ISU GIS Facility
ISU GIS Facility
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Consulting Services

The ISU GIS Facility offers a wide range of consulting services to support both internal and external projects. These services are designed to assist with GIS-related tasks, from basic data analysis and mapping to more advanced geospatial projects involving imagery, drone usage, and custom analyses. The facility’s expert analysts and students can assist with various project needs, including running GIS scripts, providing guidance on spatial data, and supporting research efforts that require geospatial technology.

For external clients, the GIS Facility is available for contracted services, providing professional expertise tailored to meet the specific requirements of your project.

The facility also offers specialized services such as large format printing for posters and other visual materials, helping with both the production and presentation of GIS-related outputs. Whether you’re a student needing research support, a faculty member developing teaching materials, or an external client with a geospatial project, the GIS Facility provides the resources and expertise to support your needs.

For more information or to discuss specific projects, the GIS Facility is available to help guide you through available services and rates.

Please contact Josh Obrecht (jobrecht@iastate.edu) or Brian Gelder (bkgelder@iastate.edu) for more information or to discuss projects. Current fees are as follows:

ServiceInternal (ISU)External
Work performed by Students$31.89 per hour$38.11 per hour
Work performed by Analysts
(Varies by Analyst)		$62.43 – $80.75 per hour$74.16 – $95.79 per hour
Computer usage to run scripts 
and analyses without supervision		$16.60 per hour$20.60 per hour
Analyses performed by Students 
using Planet imagery		$156.89 per hour$186.43 per hour
Analyses performed by Analysts
using Planet imagery
(Varies by Analyst)		$187.43 – $205.75 per hour$222.48 – $244.11 per hour
Drone Usage and 
Data Administration
(Varies by Analyst)		$180.67 – $198.99 per hour$214.24 – $235.87 per hour
 Fees valid through 7/31/2025 

The GIS Facility also has a large format printer, 42 inches, where we can print posters for you. The cost is $0.21 per inch (e.g. a 36″ x 42″ poster would be $7.68) plus an amount for GISF employee time depending on the employee that will print.

Contact: Josh Obrecht (jobrecht@iastate.edu) for the detailed cost.

The GIS Facility works closely with Chris Harding, professor in Geology, to run a “GIS Clinic”. He can assist for free with some types of projects, assuming they will be limited in scope. His expertise is primarily in vector and raster GIS (but not remote sensing) and in Python programming (Arcpy and ArcGIS API for Python).

  • Help with GIS for student MS/PhD projects in primarily non-GIS disciplines
  • Assist in creating geospatial teaching materials (maps, georeferencing, elevation models, etc.)
  • Instruction session for research groups that need to learn a few specific GIS related tasks for their general research (e.g. making contour maps of lakes)
  • Extracting or converting geospatial data sets.
  • This excludes helping students who are taking a GIS course with their assignments.

Contact: Chris Harding, charding@iastate.edu