Center for Spatial Analysis Technologies
CSAT History
Georgia Tech and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) combined efforts
in 1991 to establish joint "Centers for Spatial Analysis Technologies".
The Centers house interdisciplinary teams working together in three aspects of spatial
analysis technologies: education, service, and research.
The Centers began with the establishment of a USGS Center for Spatial
Analysis Technologies (CSAT) and establishment of a parallel center by
Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Center for Geographic Information Systems (CGIS).
The centers are co-located on the Georgia Tech campus along with the
Georgia GIS Data Clearinghouse and a contingent of scientists from the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources These two centers represent a
commitment by USGS and Georgia Tech to explore synergistic partnership
in the application of technology to environmental sciences.
Sharing of office space, computing facilities, and personnel is a
major step in the creation of
an applications, research, and training entity that will provide
service to all levels of government as well as the private sector.
The Georgia Tech community is enriched by access to experienced
personnel with many years of applications experience related to real-
world problems as well as access to a wealth of information in
extensive spatial data sets. Current entities actively teaming on
projects or research within the Centers by Georgia Tech include the
following:
Georgia Tech Research Institute (multiple labs)
City Planning Program (College of Architecture)
School of Civil Engineering (College of Engineering)
School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (College of
Engineering)
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (College of Sciences)
College of Computing
Economic Development Institute
School of Public Policy
As active participants in the Centers, USGS has access to experienced
researchers and teachers of state-of-the-art technologies which are
being more and more applied to environmental analysis. The combined
resources of USGS and Georgia Tech have the potential for producing
top caliber spatial technologies and environmental and earth sciences
undergraduate and graduate students who will have the competitive
advantage of learning how to apply state-of-the-art technology to
problems of worldwide, regional, and local concern.
While the joint centers are only just beginning to realize their
potential for synergy, there is a commitment from all parties to
aggressively pursue combined opportunities and quickly remove any
technical or procedural obstacles that might stand in the way of a
highly significant relationship. Already, USGS and Georgia Tech have
combined efforts on numerous presentations showing the application of
advanced technology to practical problems. Proposals have been
developed to allow combined research in environmental assessment and
modeling. Short courses in remote sensing, advanced GIS, and
environmental applications of GIS are being taught this year. Full
time graduate courses in advanced applications are being added to the
core GIS curriculum with an emphasis on an interdisciplinary masters
degree.
Return to CSAT Home Page
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey