Archived News: 2001

	The GIS Laboratory Increases it Printer Output Abilities!	(December 2001)
	Third Annual GIS Day a Big Success!	(November 2001)
	The Laboratory Acquires Additional Processing Power!	(October 2001)
	The Laboratory Acquires Additional CD Burners!	(September 2001)
	The Laboratory Braves the Raging Waters of the Saco River!	(August 2001)
	The Laboratory Upgrades its Fixtures	(July 2001)
	The Laboratory Gears up for Summer Increases	(June 2001)
	The Laboratory Acquires a New High Speed Ink Jet Printer!	(May 2001)
	The Laboratory Acquires a New Full Size Digitizing Board!	(April 2001)
	The Laboratory Staff Tames Wildcat Mountain	(March 2001)
	The Laboratory Gains New Access to Room 254	(February 2001)
	The Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis Equips Its New Addition	(January 2001)

This December the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has expanded it's printing abilities by acquiring a new Hewlett-Packard hp LaserJet 4100 laser printer. This newest generation printer is equipped with 256 mb of memory and has printing speeds up to twenty five pages per minute. This new HP 2250 is capable of printing on standard paper, glossy paper and transparencies up to 8.5 x 17 inches in size . Please see the laboratory manager to obtain the proper drivers for this printer or visit the Hewlett-Packard web site.

On November 14th, 2001 the New Hampshire Space Grant consortium and Complex Systems Research Center hosted their third annual International GIS Day events at the institute for the Study of Earth Oceans and Space on the University of New Hampshire campus. Hosted guests included upwards of two hundred high school student and teacher guests from seven New Hampshire high schools during the morning sessions and about 150 adults during the afternoon sessions. Attending high schools included Coe-Brown Academy (Northwood, NH), The Community School (South Tamworth, NH), Dover High School, (Dover, NH), Lebanon High School (Lebanon, NH), Merrimack High School, (Merrimack, NH), Oyster River High School (Durham, NH) and the Profile School (Bethlehem, NH). All attending high school guests were hosted to an extensive cartographic exhibition, college fair and vendor hall featuring over seventy five displays from approximately one hundred professionals from as far away as Colorado and Georgia and as close by as right here in Durham. Hosted students were also treated to a hands on tour of Complex Systems Research Center's GIS and Remote Sensing Laboratory and to a series of talks about the Geo-Spatial Sciences and the educational and career opportunities that they have to offer. Afternoon guests were hosted to all of the same activities and presentations as the morning guests, but were also given the opportunity to sit in on professional vendor presentations given by representatives from companies and organizations like ESRI, ERDAS, Clark Labs, the USGS, the US Census bureau and many more.

In an effort to further enhance geographic knowledge all students guests were provided with packets which included additional information about Geo-Spatial Science related technologies, career and educational opportunities in the Geo-Sciences, interesting earth facts, information about famous geographers and a geo-quiz. All students were also provided with a new Merriam Webster Notebook atlas and a series of souvenirs including pens, buttons, and stickers. In total, throughout the day, the 30+ person GIS Day 2001 staff were able to give away over 300 atlases, 300 globes, 30 maps and posters and over 600 souvenirs to the GIS Day 2001 guests.

This October the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has aquired four new 1GH processors to upgrade four of the laboratory workstations from one processor systems to two. This additional processing power will allow for expanded processing ability necessary for running long CPU intensive jobs while still allowing for normal processing for other standards jobs.

This September the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has aquired two new CD-RW burners for use for all laboratory staff. These burners have been added to the existing bank of laboratory burners because of anticipated increases in data distribution due in large part to the UNH ESIP, EOS-WEBSTER project.

Once again, the GIS lab has returned to the waters of the raging Saco River for a fun filled day full of good times, good friends and much water. On Friday August 17th a large showing of ten GIS lab members and friends completed the 11 mile paddle down the mighty Saco River braving the white waters in three canoes and four kayaks. The weather started out poor causing hard times for the brave adventures, but after a hearty lunch on a safe stretch of the river the group pulled together to finish their death defying paddle down the Niagara class rapids. After the fun filled day of canoeing, (and swimming for some) the hungry group stopped off for a good old fashion bar-b-que with all the fixings at the Yankee Smokehouse in Whittier NH where they enjoyed the best of all types of bar-b-que cuisine when they ordered the Yankee Smokehouse feast. After polishing off this feast fit for kings in less than fifteen minutes the group indulged their expanded apatites by topping off the meal and the day with huge hot fudge sundaes which can only be described in short as gargantuan is size. There is already talk about returning to the Saco River next year for yet another fun filled adventure of sun, fun, friends and food. Keep your eyes pealed on the GIS lab web page for more details as next summer approaches.

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The increase in the physical size of the laboratory earlier this year was completed due to the anticipated recent increases in the total number of employees working in the lab. This recent increase in the number of laboratory employees has left the lab a bit short handed for coat space. Thus, as of this July the lab has added additional coat racks in room 254 to accommodate new and existing employees.

Now that the Spring semester has ended the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has now begun gearing up for Summer. The outlook for productivity in the laboratory over the summer looks very promising with an increase in total lab hours up from the Spring semester. The recent expansion of the laboratory's physical space earlier this year will accommodate the increase in the Summer workload nicely.

This April the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has expanded it's printing abilities by acquiring a new Hewlett-Packard hp business inkjet 2250 printer. This newest generation printer is equipped with 88 mb of memory and has printing speeds up to fourteen color pages per minute. This new HP 2250 is capable of printing on standard paper, glossy paper and transparencies up to 8.5 x 17 inches in size. Please see the laboratory manager to obtain the proper drivers for this printer or visit the Hewlett-Packard web site.

This May the Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has improved it's digitizing abilities by acquiring a thrid full size 4 x 6 foot Calcomp high resolution Drawing Board III digitizing tablet. This new digitizing board has a digitizer resolution of up to 10160 lines per inch and accuracy up to +-0.002 inches. In this new addition to the laboratory is equipped with back lighting and a variable lighting control dimmer switch.

Once again the GIS laboratory staff has set out on another quest for adventure, but unlike the staff's canoe excursion on the Saco River back in August, the staff has now set out and tamed the WildCat. On Wednesday, March 21st, eleven GIS laboratory staff, friends and colleagues set off on the first full day of spring in search of the perfect ski day and they found it at WildCat mountain in Jackson New Hampshire. With base temperatures at a balmy forty degrees F and summit temperatures that never dropped below thirty degrees F the entire day, the group skied into spring like lambs while roaring down the slopes like lions. After a fun filled two for one ski day the CSRC GIS adventure seekers wound down their day with a hearty meal and a bunch of laughs at Horse Feathers Restaurant in North Conway New Hampshire. Due to the overwhelming success of the day, there's already talk about returning to the slopes next year for more rip roaring, ski good or eat wood, downhill, fun filled action. So keep your eyes pealed for more info about this and other laboratory adventures like the annual GIS lab summer canoe paddle down the Saco.

The long awaited doorway between room 254 and room 253 (The main GIS lab) is now a reality. After three month of waiting, the construction of the doorway took place the second week of February and now allows greater access between the two rooms. This increased access allows for better accessibility to more of the laboratory's equipment and a more comfortable working environment for everyone. The doorway also allows better access to five new workstations the up and comming laboratory CD library, the laboratory's storage cabinet and the extension to the laboratory's manual library.

This January The Laboratory for Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis has acquired new furniture to equip the new addition to its floor plan (Room 254 Morse Hall). New furniture in this addition includes a professional series of computer tables and office chairs. The inclusion of this furniture within room 254 increases the number of workstations in the laboratory from eleven to fifteen. This increase will alleviate much of the expected pressure that the laboratory is expected to experience with the influx of new employees due to the increased processing of MODIS data and other satellite data sets in the coming semesters. Future enhancements to the laboratory's addition include the addition of a doorway between the main laboratory (Room 253) and the addition (Room 254). Construction on the doorway is expected to begin next month.