For questions about geospatial data or tools, please reach out to geospatialhelp@yale.edu with the following details:
Yale Library’s geospatial team offers expert guidance to help you to integrate geospatial technology into your projects and learning activities. Some of the aspects that you can discuss during your consultation are:
Our Remote Sensing Supervisor, Austin Madson, holds hybrid office hours every Wednesday from 11 AM to 12 PM. Feel free to bring any questions related to remote sensing or UAVs, whether for coursework, research, or both. No appointment is needed—just drop in!
The Earth Observation Lab (EOL) is a dedicated research and teaching facility focused on studying the Earth through satellite imagery. As a centralized resource for Yale University students, faculty, and staff, the lab supports the processing, visualization, and analysis of satellite data for academic and research purposes.
We offer a wide range of equipment available for checkout to Yale-affiliated students, faculty, and staff. Items are organized into three tiers based on complexity and required experience.
Tier 1 items are the most accessible and can be checked out without prior training. Tier 2 and Tier 3 items require verified experience, with higher tiers potentially needing a brief orientation or proof of proficiency.
All equipment is free to use for educational or research purposes, as long as users manage operation, data collection, and processing independently, and the number of days is limited. Most requests are processed within 2-5 business days.
The Yale Center for Geospatial Solutions holds a subscription to Planet Labs satellite imagery.
The YCGS holds project space in the Google Cloud Platform for Google Earth Engine. If you are running into compute and data volume limits on your personal Google Earth Engine account, then you may apply to request access to the YCGS Project space for Google Earth Engine. We will respond within 2–5 business days with next steps. You may only use this space for Research and Educational purposes only. Please be mindful of compute, as if we begin incurring costs, then we may require a COA to cover costs.
For smaller studies, you can create your own project on Google Cloud Platform using a personal email address. Google Earth Engine remains free for noncommercial use, but you will need to register your project accordingly. You can follow step-by-step instructions to create your own project on Google Cloud Platform with your Yale Email or a Google Account.