The GIS Center

The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Balamand boasts Lebanon’s first fully operational academic center devoted to advancing Geographic Information System (GIS) knowledge. The GIS Center (GISC) was established in 1999 within the Faculty of Engineering to serve faculty, students, and staff by coordinating the acquisition, instruction, deployment, and development of Geographic Information Technologies on the campus. Furthermore, the GISC provide assistance and consultancy to external clients and the outside community. The GISC has adopted a service-learning approach, which emphasizes the use of community service programs, to build students’ capacities through working on real projects. The GISC works closely with both local and international agencies and organizations to develop their GIS services.

The GIS Center maintains a full Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) Educational Site License for the University of Balamand community. This license includes the full ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced suite, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, ESRI Developer Network products, City Engine, and Field Apps. Benefits of this license include access to unlimited resources, training materials, and complimentary registrations for the ESRI User and Education User Conferences.

The GIS Center is fully equipped with the latest technologies that enables the accurate and fast acquisition of data from the field. The Center has many high-accuracy GNSS, and DJI Phantom 4 RTK drone.