USGS Signs Agreement for Public Access to Geospatial Data

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) have reached an agreement to ensure the preservation and access to the USGS's earth imagery and geospatial data resources. Under the agreement NARA will be the legal custodian of the data while the USGS will exercise day-to-day control according to preservation and access standards of NARA. The records will remain at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The EROS Center will become an affiliated archive within the National Archives system.

Dr. Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States explained that the main goal was preserving public access, "This agreement between NARA and USGS is a guarantee that our Nation's collections of aerial and satellite images of the world's land areas will be permanently maintained, preserved, and accessible to the public. These records are crucial to scientists and policy makers around the world in understanding how man and society affect the natural landscape." he said.

According to Dr. Mark Myers, Director of the USGS, the EROS archive of geospatial data is the largest civilian archive of such data in the United States. It occupies over 40,000 square feet and totals nearly three petabytes (3000 terabytes) of electronic data and millions of film frames.

Magazine to Target Future Mapping Professionals

Reed Business Geo plans to launch a new magazine and website aimed at attracting young people to the fields of geomatics and hydrographics the firm announced today. Set to launch at the beginning of the new school year, Young Geo Professional will focus on young people who are about to make a study choice. The publication will make students aware of the future job possibilities in mapping fields.

The firm cited a current shortage of personnel in the fields along with a lack of new students at universities worldwide as the driving force behind the new venture. Examples of fields of study the magazine will focus on include land surveying, electronic charting, remote sensing, positioning or hydrographic surveying. At least 15,000 copies are planned to be distributed to about 350 educational institutions aimed at students ages 16 to 27.

Based in the Netherlands, Reed Business Geo is an international publishing house providing information to professionals active in the survey and mapping fields of geomatics, hydrography and navigation.

Land Cover Database Completed

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Multi‑Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) recently announced the completion of the 2001 National Land Cover Database (NLCD). This database describes the land surface condition of each 30-meter cell of land in the continental United States. NLCD 2001 data portrays 16 classes of land cover, the percent of tree canopy, and the degree of surface imperviousness in urban areas.

The NLCD is based on satellite imagery taken in 2001 and was constructed by a collaborative effort of the MLRC. The information in the database enables land managers, planners, agricultural experts, and scientists to identify critical characteristics of the land for a wide variety of uses. "Just as the U.S. Census is fundamental in assessing patterns of national population growth, we also require an authoritative, periodic review of land conditions ‑ a Census of the Nation's Land Resources ‑ to understand how people and the land interact," said USGS Director Mark Myers.

You can download NLCD products from the MRLC website. USGS says they are working with software developers to create publicly available tools that can be used to conduct geospatial analyses of NLCD data on the web. Updated coverage of NLCD 2001 data for Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico is expected by December.

LIDAR Deployed to Help Save Forests

Researchers at the University of Arkansas have begun a program using cutting-edge spatial technologies to study the aftermath of an insect infestation that has devastated red oak populations in Arkansas and Missouri. Dr. Fred Stephen, a professor of entomology and Dr. Jason Tullis, a geosciences professor are using light detection and ranging (LIDAR), to accurately map a forested area of the Ozark National Forest where many trees succumbed to red oak borers.

The LIDAR instrument, mounted in an airplane, shoots about 50,000 near-infrared laser pulses per second at the earth. Depending on the path of a given laser pulse, up to four return pulses are recorded by the instrument's receiver. On a typical red oak tree, return pulses originate from leaves, branches, the trunk and the ground.

Using GPS, gyroscopes and other instrumentation, the location where each LIDAR return pulse originated is computed, allowing the researchers to study a three-dimensional “point cloud," an example of which is shown above, representing forest structure and terrain. This information will be used in conjunction with field studies to try to find patterns that might help explain what trees are vulnerable to infestation, and thereby help help foresters shape forest management practices to protect them.

The red oak borer, lived in relative obscurity in red oak trees in the Ozark Mountains until 1999. Then foresters began noticing oaks dying in droves. When Professor Stephen and his students examined the trees, they found them filled with borers. In 2005, the red oak borer population fell back to normal levels.

Researchers are trying to understand why the sudden infestation happened, and to keep it from happening again. “GIS and remote sensing can help find a pattern, and this can help us understand the underlying science of the ecosystem,” Dr. Tullis said.

Report: Remote Sensing Market at $9.9 Billion by 2012

Global market expenditures for remote sensing products are projected to increase to more than $9.9 billion by 2012. That, according to a new report issued yesterday by BCC Research. The Massachusetts-based research firm estimates that more than $7 billion was spent on remote sensing products last year. The firm estimates future increases in spending on remote sensing will run 6.3% annually.

Weather forecasting holds the highest share of the market, accounting for approximately 38% of the total. The biggest potential for growth in the remote sensing market will be public health applications, which the firm estimates could grow to $675 million in 2012. Other major markets include right-of-way inspection, intelligence gathering, and climate change studies.

In the past, the popularity of of geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS) technology caused some to predict that the demand for remote sensing information would bring about a boom. Optimistic predictions placed the market at more than $30 billion in sales by 2005. While the industry never came close to meeting such lofty expectations, BCC Research does forecast steady growth for the future.

Information for this post courtesy of BCC Research. The full report (#IAS022A) can be purchased from their website.

U.S., Canada, Join Forces to Map Land Cover

The U.S. Geological Survey and Natural Resources Canada have joined forces to launch a high-tech satellite mapping initiative to better monitor changes in the land cover of the two nations.

The joint mapping effort will use infrared, radar relief and other remote sensing techniques, to produce integrated information that will help natural resource managers to assess the health of landscapes, the risks of wildfires, changes in biodiversity and the effects of climate change on permafrost.

The agreement involves a dynamic land-cover monitoring system for all of North America and the development of permafrost modeling applications. Future plans call for the development of radar applications.

The land-cover mapping initiative will be useful to both countries, as well as the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. One of the first efforts will be the mapping of the Yukon River Basin to study the permafrost. The joint permafrost mapping will focus on assessing the impacts of climate change on human settlements, physical infrastructure, and ecosystems in both countries.

One key benefit cited to the unified land-cover mapping effort is in monitoring wildfire risk across the border. "Natural processes like wildland fires do not stop at the border, so this type of information is critical for identifying land-cover trends,” U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said.

In announcing the new effort, the Honourable Gary Lunn, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources noted that the two countries have a long history of cooperation and stated, “Working together, this partnership will allow us to share information and maximize our scientific knowledge so that we can better monitor the changes of our land, including the permafrost areas in the North.”

Photo courtesy National Resources Canada.