Spatial university for service and support

Spatial information systems and approaches are central to the provision of many forms of service and infrastructure at the spatial university. Geographic information systems are used to maintain inventory and service records, plan real estate transactions, and create campus maps and other tools for outreach and development. The University of Minnesota has been a spatial university for years in the sense of long being home to many precursors of modern spatial scholarship including spatial analysis, cartography, and remote sensing. The university hosted one of the first geographic information systems, the Minnesota Land Management Information System, and was home to other significant spatial projects from the 1960s onward. Groups on campus tasked with services, facilities, and management of physical plant, real estate, and other functions were also early adopters of spatial technologies that matured into a full enterprise-scale geographic information system and attendant services. Other units employ a range of spatially enhanced service, including the Office of Information Technology, University Libraries, and Natural Resources Research Institute. Spatial approaches are used in a myriad of other capacities and offices ranging from alumni development to extension activities.