Data & GIS Lab

Located in Geisel Library, the Data & GIS Lab provides resources to help find, use, work with, organize and manage geospatial, numeric and textual data in various formats. The Lab also serves as the primary campus base for GIS services and access to GIS data and software. The Data & GIS Lab is open for self-service use when Geisel Library is open.

Support

Student assistants are available during core hours to answer quick questions or provide in-depth consultations on a variety of analytical and geospatial tools. Assistants can also provide an orientation to the lab, including hours, uses, hardware, and software. They will provide referrals to specific librarians as needed.

Example GIS Questions We Can Help With

• How do I map a list of addresses or latitude / longitude coordinates?
• My data doesn't align in GIS, what now?
• I'm stuck on a workflow for my GIS analysis, and I don't know what to do next.
• I don't want a border on my map, how do I get rid of it?
• How do I store my GIS files: as shapefiles or as a geodatabase?

Example Data-Related Questions We Can Help With

• My data are in a weird file format, how can I convert it to a more usable format?
• How do I work with data in SAS/Stata/SPSS/R/Python?
• My data analysis code throws an error - how do I fix it?
• What tools/methods are available for text mining and visualizing textual data?

Schedule an appointment with a librarian

• GIS Librarian - Amy Work
• Maps Librarian - Mike Smith
• Data Science Librarian - Stephanie Labou

Hardware and Software

We have 5 desktop Windows computers available for use within the lab. Computers are available on a first come, first served basis except for our most powerful computer, the Datacruncher, which is reservable. We also offer remote access to a pool of remote Windows computers.

Request remote access Reserve the Datacruncher computer

Software

The lab has specialized software which cannot be found anywhere else on campus.

Resources to help you with your research

• GIS & Geospatial Technologies Guide
• Finding Data & Statistics guide
• Digital Media Lab: offers the Adobe Creative Cloud suite and software for 3D modeling (Blender, Maya, Inventor, Solidworks, Sketchup) and photogrammetry (Agisoft Pro/Standard)
• Research Data Curation Program. depositing data in repositories, large file transfer, assigning digital object identifiers (DOIs), and other data management needs