Facilities in the Department

The Department of Geography occupies its own buildings on the University's Downing Site, a few minutes walk from the city centre. All lectures, laboratory and practical classes associated with the undergraduate and graduate courses take place in these buildings.

Resources available to staff and students within the Department include the following.

General administrative support, web development support, and Audio-visual facilities for visiting speakers are also available.

	Departmental library The Library is one of the largest geography libraries in the country. It contains 30-40,000 books, periodical volumes, offprints, reports, and pamphlets. There is also a collection of digital resources. The university's Universal Catalogue, a wide range of online bibliographic databases and online journals, and the wider internet can be accessed from PCs in the library. Photocopying facilities are available.
	Computing, Automated Cartography and Remote Sensing facilities The current provision of computing in the department of geography consists of over 250 computers spread over 4 sites in central Cambridge. In addition there are more than 60 printers, 16 scanners, and a number of specialized pieces of equipment, such as an A0 digitizing tablet, slide and film scanners, projectors for giving presentations and field equipment including a digital camera and differential GPS. A number of image processing and GIS packages including ESRI's ARCGIS, ERDAS Imagine and ENVI/IDL are available, together with statistical packages such as Minitab and S+.
	Geography Science Laboratories and Field Equipment Service The Geography Science Laboratories comprise both Physical Laboratories (including the Soils and Sediment Laboratory, Preparation Rooms, Microscope Rooms and Malvern Room) and the Chemistry Laboratories (which comprise the Analytical Laboratories and Instrument Room). There is also a new Teaching Laboratory.
	CUCAP - Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography The Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography (CUCAP) is the result of airborne survey campaigns which were started in 1947 by the pioneering JK St Joseph. Since then the collection has grown to almost 500,000 images of obliques and verticals in black and white, colour and infra-red. Virtually the whole of Britain has been covered, with the obliques depicting a wide variety of landscapes and features and the verticals being of survey quality, can be used in mapping projects. Our new Online Catalogue lets you browse and search the collection.
	Cartographic Unit The Cartographic Unit produces original, high quality maps and diagrams to support teaching and research in the Department. The service is available to the academic and research community within the Department and, by arrangement, to staff from colleges and other university departments in Cambridge. External enquiries are welcomed.Products include campus plans, road maps, conference material, book and atlas figures, posters, wall maps, brochures and research reports.
	Digital Imaging & Reprographics Unit The unit provides digital imaging, scanning, reprographic and graphic design services for teaching staff, assistant staff and research staff, together with limited services for PhD and other students in the Department. The services are also available (by arrangement) to staff from colleges and other University departments. External enquiries are welcomed.
	Map Library The Map Library is a reference collection of world mapping, atlases, tide tables, gazetteers and cartographic texts for teaching and academic research. This includes a wide range of UK topographic cartography, from the Ordnance Survey First Edition quarter sheets of the 1830s to the latest open access Explorer 1:25,000 series, together with UK thematic maps at various scales. A range of commercial UK street plans, administrative maps, and European medium scale topographic maps are also stocked. There is a comprehensive coverage of Cambridge and East Anglia.