UBC Reports | Vol. 46 | No. 20 | Dec. 14, 2000

Digest

Finders of the way

The university's Board of Governors recently approved a Wayfinding Plan for UBC at its November meeting.

The plan outlines a strategy for clear, consistent and continuous directions from the campus perimeters to destinations within the university.

The newest prototype street signs have been installed at the corner of Main Mall and University Boulevard.

The entrance at Gate 3 is also sporting a new trial gate sign and work on the landscaping and stone entrance marker has been completed.

New trial building signs have also been installed on the Biological Sciences, Education and Henry Angus buildings.

Signs pointing motorists to campus have been erected throughout the city and campus maps have been supplied to area taxi companies, pizza outlets and tourist information centres.

Feedback on the new signs is welcome. For information on UBC's Wayfinding Plan or to provide feedback, e-mail Geoff Atkins, associate vice-president, Land and Buildings Services at avp.lbs@ubc.ca.

GIS whizzes

The Geography Dept. recently received $70,000 worth of hardware from Hewlett Packard.

Twenty-eight computers will be used to upgrade the undergraduate computing lab and to create an additional overflow workplace.

Geography Assoc. Prof. Brian Klinkenberg says the new computers benefit the more than 200 students from across campus who are taking courses in geographical information sciences.

In the lab, students receive instruction in the use of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software.

The software is used by organizations ranging from municipalities, forestry and courier companies, marketing firms, emergency call centres, and researchers from fields as diverse as epidemiology, anthropology, planning, soil science and geography.

The donation is part of an on-going partnership between Hewlett Packard and the Faculty of Arts.