GIScience Labs
The Geographic Information Science (GIScience) Laboratory is located in the Department of Geography & Planning. It is managed by a full-time system administrator. The lab consists of two classrooms, one room for public use (Rankin Science West 335) and a second room for teaching use (Rankin Science West 346). The labs contain Dell Precision workstations running Windows 10. The lab computers are part of the university network and use a cloud-based storage system. The main software packages for geographic analysis and map production include ArcGIS 10.x, ArcGIS Pro 2.x, ENVI 5.x, and Adobe Creative Suite. In addition, Rankin Science West 335 includes one color and one black-and-white printer.
RSW 335 Lab Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 9 AM – 7 PM
Friday: 9 AM – 5 PM
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 1 – 5 PM
These hours vary during holidays and finals and over the summer. Detailed hours and closures can be viewed here. Note: When the university cancels in-person classes, the computer labs close as well.
Research Labs
Research Labs (RSW 277 and 343)
There are two research labs located in the department. The labs provide funded graduate and undergraduate students with their own high-end workstations for data processing. Faculty should contact the GIS Lab Manager to inquire about workstation availability.
Computation and Visualization Lab
The College of Arts and Sciences maintains the Visualization Lab for research requiring higher computing power. The lab is located in Rankin Science West 274. Faculty can request access to the lab for themselves or on behalf of their students. To request access, please contact Dr. Johnathan Sugg (Visualization Lab Co-Director) at suggjw@appstate.edu.
Geography and Planning Network Drives
*Drives are only available to students enrolled in courses in the Department of Geography & Planning*
F: Drive – "Geography"
This drive offers 1) A permanent workspace for enrolled graduate students (Folder: GS), and 2) A course-specific workspace for any student enrolled in department courses requiring computer-based labs (Folder: Classes). Drive contents are secure and backed up and removed at the end of each semester. This drive can be accessed on all campus computers via uStor (Pathname: \\ustor.appstate.edu\GeoPln-Class).
O: Drive – "GHYPLN"
This drive is read-only and contains data and materials used in department classes. This drive can be accessed on all campus computers by mapping to \\gis3.geo.appstate.edu\ghypln.
ArcSDE Database
The Department of Geography & Planning maintains a spatial database that provides GIS data for educational and research purposes. For more information, please contact the GIS Lab Manager.
How Do I Connect To The GIS Database? (Google Document)
ArcSDE Connection File (Google Drive)