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About the Geospatial Center

The vision of Saint Louis University's Geospatial Center is to be the nation’s leader in geospatial discovery and application — advancing science, transforming communities and strengthening community resilience through location-based innovation. This vision is rooted in SLU’s Jesuit mission to pursue truth in service to humanity through the dissemination and application of knowledge

Our Mission

The mission of the Geospatial Center is to advance geospatial science through interdisciplinary research, partnership and community engagement to create innovative, real-world solutions to societal grand challenges. 

SLU’S Geospatial History 

Saint Louis University has emerged as a national leader in geospatial science, a transformation driven by visionary faculty leadership, strategic investment and strong institutional support.

In 2017, SLU launched a faculty-led initiative to identify strategic areas where the university could excel and establish national leadership. The faculty led by Vasit Sagan, Ph.D., developed a vision to build a nationally recognized geospatial institute. This vision took shape in 2018 with a $50,000 Big Idea grant from the Saint Louis University Research Institute, which the team leveraged to establish the Geospatial Institute at SLU. 

From the outset, ambitious 10-year goals included the following: 

  • Become a regional leader in geospatial science.
  • Secure a major gift or funding to expand into a national center of excellence.
  • Employ 20-plus full-time staff to advance geospatial research and innovation.
  • Recruit 25 distinguished faculty to position SLU and the St. Louis region as a global hub for geospatial science. 

These ambitious goals were achieved in just five years, culminating in the launch of the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI) in April 2022, made possible by a transformational gift from Andrew Taylor, Chairman of Enterprise Holdings. The establishment of TGI is a testament to SLU’s ability to lead in geospatial science, as well as the power of visionary leadership and strategic investment in the St. Louis region. This achievement has had a lasting impact on SLU’s research community, students, and geospatial computing infrastructure, reinforcing the university’s position as a driving force in the geospatial sciences. 

SLU boasts extensive expertise in geospatial science, supported by over $20 million in research awards in the 2026 fiscal year and a broad array of academic degrees and certificate programs in the field. By establishing two leading geospatial research institutions, GEOSLU and TGI, SLU has played a unifying role within the regional geospatial ecosystem. This leadership is evidenced through its involvement in initiatives like Geo-Resolution, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) St. Louis Area Working Group, and the USGIF GEOINT Academic Coalition, positioning SLU as a key driver of collaborative research and innovation.