administrative boundaries, and demographics (population, age, race, ethnicity, income) for parts of the world, the U.S., New York State, Dutchess County, and the Vassar College campus. These data are available on the computer’s hard drives (C:\\GISdata) and also on a network server. Additional data can be obtained from various academic and administrative sources<\/a> in the U.S. and around the world.<\/p>\n

On your own computer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interested faculty can request<\/a> ArcGIS Desktop for their computers from the available seats\u00a0included in Vassar College’s academic\u00a0license.\u00a0Enrolled students can also request<\/a> ArcGIS Desktop for their computers; student licenses are valid for one year and are fully functional. Quantum GIS<\/a> and Google Earth Pro<\/a> are available for download from their respective websites.<\/p>\n

On any computer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently,\u00a0Vassar faculty and students began using Esri’s web mapping platform (ArcGIS Online<\/a>)\u00a0for teaching<\/a> and research<\/a>. ArcGIS Online allows students and faculty to create interactive web maps and apps that can be shared with others. ArcGIS Online can be accessed from any computer using a web browser, and mobile versions<\/a> are available for viewing maps and collecting data using the GPS receiver embedded into many mobile devices.\u00a0Contact the GIS Academic Computing Consultant (necurri@vassar.edu<\/a>) to request a login.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the GIS Lab and SciVis\u00a0Lab Vassar maintains two computer laboratories (the GIS Lab in Ely Hall and the SciVis Lab in Mudd-Chemistry) equipped with the latest versions of Esri\u00a0ArcGIS Desktop, Quantum GIS\u00a0(or “QGIS”), and Google Earth Pro for geospatial … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5039,"featured_media":0,"parent":8,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-107","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/107\/revisions\/137"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/gis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}