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Virtual Machines and Remote Software Access

While our building is closed during the COVID-19 emergency, we are able to offer remote-access to some of our software thanks to Microsoft, who provided Azure service credits to experiment with remote computer access. Accordingly, we can provide you with Windows 10 virtual machines via Microsoft Azure Labs, pre-loaded with the software listed below. As this service is experimental, we cannot guarantee it will continue past remote instruction.

  • GeoSpatial Lab
    • Esri ArcGIS Desktop 10.8 and ArcGIS Pro 2.5
      • Includes Esri's custom Python 2.7 and 3.6, including Jupyter notebooks.
    • QGIS 3.14
      • Includes LAS Tools for LIDAR analysis
    • Adobe/Terrago toolbar for viewing multi-layer PDFs
    • Git for Windows
    • MS Office Excel, Powerpoint, and Word
    • Sublime text editor
  • DataStats Lab
    • EViews
    • Eikon/Datastream (has special use requirements)
    • Mathematica
    • STATA
    • SPSS
    • R/R Studio
    • OpenRefine
    • Git for Windows
    • Anaconda Python 3.6 distro
    • MS Office Excel, Powerpoint, and Word
    • Sublime text editor

Request access to one or both virtual machines by filling out this google form. 

*If you are faculty or a TA who needs access for an entire course please contact the Collaboratory by emailing collaboratory@library.ucsb.edu. 

Azure Labs Use Guidelines

Keep in mind when using our Azure Labs services:

  • Back up your work!  Access to files you leave on your Lab machine is not guaranteed.
  • Do not use a VPN, the campus VPN or otherwise! It will break your Lab VM. If this happens, you will have to start with a fresh machine.
  • Lab VMs are issued with 50 hours of use. You may request more.
    • ​Users will need to both sign off their VMs and stop the VM from running (see login instructions)
  • These are University computing resources.  UCSB Terms of Use apply.

Additional software and data tools

Available on request (licenses are limited):

  • SAS (data analysis)
  • Eikon/DataStream (market research)
  • BrandWatch (twitter research)
  • NVIVO (qualitative data organization and analysis)(request a license)
  • MaxQDA (qualitative research)
  • Stat Transfer (convert data file types)

Please email us at collaboratory@library.ucsb.edu to request one of the above software.

ALL students and staff have access to:

If your software needs are not covered by one of the above options please fill out the software request form.
*Note the Collaboratory is currently only considering software requests related to data and data analysis.

Other Services:

The Collaboratory has converted all of our regular services so a trip to the Library isn't required, including:

  • Access to Datasets
  • Workshops
  • Consultations
    • We can help you find data in the Library's collections, choose an appropriate toolset, or get you started using a wide variety of data analysis tools. While the building is closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Collaboratory will be hosting remote consultations via Zoom. Please request an appointment by emailing library-collaboratory@ucsb.edu. 

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