SAIC has launched an innovative, Web-based processing system delivering custom Landsat imagery directly to customer desktops. The Landsat program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Landsat satellites collect images of Earth from space that can be used to evaluate changes to the planet caused by natural processes and human practices. In January, the USGS opened access to the Landsat archive, allowing users to download scenes in a standard format. SAIC’s new system fills a need in the Landsat user community by providing value-added processing of these standard products. SAIC’s custom imagery can be used by land-use/cover professionals for crop management, drought monitoring, climate change detection, disaster relief, water resource management and other applications. With SAIC’s new system, users can browse the USGS archive, select specific scenes, and apply a powerful array of spatial and spectral processing options to generate products tailored to meet their needs.
Web-based Application Tracks Transportation Incidents
Farallon Geographics has created a robust Web-based incident management application for the San Francisco Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The Web application incorporates all of the functionality of MTC’s previous desktop application, but adds enhanced availability, speed and easeof- use, as well as integration with mapping visualization services like Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth. Farallon developed the application using Microsoft’s .NET and ESRI’s ArcGIS technology with an ArcSDE connection to Microsoft’s SQL Server. The application’s geocoding engine uses MTC’s own GIS street data to ensure rapid registration of incident data. Support for common geodata formats such as shapefiles and KML enables easy data sharing with partner EOCs, as well as other agencies. Users register emergencies on a map in the form of markers, which are color coded red, yellow, or green, based on the status of the incident. Incidents causing severe damage to the transportation network are coded red, while incidents that have been cleared of transportation network delays are coded green.
Agreement Distributes Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery
Spot Image Corp. has entered an agreement with KAI Image as the distributor of KOMPSAT-2 products to customers across North America. Through this partnership, Spot Image can now offer users very high resolution satellite imagery for projects requiring the detail of a 1-meter image. By signing this agreement, Spot Image will promote, distribute, service and support data capabilities for KOMPSAT-2 in the United States. KOMPSAT-2 is a 10-bit system featuring four bands (red, green, blue and near infrared), which simultaneously collects 1-meter panchromatic and 4-meter multispectral imagery to produce a standard 1-meter natural color product. The blue band capability of KOMPSAT-2 makes it an ideal solution for mapping shallow water, differentiating soil from vegetation and water penetration studies, such as coral mapping. This will allow Spot Image to further enhance its current high resolution satellite offerings to a broad marketplace that includes defense, homeland security and commercial applications. Covering a footprint of 15 km by 15 km, KOMPSAT-2 is capable of collecting image segments in excess of 1,000 km long. With this combination of imaging capacity and very high spatial resolution, KOMPSAT-2 is ideally suited for reconnaissance, surveillance and large-scale mapping, including urban planning, optimizing road and rail corridors, environmental impact studies and precision agriculture.
Open Source Dashboard Enables Geospatial Visualization
The Carbon Project has been selected by the 2009 National Spatial Data Infrastructure Cooperative Agreement Program to develop an open source desktop dashboard for Geodata.gov. The federal government service for maps and data. The project will develop a free application to enable “at a glance” visualization of geospatial assets and monitoring of Geospatial One-stop Portal search functions. The Dashboard is based on Microsoft Gadgets and enhances common RSS functions with the ability to configure searches, view geodata footprints on a minimap, and access desktop GIS applications from ESRI and other vendors. The software will be jointly designed in support of governmental activities by the Carbon Project, Army Corps of Engineers and other Federal Geographic Data Committee representatives. ♦
