Vislab Expands Service in New Facility
The Visualization Laboratory (affectionately known as "the Vislab") has completed its move from 301B Surge IV into Temporary Classrooms 1 and 2, just west of Academic Surge and north of Meyer Hall. The Vislab is home to high-end Silicon Graphics Unix workstations and X-Terminals for use in scientific visualization, geographic information systems (GIS), and 3-D rendering. Founded in 1990, the Vislab has undergone substantial growth since that time: the number of workstations has doubled every four years from 7 at the facility's inception to over 30 in the new location.The facility's move to expanded quarters was prompted by a space crunch. GIS classes hosted at the Vislab in the past year had long waiting lists of students unable to enroll because of the space limitations, and some students who were enrolled found it necessary to use workstations in their home departments rather than in the lab itself.
The new Vislab is divided into two rooms: a "Visualization Classroom" housing 30 workstations, and a "Visualization Laboratory" hosting stations for research work, and peripheral devices such as the large-scale scanner and plotter. The classroom will be open for general access when not in use by classes. At least four classes are scheduled in the new facility during Fall Quarter, serving approximately 125 students.
The Vislab is open to students, faculty, and staff. Visit http://ansa.ucdavis.edu/geographic.html to see a showcase of projects by GIS students. To reserve the lab for a class, send email to vislab@ucdavis.edu or call 752-6285.