University at Buffalo (UB)
Geographic Information Analysis Lab (GIAL)
The GIAL is a multipurpose, collaborative environment shared by the department and the NCGIA supporting all the department's research, teaching and outreach activities for students and faculty to effectively engage with other units of the university and the community at large. The GIAL computers have licenses of various GIS, remote sensing and modeling software packages to use data library resources such as Maps & Cartography, GIS Data sources around the World, and Western New York.
On this page:
Upcoming GIAL Events
A-GIAL Earth Day Poster Session Awards
This award is given by a panel of Geography Alumni judges that evaluate the competitors poster during 2-hour session with poster authors being present.
Year 1st Place Runner-Up Honorable Mention
2019 Qiuyi Zhang Jena Jendrowski Chenyang Wei
Geography Awareness Week Map Contest
This award is given to competitors through popular vote during the Geography Awareness Week.
Year 1st Place Runner-Up Honorable Mention
2019 Ryan Green Vanessa Neff
UB Library's mini-presentations
1. Improving Presentations (access recordings and materials here)
2. GIS Data Sources (access recordings and materials here)
3. Library Resources for Your Research (access recordings and materials here)
4. Making a Better Map (access recordings and materials here)
Geography Movie day
Important GIAL 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. We are very proud to offer this facility to our students and expect each of you to maintain its security and integrity. (policies in detail)
Request Access to the GIAL; Reserve GIAL Equipment; Additional Information Printer Use and Charges
Access to the GIAL is via a door swipecard system using your valid UB card. You are entitled to GIAL access if you are a Geography Department graduate student and/or enrolled in any Geography course utilizing the GIAL. You will be given access to the GIAL, GIAL corridor, and Wilkeson Quad exterior. Graduate students have 24/7 access. Undergraduate students have access 7am-10pm (Sunday to Saturday). Please contact Dawn Raffel in room Wilkeson 105 if your swipecard (UBCard) access is not working.
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.
All printing is done on a pre-pay basis. Payments can be made to Dawn Raffel 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. Printing that has been paid for is NON-REFUNDABLE but funds on your account will carry over each semester!
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.
Please see Dawn Raffel in the main office (Wilkeson 105) to use larger-format plotters.
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. For printing on a transparency or letterhead, please review the documentation (manuals) available with the printers. If you do not know what you're doing, please enlist the help of a member of the technical support staff.
Any of the computers 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.
Additional Information on Safe Computing, Secure Access and Restricted Consumption of Food and Drinks
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: Doors should never be propped open for any reason. If caught propping open any of the doors to the GIAL, your lab access will be revoked for the remainder of the semester. If a door is found propped open, it will be closed.