Available Resources in Science Hall and the UW Madison Campus

Science Hall Resources:

Science Hall Computing (SHC) Help Desk (http://helpdesk.shc.wisc.edu) - The SHC Help Desk, located in room M376 on the third-floor mezzanine level, provides a full-range of support to Geography students, faculty, and staff. It is staffed by three undergraduate students whose hours vary day to day. If the Help Desk is not staffed, you can stop by the IT Manager's office located in room M380. Any requests for assistance should be addressed in person or via email at shc@geography.wisc.edu. You can also call the Help Desk at 608-262-8111.

Science Hall VPN (https://helpdesk.shc.wisc.edu/kb/faq.php?cid=1) - SHC provides a VPN connection option to access files on various servers on the Science Hall Network from anywhere in the world. You will need an SHC account to access the SHC VPN - more details on that can be found at https://helpdesk.shc.wisc.edu/kb/faq.php?cid=4.

M376 Lab - 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. Much of this software is not available anywhere else on campus. There are two laser printers, a color and a black and white, that can be utilized for student work. Access to the lab is controlled after hours - the key code can be given to undergraduate and graduate students. See the SHC Help Desk or IT Manager for this code.

Cartography Lab (http://www.geography.wisc.edu/cartography/) - The Geography Cartography Lab, room M390, provides basic and advanced cartography assistance, graphic design services, large-format printing, and much more. Stop by and check it out or email Tanya Buckingham (tbuckingham@wisc.edu) for more information on the services provided.

Robinson Map Library (http://maplib.geography.wisc.edu/) - The Robinson Map Library, located on the third floor of Science Hall, has a large collection of print and online maps available for just about any need, including the largest collection of print historic aerial photographs of Wisconsin. You can access Wisconsin GIS data online as well. The Robinson Map Library has 6 Science Hall Network computers available, three of which have 11x17 scanners attached to them for scanning images into a variety of digital formats. The Robinson Map Library also has a large-format scanner available for scanning high-resolution images of larger print maps. You can contact them at 608-262-1471 or email Jaime, the Robinson Map Librarian, at jmartindale@wisc.edu.

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 the IT Manager for assistance. Contact the IT Manager via the Help Desk (shc@geography.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 the IT Manager via the Help Desk (shc@geography.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 SHC 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 we will to the DoIT Help Desk for 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.

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 for up to three days. There are twenty locations across campus that students can utilize for checking out equipment. More details on this service can be found at https://it.wisc.edu/services/equipment-checkout/.

Office 365 (https://email.wisc.edu/) - Office 365 provides access to your campus email and the Office suite of software for free during your tenure as a student at UW Madison. More information, including support documentation, is available at https://kb.wisc.edu/office365/.

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 no limit on the amount of data you can store on Box. Box also allows you to collaborate and share files with other people even outside of UW Madison. Support for Box is provided by DoIT and is available online at https://kb.wisc.edu/box/.

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.

WiscVPN (https://it.wisc.edu/services/wiscvpn/) - Similar to the Science Hall VPN, WiscVPN allows for access to institutional resources that are restricted outside of the UW Madison network, such as library databases. WiscVPN also provides a layer of protection on unsecured wi-fi connections. Please note that Science Hall servers are not accessible on the WiscVPN service - you must use the Science Hall VPN service to access files and servers inside of Science Hall.

DoIT Techstore (http://techstore.doit.wisc.edu) - The DoIT Tech Store provides hardware, software, and repair services for students at UW Madison. Most software sold at the Techstore is heavily-discounted for students. They provide Symantec Endpoint Protect/Antivirus software free of charge for personal use. They can also advise students on computer purchases and other hardware and software needs. You can visit them online or at any of their three campus locations. You can contact them at 608-264-3648.

Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC) (http://wiscsoftware.wisc.edu/wisc/) - WISC software is available for students, faculty, and staff at highly-discounted rates, including Windows 10 for free! Purchased software is non-refundable so be sure to contact them prior to placing any purchases by calling 800-590-9787 or by using the form at http://wiscsoftware.wisc.edu/wisc/customerservice.asp?institution=1022.