Departmental Facilities

Departmental Facilities

The Department is housed in the Geography Building (1st and 2nd floors) and also in the Francis Bancroft Building (2nd floor). These two buildings contain lecture and seminar rooms, laboratories, computing suites and academic staff offices. While most of your teaching and contact with geography department staff will be in these areas, it is likely that some of your teaching will take place elsewhere on the Campus. It is therefore very important that you familiarise yourself with the whole site and with the location of lectures, practicals.

Lecture rooms

Most Departmental teaching takes place in the Department in rooms 125, 214 and 216. Small group teaching, such as TUTORIALStakes place either in staff offices or in room 108. Please do not take food or drink into lecture rooms.

Computing Facilities

QMUL provides computing services as a central College service to undergraduate students via a Novell network. Students register for this service by presenting their ID card in W209 in the Queens Building. They are allocated an account on the departmental server, space for storing files and an e-mail name. Students can login to the server from anywhere on Campus and can also reach a number of College resources from outside the College via the web.

The Geography Micro Lab, in Room 210 has 15 IBM compatible PCs. These machines have a high performance specification in order to run the demanding Geographical Information Software, ArcGIS. The computers in the Geography Lab are primarily intended for students doing coursework. E-mail has the lowest priority for computer use. If you cannot find a PC for coursework, ask the person using e-mail on the highest numbered machine to surrender that PC.

Geography has 2 PC Labs in the Francis Bancroft Building. The first, in Room 3.43, has 15 PCs. The second lab in Room 3.44 has 60 PCs and is shared with Business Management.

All 3 labs have laser printers. Students pay for printing above the basic free allocation of 100 pages. Scratch cards can then be purchased from Room W209 of the Queens Building for £5. The scratch card code will add 125 pages to your account. Colour printing is available in W209 for a small fee.

Computing Services runs Micro Labs in W207 in the Queens Building and the ground floor of the Learning Resources Centre. These labs can be booked for teaching sessions but are otherwise available to students. PCs are also available in the library, the Francis Bancroft Building and the catering block.

The file servers provide a wide range of software running under Windows ME. The Geography Department supports Word for word processing and Excel for spreadsheet work. These packages are taught to all first year students. SPSS is available for statistical analysis.

Certain programs have been acquired by the Department. Scamp2 is a program for mapping 1991 census data. This program appears under Dept> in the Task Bar. ArcView 8 is a GIS program and is available in the Geography Lab and the larger lab in Francis Bancroft. Boot from Windows on the hard disk to gain access to this program.

Internal Web Server

The Department runs an internal web site. This site is available on and off campus. You will be asked for your username and password when accessing the site off campus. The address is:

Printing

Please observe the following rules to minimise waiting time and waste of paper.

(i)The printer is to be used by students in Geography and Economics.

(ii)The printer is intended only for academic work. Personal printing can be done in Room W209 of the Queens Building for a small charge.

(iii)Please use the photocopier to make extra copies.

(iv)Use page preview to check your document before you print it.

(v)Report any problems to Donald Wu in Room 210a or Margaret Buckley in Room 213.

The penalty for misuse of the printer is the suspension of your username on the file server

Help with computing is provided by Donald Wu (Computer Technician, room 210a) or Margaret Buckley (Departmental Programmer, room 213)

Guidance on the College Council Regulations concerning information technology are available at:

Physical Geography Laboratories

The Department has a suite of laboratories for teaching and research. These have been recently relocated to the Francis Bancroft Building, which is adjacent to the Geography Building on the north side of the Library quadrangle and is connected to the Geography Building via a bridge on the 2nd floor. Undergraduate students have many opportunities (especially during their IGS/PES work) to learn about and use the equipment and analytical facilities offered in the research laboratories. For more detailed information on both laboratory facilities and analytical techniques please contact the Laboratory Manager, Simon Dobinson.

Laboratories are only accessible to undergraduates during supervised classes or after having received permission from the Departmental Laboratory Manager. Laboratory coats and safety glasses must be worn in the research laboratories at all times. Students undertaking their IGS and PES must use the booking system to arrange time in advance to work in the laboratories under the supervision of the Departmental Laboratory Technicians. Undergraduate students are NOT permitted to work alone in any laboratory at any time. (see the Departmental Safety Handbook for more details).

Field Equipment

Field equipment may be borrowed by students for field work associated with their Independent Geographical Study or Project in Environmental Science. You must first discuss your equipment needs with your IGS/PES supervisor and complete a fieldwork risk assessment form before any equipment is issued to you. The Departmental Laboratory Manager, Simon Dobinson will arrange for you to borrow the equipment you require. A refundable deposit may be payable for any equipment borrowed.