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BYU Geospatial Network

Software Licensing

Updated: January 24, 2020 01:17 PM

What's available and how to access it

As GIS and related technologies have become more widely used at BYU, the University has recognized the need to enable widespread licensing of the software. There are many brands of GIS software out there, and we can't afford all of them, but we have obtained campus-wide or departmental site licenses from the following vendors:

  • ESRI (GIS)
  • Autodesk (CAD/BIM, GIS)
  • Oracle (Database GIS)
  • QGIS (GIS)
  • Ecognition (RS)
  • ENVI (RS)

If you need help deciding which software solution will best meet your needs, contact HBLL Geospatial Service & Training (geospatial@byu.edu) for assistance.

If you plan to use GIS often, or are interested in its applications in your discipline, we would like you to be involved with the BYU Geospatial Network. This group of faculty, staff, and students coordinates issues concerning GIS, Remote Sensing, Cartography, and related technologies. We advocate for the University to continue funding these licenses, and the more users we have, the more we can justify it. Members are also notified of new software releases. Fill out this form to join!

Esri

The university has an unlimited site license for Esri, the leading GIS software vendor. This allows us to install almost all of their software on any university computers, including both desktop and server products as well as a large volume of spatial data. Most users will want to start with ArcGIS Pro, their latest desktop product, but complete product descriptions can be found at www.esri.com.

There are several avenues for accessing Esri software:

  • Install it yourself on a university-owned computer using Software Center (installed on BYU computers). This is the best option for Windows users, especially if you need to use it off-campus without high-speed Internet access.
  • Work with your CSR to install it (be sure to specifically request the current version number)
  • Access through BYU CloudApps. This is a good option for anyone who does not want to install the software, and works well from off-campus (as long as you have a high-speed Internet connection). It is also the best option for Apple users and most students. Any of your cloud storage locations (Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Dropbox) set up at kumo.byu.edu will be automatically assigned drive letters and are available to software running on the applications server. Additionally, any mapped drives defined by Active Directory (based on your NetID) will map to the same drive letters on the application server as an on-campus computer.
  • Faculty, staff, and students can also install the software on their personal computers, following the directions below:
    • download the latest versions of the software from ArcGIS Software for BYU faculty & students personal machines (requires BYU authentication)
    • Unzip the compressed files and read the included instructions for installation and licensing. Remember, ArcGIS Desktop software is Windows Only. It will not run on macOS.
    • License it. ArcGIS Pro and ArcMap 10.x are licensed differently, pick that appropriate action:
      • ArcGIS Pro licenses are assigned to your ArcGIS Online account. To obtain a BYU-based account, go to https://byu.maps.arcgis.com/ and follow the directions. Then e-mail HBLL Geospatial Service & Training (geospatial@byu.edu) to request an ArcGIS Pro license be assigned to your ArcGIS Online account. You must include in the request: your BYU NetID and (for students) the course you are taking or a description of your research and the professor you are working with.
      • ArcGIS 10.x (ArcMap, ArcCatalog) is licensed to students as a 1-year trial. Please fill out this form to request a license. Instructions on how to use the code you receive are in the software download package downloaded from the link above.

There are other benefits of joining BYU's ArcGIS Online organizational account:

  • Sharing and or collecting data and maps using the ArcGIS Platform
  • Access to many apps for a variety of workflows.
  • Build and deploy web and/or mobile applications for data collection or sharing
  • Unlimited access to online training

The site license does not include unlimited copies of physical materials (CD's, documentation, hardware keys); CD's can be copied, and additional complete media sets can be purchased. For more information on the following, please contact Mark Jackson (801-422-9753, mj@byu.edu). Campus users do not have direct access to Esri Technical Support; if you need help using any Esri products, contact the Harold B. Lee Library Geospatial Services Lab. Campus users do have licensed access to Esri Academy (https://www.esri.com/training/), which provides online training courses that are quite useful from our experience.

Autodesk

Our site license with Autodesk was obtained primarily for their CAD/BIM applications, but they also have several GIS products, especially AutoCAD Map. These can be installed on Windows computers through Software Center or your CSR.

You can also access this software remotely using BYU CloudApps.

Oracle

Included in our Oracle site license is Oracle Spatial, which enables the storage, querying, and analysis of GIS data within Oracle databases. Work with your CSR or OIT to install Oracle Server.

ENVI

ENVI is a broad collection of software tools designed specifically to process remote sensing imagery. Currently, only the Geography Department has a license for ENVI. If you are interested in participating in the license to use the software, contact Ryan Jensen at ryan.jensen@byu.edu. Participants can install ENVI through the Software Center program on your University computer, or through BYU CloudApps.

eCognition Developer

eCognition Developer is an object-based image analysis software package from Trimble that uses rule sets for automatic analysis of remote sensing data. Specific uses include, land use and landcover mapping, feature extraction, change detection, and object recognition. The object-based approach facilitates analysis of all common data sources, such as medium to high resolution satellite data, high to very high resolution aerial photography, lidar, radar and even hyperspectral data.

The eCognition Developer license is funded by the Department of Geography and the Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences. If you would like to explore options for using eCongition in your research contact Ryan Jensen (ryan.jensen@byu.edu) or Neil Hansen (neil_hansen@byu.edu).

eCognition Developer is only available for Microsoft Windows (64-bit) machines. More information on eCognition Developer can be found here.

QGIS

QGIS is a user friendly Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) licensed under the GNU General Public License. QGIS is an official project of the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). It runs on Linux, Unix, Mac OSX, Windows and Android and supports numerous vector, raster, and database formats and functionalities.

There are several avenues for accessing QGIS software:

  • Install it yourself on a university-owned computer using Software Center (installed on BYU computers). This is the best option if you need to use it off-campus without high-speed Internet access.
  • Work with your CSR to install it (be sure to specifically request the current version number). They will have a specific image to use.
  • Some colleges might provide access through BYU CloudApps. If it is not available contact your CSR. This is a good option for anyone who does not want to install the software, and works well from off-campus (as long as you have a high-speed Internet connection). Any of your cloud storage locations (Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, Dropbox) set up at kumo.byu.edu will be automatically assigned drive letters and are available to software running on the applications server. Additionally, any mapped drives defined by Active Directory (based on your NetID) will map to the same drive letters on the application server as an on-campus computer.
  • Faculty, staff, and students can also install the software on their personal computers, following the directions below:
    • Visit the Download QGIS for Your Platform page on the QGIS website.
    • Find your platform and select your version to download. QGIS provides two download options: 1) the latest release or 2) the long-term release.
      • The latest release will have all the newest features for the platform, but may still have bugs in the software. Think of this as a beta test. If you download this version you can help developers improve the stability future long-term releases by reporting bugs and errors.
      • The long term release will be the most stable version - bug free.