Frequently Asked Questions
GIS Certificate Programs
What courses can be used to satisfy the "one additional class with 50% or more GIS content" requirement of the Undergraduate Certificate in GIS?
The intent of this requirement is to provide students with a mechanism to customize their certificate program of study while expanding their GIS and GIScience skillset. A number of courses offered at Kansas State University can be used to meet this requirement as long as it can be justified that the primary emphasis of the elective course better prepares a student for using GIS as a research tool, conducting spatial analysis, working with spatial data, designing geodatabases, preparing Web-based GIS services and applications, etc. If you have a specific course in mind, discuss your interest with the certificate director to make sure it will be accepted. By far, the most popular courses selected to fulfill this requirement is GEOG 700 Quantitative Analysis in Geography, GEOG 705 Thematic Remote Sensing, GEOG 706 Biophysical Remote Sensing, GEOG 712 Internet GIS, and GEOG 728 Programming for Geographic Analysis.
GIS Training
Are there any options students wanting to enhance their GIS skills outside of the traditional classroom?
Yes! Through an educational software site license agreement with Esri, Kansas State University can offer students free enrollments for most courses comprising the Web-based curriculum of Esri Academy. Those interested in reviewing available online courses should visit the Esri Academy site, click Catalog, and choose Course Catalog. Free enrollments apply only to courses offered in the e-learning format. Complete the form Join K-State's ArcGIS Online for Organizations to link your personal Esri account with K-State's ArcGIS Online for Organizations and activate your free access to training.
Esri Site License
Who do I contact if I want to install the ArcGIS software on my computer?
The K-State Esri Education Site License is for all university faculty, staff, students, and administrative units. Historically, this site license allowed only for the university community to use Esri software on university-owned computers. However, effective May 2020, this same software can be installed on personally-owned machines. Students also have the alterative to request free ArcGIS for Desktop and Extensions Student Trial Software that is valid for education use only and for a one year period. For more information, click on the Esri Software and Resources link.
ArcGIS is telling me that my license will expire soon? What do I need to do?
This is normal and happens every spring at K-State. The university's higher education software site license agreement with Esri times out in late spring each year. Before your software is rendered inoperable, funds for renewing the agreement will be found and the bill for the next academic year paid. Once its is paid, new ArcGIS licensing/provisioning files will be available for download from our central Esri Software Server (https://gis.ksu.edu/software/downloads/). You must have a valid K-State eID and password to access this site. Check the GIScience Virtual Collaboratory website frequently for updates and consider subscribing to the ksu-esri@listserv.ksu.edu listserv to receive timely site license announcements.
I want to use ArcGIS Pro. What do I need to do?
First, download and install your desired version of ArcGIS Pro from our central Esri Software Server (https://gis.ksu.edu/software/downloads/). For licensing, the best option is to establish a Named User license by linking your personal Esri account to K-State's ArcGIS Online for Organizations. To get started, complete the form Join K-State's ArcGIS Online for Organizations being sure to specify the user type "GIS Professional Advanced". This activates a Named User license that will license your installation of ArcGIS Pro.
How do I obtain a new license for ArcGIS 9.x?
It is recommended to remove ArcGIS 9.3 and install ArcGIS version 10.7 or higher. All versions of ArcGIS Desktop prior to 10.7 have been retired or are in a state of extended or mature support (click here for Esri Product Life Cycles). We understand some applications have not yet been ported from 9.3.1 to 10.x, but highly recommend that you investigate options for upgrading such tools to ArcGIS 10.x. For those requiring ArcInfo Workstation, please note that it does not ship beginning with ArcGIS 10.1. The last release of Workstation was with ArcGIS 10.0. If desired, ArcInfo Workstation 10.0 can be installed on the same machine with newer versions of ArcGIS Desktop, allowing existing and legacy applications running AML to continue to work.
