All teaching activities for the certificate program take place in the Geographic Analysis Teaching Lab (GATL), the teaching facility for the SFSU Department of Geography and Human Environmental Studies. The GATL includes hardware and software for image processing and geospatial analysis, as well as a wide array of ancillary and supporting equipment. The heart of the computer systems is our relationship with the Department of Geography and HES, Institute of Geographic Information Science (IGISc) and the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) computing department.

Hardware
The foundation of the GATL is a 155Mb ATM network connecting 24 workstations and a Dell Poweredge Server housing the mass storage devices (total amount of disk space to 137 Gb). The GATL facility also includes a wide array of input-output devices including image scanners, laser printers, large format color plotter, as well as an array of data storage devices. To facilitate instruction there is a computerized faculty lectern linked to a multi-resolution projection system.

Software
A large suite of applications software provides state-of-the-art capabilities for image processing, mapping, modeling, statistical analysis, and visualization:

ArcGIS (ArcInfo Desktop) and ArcView
A University site license for ArcGIS (ArcInfo Desktop) and extensions (3D Analyst, Geostatistical Analyst, Street Map, Spatial Analyst, Survey Analyst, Tracking Analyst, ArcPress, ArcScan, Publisher, Maplex), as well as, ArcPad, ArcIMS, and ArcView 3.3 with extensions (3D Analyst, Network Analyst, Spatial Analyst, Image Analyst, ArcPress) provide the primary GIS analysis and modeling tools for GATL users.

ERDAS Imagine
SFSU has a license for ERDAS Imagine (70 seats) and other modules (OrthoBase/Pro, Virtual GIS, Radar, Stereo Analyst, Image Analysis for ArcGIS, Stereo Analyst for ArcGIS) and form the base solution for image processing and GIS integration in the GATL.

SPSS
SFSU has a site license for SPSS (a modular product line for data analysis) and other statistical modules to meet the analytical needs of the laboratory.