GIS Service Center

CIESIN’s GIS Service Center offers Spatial Data Services, manages Columbia’s Esri Site License for GIS software (e.g., ArcPro, ArcGIS, etc.), and provides System Deployment for geospatial processing and web map applications.

CIESIN has extensive experience in collecting, integrating, and analyzing spatial data from multiple sources (remote sensing, LiDAR, drone, field data, and traditional GIS sources) and in different formats (points, polygons, line features, raster/grid). CIESIN staff can work with you to acquire, integrate, analyze, or visualize your spatial data to suit research or project needs, with methods as diverse as feature extraction using machine learning to modeling population characteristics based on surveys. CIESIN can assist with data processing strategies, including cloud-based approaches, such as with Google Earth Engine or AWS, leveraging our servers or methods to maximize productivity on a laptop.

CIESIN has also worked extensively in spatial data visualization and delivery via interactive map viewers, open APIs, and dashboards. If you need assistance preparing publication-ready maps, publishing services that render data quickly at any scale, or permit online analysis, we can help. For large-scale spatial data delivery, CIESIN can provide expertise in proposal development or serve as a valued partner for service implementation using open-source or commercial software solutions. 

Examples of CIESIN GIS Support 

Spatial Data Tasks we can assist with

  • Spatial data integration and manipulation: transformation and aggregation to meet research or other problem needs
  • Planning for spatial data collection (sample design, field planning, instrument selection)
    Spatial data publishing and distribution
  • Interactive map application design and implementation
  • Digital or print cartographic design and data visualization
  • Applying machine learning/AI approaches to extract features or information from remote sensing and spatial data, including training data development and model validation
     

Please contact [email protected] to discuss your project needs and obtain an estimate of costs for specific services.  

 

CIESIN hosts the Esri Columbia University Educational Institution Site License Program, which supplies Esri software, licenses, data, and technical support to schools, departments, staff, and students throughout the university. Licensees are eligible for free or discounted online learning modules and access to software documentation and technical support.

Help getting started and software support is available from CIESIN’s Geospatial Applications Division staff and participating departments at Columbia. Customized training on using GIS and conducting spatial analysis is available upon request.

Getting started or adding a license is easy! 

For Students, Faculty and Staff:

  1. Request and receive software authorization (required).
  2. Check departmental support.
  3. Check out other GIS resources within the University, Esri, and the greater New York metropolitan area.

 

For Department Administrators or IT:

Review our Admin Service Plan, which includes how to obtain a license.
 

CIESIN maintains hardware and software deployments capable of providing data delivery and interactive analysis to web and GIS clients. We can collaborate with those who wish to publish spatial data and analysis services hosted on our system at competitive rates (less than AWS deployment costs). Hosted spatial databases to meet combined SQL and GIS requirements can also be deployed, as well as spatially enabled Jupyter Notebook servers for on-prem cloud-like analysis services for advanced users.  CIESIN offers these services to internal (Columbia) clients on a fee-for-service basis. Please contact [email protected] for more information.