GIS at RMBL

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

At RMBL, scientists, students, and staff collect, store, manage, view, and analyze spatial data, as well as associated attribute data. GIS is useful because it allows users to combine, analyze, and view many layers of data at the same time on a computer. This allows users to do many things, including:

  • see connections, trends, or relationships that they may have otherwise missed,
  • make maps to present and share their data or location, and
  • make predictive models that, among other things, be used to make field data collection more effective and efficient.

Frequently Asked Questions

What software is available? RMBL uses ESRI GIS software. This includes ArcGIS 10.2.1, ArcInfo, and ArcSDE. All of the computers in Barclay classroom have ArcGIS 10.2.1ArcView. ArcInfo has more tools and can do more GIS analysis than ArcGIS 10.2.1 ArcView. Both software types includes a suite of sub-applications, such as ArcMap, ArcCatalog, and ArcToolbox. ArcSDE allows us to store all of our GIS data in one central place on the server, but allows many people to access the data simultaneously.

How do I submit GIS or GPS metadata? Email gis@rmbl.org or stop by the GIS office (room 102) in the new Gothic Research Center.

What kinds of spatial data are available at RMBL?

  • General: Lakes, streams, parcels, peaks, mines, roads, sections, townships, wildfire hazard, ditches, precipitation, watershed, wetlands
  • RMBL townsite datasets: Buildings, outhouses, water lines, water valves, electric lines, meters, transformers, wetland deliniation, riparian deliniation, buildable zones, future buildings, avalanche zones, phones, phone boxes, active and historical research site locations.
  • Boundaries: Colorado state boundary, Colorado counties boundary, Gunnison county boundary, wilderness boundary, etc.
  • Elevation: County wide DEMs (digital elevation models), SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission), NED (national elevation dataset), contour lines, etc.
  • Aerial Photos: County-wide 1m pixel black and white DOQQs (digital ortho quarter quads–2000) with 10-20 foot horizontal accuracy, 1′ pixel color floodplain data with 3 foot horizontal accuracy, 1m NAIP color aerials, 6″pixel color aerials with 2-3 foot horizontal accuracy–2006
  • Vegetation maps
  • Topographic Maps (DRGs): County-wide
  • Wildlife Data for 2013 (2003, 2004, 2005, 2007,  2011 also available upon request)

To contact the GIS/GPS Coordinator, email gis@rmbl.org or stop by the GIS office (room 102) in the new Gothic Research Center.

This portion of Digital RMBL is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under DBI-0420910. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).