Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services and activities take place in a number of different arenas on campus.  This page describes some, but by no means all, of the resources available to UCSB affiliates and the local community.  The DREAM Lab also runs a campus Geospatial email listserv to discuss GIS issues.

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Center for Spatial Studies

Spatial@UCSB is dedicated to promoting campus-wide spatially related events, research, and teaching for all disciplines that share interest in the importance of spatial thinking in science and in artistic endeavors, the development of spatial analytic tools, and the importance of place in society.

Undergraduate students can choose to minor in Spatial Studies.  More than 150 courses, on diverse topics such as religious studies and cognitive psychology, qualify towards the minor.

  • ThinkSpatial Brown Bags and other special events

Spatial@UCSB hosts a regular series of lunchtime research presentations and technical talks.  More information is on their events page.  The Spatial Center also coordinates UCSB's GIS Day, celebrated each spring with a gathering of GIS specialists from around the Santa Barbara region.

Geography Department

The Geography Department is home to UCSB's signature GIS (176-A-B-C) and remote sensing (115-A-B-C) course sequences.  Teaching labs have full suites of ESRI, ENVI, and other geo-analysis software tools.  

Undergraduate and graduate education

Offering BA, BS, MA, and doctoral degrees, the Geography Department is widely acknowledged as one of the world's best.  See their website for information on admissions and course offerings

Bren School of Environmental Science & Management

Offering the two-year professional Master of Environmental Science & Management (MESM) and PhD in Environmental Science & Management degrees, the Bren School is home to many researchers employing GIS systems for their work.  Along with a dedicated course (ESM 263), Landscape Ecology (ESM215) includes a strong GIS component.

 

ESRI Site License

Several departments share responsibility for providing an educational license for the ESRI suite of desktop and server GIS software. The license is administered by the UCSB Library.

  • Any UCSB user can install the software on UC-owned equipment. 
    • Geography, Marine Science Institute, Bren School, ERI, NCEAS, and Library faculty and staff should contact their departmental technical support personnel for access to the software and support.  
    • All other departments should contact the DREAM Lab for information about the license. dreamlab@library.ucb.edu or 805-893-8946.
  •  Students, faculty, and staff are eligible for ArcPro 3.1 licenses for their personal computers.  Fill out this form from a UCSB email address to request your license and download the software. Installation instructions for ArcPro can be found here.