Available Resources in GNP IT spaces and the UW Madison Campus

GNP IT Resources

GNP IT Help Desk (https://support.ls.wisc.edu/portal)

The GNP IT Help Desk, now part of Desktop Support Team 3 in L&S Information Technology Services, provides a full range of support to students, faculty, and staff in the L&S Departments of Geography and Planning & Landscape Architecture, plus UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Support is generally available M-F 8:00am-4:30pm. The best ways to submit support requests are through the IT support portal, https://support.ls.wisc.edu/portal, or by emailing gnp-helpdesk@wisc.edu. You can also call the Help Desk at 608-262-8111. GNP IT staff offices are located in Computer Sciences rooms 2290, 2292, and 2296.

Geography Computer Lab - CS 1368

The Geography Computer Lab (formerly SH M376) is located in CS 1368. This lab has a plethora of GIS software for student use, including ArcGIS, Python, Adobe Creative Suite, OSGeo (GDAL and OGR bindings), and much more. There is a public printing station with a color printer that can be utilized for student work. This computer lab is intended for use by faculty, staff, and students of the Department of Geography. It is not available for general use without approval of the department.

Nelson Institute Computer Lab - CS 1358

The Nelson Institute Computer Lab (formerly SH 009) is located in CS 1358. This lab has a plethora of GIS software for student use, including ArcGIS, Python, Adobe Creative Suite, OSGeo (GDAL and OGR bindings), and much more. There is a public printing station with a black and white printer that can be utilized for student work. This computer lab is intended for use by faculty, staff, and students of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. It is not available for general use without approval of the department.

Cartography Lab (http://www.geography.wisc.edu/cartography/)

The Geography Cartography Lab, located in CS 1207, provides basic and advanced cartography assistance, graphic design services, large-format printing, and much more. Stop by and check it out or contact them for more information on the services provided.

Robinson Map Library (https://maplibrary.geography.wisc.edu/):

The Robinson Map Library is currently located in CS 2281 and CS 2310. Many of the Robinson Map Library's resources have different availability or may not be available while in its temporary home due to the Science Hall renovation project. More information related to the renovation project can be found here. You can contact them by emailing askmap@library.wisc.edu or calling 608-262-1471.

Grad server (http://grad.geography.wisc.edu)

This server, setup especially for UW Geography Grad students, has space available for hosting personal websites, portfolios, and Masters/PhD projects. The server contains several open-source software packages designed to accommodate most GIS applications, including Python, Node, Git, OpenStreetMap (OSM), PostgreSQL, and more. There is no quota on space on the server but if a student needs more than 300 GB he or she should contact GNP IT for assistance. Contact GNP IT at gnp-helpdesk@wisc.edu for assistance with setting up an account and hosting any projects on this server.

PostgreSQL Server:

We also have a stand-alone PostgreSQL server for projects that require a massive amount of data stored in a database. This server can stand alone and interface with an Amazon Web Service-based application or integrate with an application hosted on the Grad server. Contact GNP IT at gnp-helpdesk@wisc.edu for a consultation on using this server for your application or project.

Campus Resources

DoIT Help Desk (https://it.wisc.edu/help/)

The DoIT Help Desk is the official support channel for email, NetID, and other campus-wide services. While the GNP IT Help Desk can provide a great range of support we do not have access to many of the tools that the DoIT Help Desk has, so from time to time the DoIT Help Desk will need to provide assistance. The DoIT Help Desk can be reached in a multitude of ways. Visit their website for all available contact methods, their extensive and comprehensive Knowledgebase articles, and online training for popular software packages.

General Access Computer Labs / InfoLabs (https://it.wisc.edu/services/computer-labs-infolabs/)

The UW–‍Madison InfoLabs provide convenient access to computer labs and equipment‑checkout locations across campus. Each computer lab location offers high-speed internet access along with a wide range of academic and creative software, including tools for design, data analysis, and course‑specific work. Standard software on InfoLab desktop computers includes ArcGIS, Python, Adobe Creative Suite, making these labs a good option if the Geography or Nelson labs are full. Many locations provide color printing, scanning, and digital editing resources, as well as diverse equipment checkout options. 

WiscVPN (https://it.wisc.edu/services/wiscvpn/)

WiscVPN allows for access to institutional resources that are restricted outside of the UW Madison network, such as library databases, servers and shared network drives, network printers, etc. WiscVPN also provides a layer of protection on unsecured wi-fi connections.

Microsoft 365 (https://email.wisc.edu/)

Microsoft 365 provides access to your campus email and the Office suite of software for free during your tenure as a student at UW Madison. Microsoft 365 also provides access to OneDrive cloud storage. More information, including support documentation, is available at https://kb.wisc.edu/microsoft365/.

Center for High Throughput Computing (http://chtc.cs.wisc.edu)

From their website: "The Center for High Throughput Computing (CHTC) offers a variety of large-scale computing resources and services for UW-affiliated researchers and their collaborators, including classically-defined high-throughput computing (HTC) and high-performance computing (HPC) resources. CHTC services and hardware are funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and various grants from the University itself.

"CHTC resources are provided to all UW-Madison researchers, free of charge. Even external collaborators with an on-campus sponsor may be given access to resources."

For more information, please use their contact information available at http://chtc.cs.wisc.edu/get-help.shtml.

DoIT Equipment Checkout (https://it.wisc.edu/services/equipment-checkout/)

DoIT loans equipment, including iPads, still and video cameras, laptops, and audio recorders for no cost. There are miltuple locations across campus that students, faculty, and staff can utilize for checking out equipment.

Box (https://it.wisc.edu/services/box/)

Box is an online dropbox for storing academic and personal files. It is web-based and mobile-friendly so it can be easily accessed from anywhere you have an Internet connection. There is a 50GB storage quota for Box, and it is not currently recommended for long-term storage or as a backup repository.

Lynda.com (https://it.wisc.edu/services/online-training-lynda-com/)

Lynda.com is an online training service provided free of charge to faculty, researchers, students, and staff.

goUW (http://go.wisc.edu)

goUW is a URL-shortening service for the UW Madison campus that allows people to replace long, unwieldy URLs with simple links. Questions and support requests for this service should be directed to the DoIT Help Desk - 608-264-4357.

University Book Store Tech Center (https://www.uwbookstore.com/Tech)

The University Book Store Tech Center provides hardware and accessories for purchase, often at a discounted price. They also have associates available who can help with your tech needs, questions, or to place an order. They are also able to provide Apple service and support through Graphite, an Apple premium service provider.

UW-Madison Information Services Software (https://it.wisc.edu/services/software/)

Software is available for students, faculty, and staff under various use agreements. The license agreements covering use of this software give you the right to install it on UW-owned computers, and in some cases, on personally-owned computers as well. Purchased software is non-refundable so be sure to contact them prior to making any purchases (contact information can be found on the Software services page).