ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD (including UCSD Healthcare)

This message is intended to update the campus community on the development of the Geographic Information System (GIS) program in the UCSD Libraries and across campus. GIS is a set of software programs used to input, analyze, store, and output spatial data in cartographic form. Many departments on campus are utilizing this emerging technology, and, with the Libraries taking a coordinative role, the campus has purchased a software site license from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) for its suite of GIS products.

Campus entities including the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Departments of Urban Studies and Planning, Archeology, and Soils Engineering, Campus Facilities, the UCSD Medical Center, and Academic Computing Services are currently involved in projects utilizing ESRI's software. Many of these units have contributed to the cost of the campus site license, enabling a considerable cost savings for all parties involved. The site license includes limited access to ArcInfo, the more professional GIS package, and unlimited access to ArcView, the desktop software. Under the terms of the site license, any computer on campus can load the ArcView software to use on GIS projects.

The Libraries seek to make all departments aware of this valuable and exciting technology. The ESRI software suite has permeated academic and professional markets in fields as diverse as urban planning, environmental consulting, transportation planning, real estate, archeology, epidemiology, and oceanography. The GIS tools provided by the ESRI site license promise to enhance the effectiveness of campus researchers and students in working with spatial data.

For more information about the Libraries' GIS program or for information on how GIS can be utilized in your research or classroom instruction, please contact Dan Henderson, UCSD Libraries GIS Coordinator, at dhenderson@ucsd.edu or by phone at 534-1249.

                                                BRIAN E. C. SCHOTTLAENDER
                                                UNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN