Since its establishment in 1980, the GRC has matured to a multidimensional research facility. The Center's staff has worked on more than 400 projects with public and private sector clients including MU academic units, University Extension, state agencies, federal agencies, local government, and private organizations and companies.
GRC projects cover a broad range of activities relating to the collection, storage and analysis of geographic data. The multidisciplinary staff has had wide experience on projects in areas such as wildlife biology, forest resource inventory, agronomy, land-use planning, water quality, global vegetation monitoring, land-cover mapping, surface modeling, socioeconomic analysis, census information and landscape analysis. These activities have helped develop GRC staff expertise in photo interpretation, digital image analysis, GIS analysis, data base construction, spatial analysis and scholarly research, writing and evaluation.
The GRC will assist the client in identifying the most proficient methods to implement these technologies. A plan can be developed that identifies data needs, processing steps, analytical procedures, and final output development and cost. The plan will be tailored to the client's needs and will consider both the data needs and the cost of those needs. The GRC also is prepared to assist in data base creation, which includes the conversion of mapped data and attributes to a digital format for computer compatibility. Clients working with the GIS capabilities actively participate in the project design and data base development. Analytical procedures are designed to satisfy immediate needs while considering future expansion.