Due to an increased number of large format printout requests that the GIS laboratory has received in recent months we have initiated a set of policies to help facilitate the easy use of our printing resources and the replenishing of media costs. As of May 1st, 2004 all large format printing requests will be billed at the following charges and will be subject to the following policies.

The Complex Systems Research Center (CSRC) GIS Laboratory plotters are for the primary use of CSRC faculty, staff, and students. Secondary precedence to the use of the laboratory plotters is available for non-departmental use only when not in use by CSRC users.

• Though media roles are 36 inches wide all plots must conform to a 34.8 inch maximum width on at least one axis to stay within the minimum forced margins of our hardware.
• Large 50 inch (48.8 inch maximum width on at least one axis) paper is available for over-sized plots.
• Printouts can not exceed 6 feet in width or length.

$20 per paper plot (includes one paper draft plot)
$35 per glossy plot (includes one paper draft plot)


• Additional paper draft plots will be charged at the normal $20 per paper plot charge.
• All above rates assume minimal time investments by lab technicians for plotting. A $50 per hour fee will be charged for any time in excess of 15 minutes for printing, reformatting or manipulation of files.
• Plots using excessive ink will incur an additional $20 charge.
• Plots on oversized media will incur an additional $20 charge.

Before any printing may occur we require you to fill out a large format printout request form including your name, your department, the date, the description of your print jobs, the account to charge and your desired output media. These forms can be found next to the large format plotters in the GIS Lab in room 253.

Upon the completion of your print jobs a bill will be submitted to your department as calculated from your printout request form.

We have had the most success printing the following file formats. If possible please provide your files in one of these formats.


MS PowerPoint
Adobe PDF
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
CorelDraw
EPS (Without Thumbnail or Preview Included)

Please be advised that on occasion there are some files that will not spool correctly to our printers. On these occasions no charges will be billed for any partial or misprinted jobs if the printouts are not accepted by you.

Also please note that due to certain limitations associated with different file and image formats we can make no guarantee to the final output image quality or color of your printouts as these are determined in part by your use of a certain file format and the limitations of the print drivers available for our devices.

Files may be transferred to a laboratory technician by way of the following methods for future printing.


USB Memory Stick
CDROM
FTP

Please be advised that though print jobs are usually printed on the day they are received they may take up to one week to be printed due to high demand at certain times of year. Please plan appropriately. All persons submitting a print job are responsible for picking up their prints in room 253 upon completion of their job. Printouts will be held for one week before being recycled. Special scheduling arrangements for large print jobs can be made by special request.