The Geographic Information Systems Center (GIS Center) at Florida International University supports and facilitates the teaching and research activities of the FIU community in the areas of geographic information systems, remote sensing, geospatial web visualization and geospatial data management.
Background
Since its establishment in 1998, the FIU Library Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Center (GIS Center) has been supporting research and teaching in many academic units. These include the School of Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering, Biological Sciences, Earth and Environment, Public Health, Global & Sociocultural Studies, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Landscape Architecture, Politics and International Relations, and the Extreme Event Institute (EEI). The Center offers expertise in geospatial web technologies, geospatial data analysis, visualization and modeling, geospatial data management, and remote sensing applications. In 2008, the Center created Maps and Imagery User Services (MIUS), a new division designed to meet the growing needs of students and faculty in the access, use and analysis of cartographic materials and geospatial data. MIUS collections include printed and digital maps, imagery and other GIS data. In 2011, the Center extended its education and research facilities to the Biscayne Bay Campus at the Hubert Library, with a newly outfitted GIS teaching and research lab for consultation and data services.
Education
The GIS Center is the host for FIU’s GIS courses in its two state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories. They are equipped with 42 high-end workstations and various data capturing, digitization, processing and output hardware, as well as a wide range of data visualization, image processing, and geo-statistical analysis software. The Center offers a wealth of geo-datasets, including high resolution imagery data and historical coastal maps and data (over 30 TB), and a robust 80 TB cloud server cluster. Specialized software programs such as ArcGIS, ENVI, and SAGA are provided for classroom teaching. The Center hosts most of the GIS and remote sensing courses required for completion of FIU’s GIS Certificate Program at both the graduate and professional levels. The Center provides both fee-based and free workshops.
Applied Research Projects
The Center collaborates on grants and contracts with a wide variety of University departments, offering expertise in geospatial web, geospatial data/metadata creation, data management and dissemination, visualization, and image processing of remotely sensed data and vegetation classification and modeling. Partners in successful grant projects at FIU include the International Hurricane Research Center (IHRC), the Metropolitan Center (MC), the School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS), the Institute for Public Opinion Research (IPOR), the Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC), the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC), the Department of Biological Sciences and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Its state and local funding partners and agencies include the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), the City of Coral Gables, the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD), the Knight Foundation, and the Quantum Foundation. It has also received funding from these federal agencies: the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Everglades National Park (ENP), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and USAID.
What is GIS?
A Geographic Information System, or GIS, is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present geographically referenced data. A GIS includes both hardware and software components. For more details, look through the following links:
- ESRI’s (Environmental Systems Research Institute) definition of GIS.
- USGS’s (US Geographical Survey) definition of GIS.
- GIS Lounge’s definition of GIS.