Facilities
> Geographic Information & Analysis Laboratory > Policies
This lab is available for Geography faculty, staff, and graduate students, and any non-major graduate or undergraduate students currently registered in Geography classes who require use of GIAL facilities for assignments. In addition, faculty associated with the NCGIA can make arrangements to use GIAL resources for Center-related research. The GIAL is not open to the general university public.
- Services Provided
- Requesting Computer Support
- Access to the GIAL
- Computer Accounts
- Printing Charges
- Reserving GIAL Equipment
- Charges for Services and Materials
- Additional Information
Services Provided
The lab is managed by the College of Arts & Sciences Educational Technology Node. Node staff provides basic computing services for all departments, computing labs, and research centers in the College of Arts & Sciences. This includes hardware and software installations, upgrades, support, and maintenance. The GIAL also provides services to faculty for graphics and illustrations, mapping services to external constituents, and software documentation.
Requesting Computing Support
For technical support, please click here to enter a work order.
Whenever possible, requests will be routed to someone who specializes in the area.
Access to the GIAL
The GIAL uses a security access system that allows user access through your valid UB card. Each swipe door is programmed separately and you will be given access to all appropriate areas. You cannot be programmed for access until we have the 16-digit number from your UB Card. Contact Joe Murray to gain access to the GIAL.
We are very proud to offer this facility to our students and expect each of you to maintain its security and integrity. Doors should never be propped open for any reason. If a door is found propped open, it will be closed. Please adhere to the policies and rules of good conduct posted in the GIAL regarding food, drinks, and lab schedules.
Computer Accounts
In general, all students of the University are automatically provided a UBIT (ACSU) account when registering for classes. If you did not receive one or are having trouble accessing it, you must inquire in person at the User Liaison Office, Room 215 - Computing Center - North Campus. Accounts for the GIAL are NOT automatically created when you receive a UBIT account. Geography accounts are created ONLY after an ACSU account has been created and is active. These are two separate accounts and can have different passwords, mailboxes, files, etc. Each of these accounts has a different address for electronic mail.
The GIAL currently has two separate account systems as well- one for UNIX and one for the PCs (XP machines). You will be given two accounts both with the same password initially.
If all information provided is found to be true, your accounts will be created within 48 hours (2 BUSINESS days) of your request. NO walk-in accounts will be created!
Printing Charges
The GIAL is not a public lab, and therefore, is not funded by your student technology fee. In order to cover printer paper, toner, and maintenance costs you will be charged per printed page. If you wish to print for free, please visit a public computing site. All printing is done on a pre-pay basis. Payments can be made to Joe Murray in the main office (Wilkeson 105) and you can print immediately. Black & white laser printing costs $.05 per page and color laser printing is $.40 per page. All students registered for a class utilizing the lab will be required open a $15 printing account at the beginning of the semester. Printing that has been paid for is NON-REFUNDABLE but funds on your account will carry over each semester!
Use of the larger-format plotter is governed by other rules.
You are permitted to print on transparencies but they MUST be purchased from the main office (b&w - $.25/each; color - $.65/each). There are many different kinds of transparencies. You will be held financially responsible for damage caused by using material in the GIAL printers that was not purchased in the Geography department office. If you do not know what you're doing, please enlist the help of a member of the technical support staff.
For printing on a transparency or letterhead, please review the documentation (manuals) available with the printers.
Reserving GIAL Equipment
Any of the computers (PC and Sun) may be reserved in advance.
At any time, unreserved workstations will be available on a 'first come, first served' basis. Classes are held frequently in the GIAL. On these occasions, users who are not involved in the class are asked to relinquish their seats during the course of the class. See the schedule posted on the door to the lab for more information.
Faculty can reserve GIAL equipment for class instruction or demonstrations. In order to avoid conflicts with other class use, you should contact the department scheduler first to arrange reservations on a regular schedule. After that, the instructor or a TA can request the reservations as needed.
Non-research Applications ($$$)
There is no charge to anyone for using the lab for schoolwork and thesis research. However, charges may apply if the lab is used for externally sponsered research, for profit-making endeavors and outside contracts. If you would like to use any of the lab equipment for such a project, you must contact Pat Shyhalla (Wilkeson 301). There are state-mandated hourly and project rates that must be adhered to and which are changed yearly. Also, the name and/or logo of the GIAL must appear on any products.
Additional Information
Disk Quotas:
Please keep track of your disk space usage!!! If you ignore your quota for too long in UNIX you will be locked out of the system. Use the command 'quota -v' (without the quotes) to check your quota in UNIX.
NT: The PCs link to your UNIX directory via the z: drive. Store all work here and you will be able to access it on a PC or on a UNIX machine. If you do not type in your proper UNIX password in the black box that pops up when you login to a PC, the z: drive will not be mapped properly.
UNIX: 100mb of disk space is provided in each user's home directory. Additional space is available on request.
Back-ups:
Backups are conducted of the NT and UNIX servers on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. However, we recommend that you backup your work to a Zip disk in the event that we have hardware problems and cannot restore your work. We realize it is an extra step that you must take, but we do NOT guarantee full restores of your work and your instructors will not accept that as an excuse for late or incomplete work.
Safe Computing:
Remember to always log off when you're done at a workstation. If you don't do this, others have access to your files and can maliciously delete your work as well as incur print charges to your account.
Food:
No food or drinks are permitted in the GIAL. You are expected to discard any food or drinks at the door. If not done, you will be asked to leave the lab. The equipment is extremely expensive to replace, so please observe this policy.
Propping Doors:
If caught propping open any of the doors to the GIAL, your lab access will be revoked for the remainder of the semester.