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JB Hunt Center for Academic ExcellenceThe Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST) is dedicated to research and applications in geospatial analysis and modeling, enterprise spatial databases, remote sensing, digital photogrammetry and geospatial interoperability and has been selected as a Center of Excellence by Intergraph Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Trimble Navigation Ltd., Sun Microsystems, Skyline Software, Defineins Imaging Software, Safe Software, PCI Geomatics, IONIC Software and eSpatial Systems.

CAST specializes in serving the academic community through its emphasis on high quality university courses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and related technologies. CAST is actively involved in extensive research efforts, through multiple grants totaling more than $1 million awarded each year. The research efforts compliment and greatly benefit the educational and public service focus by allowing staff and students to stay on the leading edge of emerging technologies as well as providing opportunity for economic development through the Center’s business incubator efforts.

As a multi-college organization, CAST unites personnel from the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the School of Architecture in the common goal of introducing and making geospatial technologies available to a wide variety of researchers and professionals and to furthering the field through basic and applied research. CAST focuses on research, technology transfer, undergraduate and graduate education, service to communities and local governments, and professional training in a variety of geospatial and related technologies.

Much of CAST's research efforts involve new approaches to spatial data and the development of new methodologies for analysis of these data, providing products to a variety of different audiences. Cooperative programs developed by CAST are designed to bring together the benefits of academic research and development, the resources of state and federal agencies and the private sector to provide the state and region with effective spatial technologies, trained practitioners, and low-cost digital data.