AmericaView Blog

Landsat LDCM Sample Image Now Available for Download

2013-04-04T15:15:00.003-07:00

As VermontView Director Jaralth O’Neil-Dunne mentioned in the March 29th AmericaView post, LDCM / Landsat 8 is in orbit and being prepped to acquire data, carrying on the record-setting Landsat legacy. Knowing that this blog is read by numerous early adopters, it seems apropos to help distribute far and wide a link to a sample of the data recently made available by the good folks at USGS Land Remote Sensing. The image (shown below) was acquired on March 18th, 2013 and is provided for those of us who’d like a first look at the sensor’s 16-bit data. Check it out and spread the word. Feel free to comment and let us know what you think. We’ll pass your thoughts along to the USGS. They’d appreciate the feedback. Alternatively, send them your thoughts directly from here.

NOTE: This sample image is considered Engineering data, which implies that the data do not meet the exact specification as when the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) is declared operational in May. More information regarding caveats is available at the USGS sample data post here.

What you should know about Landsat 8

2013-03-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

Landsat 8 launched successfully and is orbiting the earth, so it's time to get ready to work with all this cool data! I need to acknowledge that at the time this blog post was written Landsat 8 is not officially "Landsat 8," it is called the "Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM)." Once testing is complete (scheduled for May 30th), NASA will pass control to USGS and we will have an "operational" satellite whose official name is "Landsat 8!"

From an end user's perspective one of the most important things to keep in mind is that the band configuration for Landsat 8 (LDCM) is different from the Landat TM and ETM+ missions as Landsat 8 added two new bands. Want to make a natural color composite from Landsat 8? It will now be R-G-B = 4-3-2 (for Landsat 4,5, and 7 it was 3-2-1). The USGS has a very helpful FAQ page listing the band numbers and wavelengths for all the Landsat missions. There is another handy USGS page that displays the band combinations of Landsat 8 to Landsat 7 (see graphic below)

Source: NASA

Landsat 8 will be 12-bit data, compared to the 8-bit data used for previous Landsat missions. Pixel values will now range from 0-4095 (4096 possible values) for Landsat 8, as compared to 0-255 (256 possible values) for the previous missions. This should make it easier to distinguish features that are spectrally similar and shadow penetration will be much improved.

Because Landsat 8 is not yet officially operational you cannot download scenes from sites like GloVis just yet, but you can download a sample dataset to play around with courtesy of the USGS.

Close-Range Photogrammetry: The 3D Optical Bridge Evaluation System (3DOBS)

2013-02-26T11:12:00.001-08:00

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), more than 26% of the nation’s bridges in 2009 were classified as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Two years later, structurally deficient or functionally obsolete bridges still made up close to 24% of the nation's total bridge infrastructure. A report by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) indicates that, given more time and funding to complete bridge inspections, the use of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methods would increase among state and county transportation agencies (Highway Bridge Inspection: State-of-the-Practice Survey, 2001). NDE promises a way to enhance the allocation of funding by improving the information these decisions are based on and by improving the assessment of existing bridge conditions and through increased safety of inspection crews, reducing traffic disruption, and increasing the frequency, objectivity, and accuracy of bridge condition assessment.

As part of research funded by USDOT-RITA, the 3D Optical Bridge Evaluation System (3DOBS) was developed to quickly assess the condition of bridges while minimizing traffic disruptions and limiting inspection crews' exposure to traffic. The system is composed of a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera mounted on a truck, close range photogrammetry software (Agisoft PhotoScan Pro) and an automated spall detection algorithm. For close range photogrammetry to be achieved, the photos need to be collected with at least 60% overlap. Early testing of the photogrammetry software showed that collecting imagery with greater overlap produced better results.

Prior to the collection of photos, the bridges had to be marked with reference points for Agisoft to set up a coordinate system and to create a DEM. These reference points were marked duct tape that was placed on the bridge deck in a grid pattern. The tape was placed at four foot intervals in the transverse direction and at ten foot intervals in the longitudinal direction. Carrier phase GPS points were collected with a Trimble GPS (with an accuracy of <1m) at each of the four corners of the bridge deck and at various other points on the deck to be able to correctly spatially reference our data.

For the collection of the photos, a standard consumer grade Nikon D5000 DSLR with a resolution of 12.3 megapixels (MP) and a 27 mm focal length lens were used. In order to capture a full lane in one pass the camera needed to be mounted 9 ft above the bridge deck. In order to achieve this height, a wooden vehicle mount was constructed to fit into the bed of a standard pickup truck. During field collections a control board was programmed to trigger the camera shutter at a rate of one image per second. With the camera mounted, the truck was driven across the bridge deck at a speed of about 2 mph. This speed ensured that images were captured with the required 60% overlap between the photos.

After the photos were collected they were processed in Agisoft PhotoScan Pro. This process was mostly automated as the software aligned the photos and generated a 3D model without any user input. After the model was generated it was necessary to manually add "KeyPoints" to mark the location of each one of the duct tape markers with the latitude and longitude coordinates. This allowed PhotoScan to set up a coordinate system and to accurately reference the model and create a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). The DEMs that were generated have a resolution of 5 mm in the x, y directions and a z resolution of 2 mm.

The spall detection algorithm was written in Python programming language and uses ArcPy to interface with ArcGIS and utilize some of ESRI’s available geospatial tools. The tool used to detect spalls is called Focal Statistics analyzes each cell in the raster and calculates statistics based on a specified neighborhood of cells around it. Additional functionality was added so that the user can remove bridge joints by creating a shapefile that defines the bridge joints. Spalls can also be identified based upon their area. This feature allows for the detected spalls to correspond to minimum size definitions and allow for the removal of small artifacts in the DEM. The data processing is automated, and only requires the user to set the working directory, file names for the DEM and bridge joint shapefile, focal statistics sensitivity and the minimum spall size.

Enhancements are currently being made to this system through a project sponsored by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). These enhancements will include improving the camera so that the system would be able to operate at near highway speeds (40 mph) and the construction of a more sturdy vehicle mount. The spall detection algorithm will also be improved. The current version of the algorithm simply looks for a change in the elevation and therefore it also detects the edges of patches on the bridge and reports them as spalls. This will be changed so that the algorithm will only detect negative changes or those that represent spalls on the bridge deck.

This work is supported as part of a larger program (Bridge Condition Assessment Using Remote Sensors) sponsored by the Commercial Remote Sensing and Spatial Information program of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Cooperative Agreement # DTOS59-10-H-00001, with additional support provided by the Michigan Department of Transportation, the Michigan Tech Transportation Institute, the Michigan Tech Research Institute, and the Center for Automotive Research. The views, opinions, findings, and conclusions reflected in this paper are the responsibility of the authors only and do not represent the official policy or position of the USDOT/RITA, or any state or other entity. Further information regarding remote sensing technologies and the decision support system for bridge condition assessment and about this project can be found at <http://www.mtri.org/bridgecondition>.

LDCM / Landsat 8

2013-02-11T06:13:00.000-08:00

I'm guessing that most people who work in the applied natural sciences would agree on the need for synoptic, multitemporal, objective, easily and freely accessible data of the Earth's surface.

Without argument, no Earth observing system meets that need as well as has the Landsat Program. Providing the longest, most comprehensive record of Earth surface changes, Landsat is unprecedented.

The next generation of Landsat systems, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission aka Landsat 8, is scheduled for launch today from Vandenberg AFB on the coast of southcentral California. Members of the AmericaView consortium work daily with Landsat data though our 300+ academic, agency, non-profit, and industry partners. Below, in no particular order, is a sample of what Landsat means to AV and our partners to both demonstrate the breadth of applications and to celebrate today's launch.

Landsat imagery extends human vision to see our Earth’s surface not just over previous years, but over previous decades - Dr. Jim Campbell, Virginia Tech / VirginiaView

Landsat: still the premiere moderate resolution terrestrial imaging program after 41 years - Dr. Tim Warner, West Virginia University / West VirginiaView

Landsat, the first and best satellite sensing system for mapping, monitoring and analysis of land and water resources over time and space (and my favorite system for the past 40 years) - Dr. Marvin Bauer, University of Minnesota / MinnesotaView

We could not have fulfilled our Legislative mandates to assess the quality of all lakes in the state without your Landsat remote sensing technologies. These data are being used for a wide variety of water quality trend detection, impairment evaluations and watershed management actions - Bruce Wilson, senior scientist, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency / MinnesotaView

From the early 1970s to the present, Landsat satellite imagery has been used to create four comprehensive land cover maps of Kansas – Landsat’s spectral capabilities, spatial resolution, and repeat coverage have made it an ideal resource for studying the Kansas landscape - Dr. Steve Egbert, University of Kansas / KansasView

The Landsat image archive stretches back over 40 years and covers the entire globe: nothing else even comes close - Kevin Dobbs, University of Kansas / KansasView

Creeping landcover changes, invisible from the ground, suddenly revealed in their full extent and proximity – shocking! - Dr. Rebecca Dodge, Midland State University / TexasView

Landsat: My magic carpet ride to see the wonders of Planet Earth - Teresa Howard, The University of Texas at Austin / TexasView

Graduate and undergraduate students on our campus use Landsat data in their research and training each year – to date nearly 400 UAF students directly benefited from free Landsat data - Dr. Anupma Prakash, University of Alaska Fairbanks / AlaskaView

Landsat has been instrumental in helping the state of Alabama monitor land use and associated impacts on its many natural resources - Dr. Luke Marzen, Auburn University / AlabamaView

With the frequent synoptic views of California agriculture provided by Landsat, we have deepened our understanding of the relationship of phenology and crop production across the state - Pia van Benthem, UC Davis / CaliforniaView

Landsat is the only source for historic time-series data for my study site - Dr. Teki Sankey, Idaho State University / IdahoView

All current coastal land loss work in Louisiana is Landsat TM based - it's the heart of the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) landscape level monitoring effort - Brent Yantis, University of Louisiana Lafayette / LouisianaView

Landsat imagery is simply the best available data for studying the impacts of pervasive flooding on agriculture in the Devils Lake Basin of North Dakota, and an ideal tool for teaching about remote sensing – it is the “go-to” data source for most students working on projects for my remote sensing courses - Dr. Brad Runquist, University of North Dakota / North DakotaView

Freely available Landsat data has enabled 27 students at the University of Toledo to complete their masters and PhD degrees, and many of these students have gone on to work for local and state governments, the National Guard, and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency - Dr. Kevin Czajkowski, University of Toledo / OhioView

We have 30 years of Landsat imagery for our area, available for a wide range of applications - that is unparalleled accessibility - Dr. Pete Clapham, Cleveland State University / OhioView

Freely available Landsat data has allowed college students to not only better understand remote sensing but the world around them - Dr. Tom Mueller, California University of Pennsylvania / PennsylvaniaView

South Dakota farmers have found Landsat imagery to be of great value for precision agriculture, especially for purposes such as delineating management zones within a field - Mary O’Neill, University of South Dakota / South DakotaView

Thoughts on post-event damage detection

2013-01-31T14:19:00.003-08:00

Thanks to an AmericaView mini-grant and the labor of some intrepid students we were able to do a detailed damage assessment of some of the areas in Vermont hardest hit by Hurricane Irene back in 2011. The pre-event imagery was sourced from the National Agricultural Imagery Program and we obtained post-event WorldView-2 imagery from the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System (HDDS). Below are some key take-away points for this type of work.

It's all about the resolution. As much as I love Landsat you really need high-resolution imagery, such as WorldView2, to see the type of damage causes by an Irene-type event.
Manual image interpretation. While we would like to think that all we need is imagery from two different dates and a press of the Staples Easy Button to get results, the reality is much more complex. This is particularly true in post-event disaster response. Automated detection may help highlight areas of change, but chances are you will have to do it the old way to precisely quantify the damage. No one beats a human when it comes to high-resolution image analysis.
Georegistration is a challenge. Much of the imagery that was acquired post-Irene was done so at rather extreme look angles. Orthorectificaton did not yield promising results and it was time consuming. Thus, all the damage mapping was done on the more accurate pre-event imagery through good old fashioned terrain association. The offset is shown quite clearly in the above graphic.
Come up with a damage class domain. Lots of interpreters may be working on the same project and thus it really helps if you can come up with a list of damage types so that all of the datasets are consistent.
Work locally. The cloud and networks tend not to fare too well during disasters. Digitizing goes a heck of a lot faster when the imagery is stored locally.

Hazard Data Distribution System (HDDS) tutorial

2013-01-31T08:28:00.000-08:00

Geospatial data, particularly imagery, are crucial during disaster response. The USGS has a wonderful web-based application called the Hazard Data Distribution System (HDDS) that provides the capability to download incident related imagery. This video provides a short overview of HDDS, demonstrating how to you can use HDDS to locate and download imagery for your area of interest. Please note that if you are involved in disaster response you will need to request permissions from the USGS to obtain access to the licensed imagery. For more info on HDDS please read the help pages.

Land Remote Sensing: Now for the iPad

2013-01-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

Landspotting (www.landspotting.org), a recently released game for the iPad, allows players to characterize the landscape into simple and general land cover types (e.g. Urban, Trees, Grass, Water, Snow and Ice, Unknown, etc.) using their fingers to paint on high resolution satellite imagery. It is a tower-defense-game whereby players earn coins to buy new buildings, more warriors, and resources. The better the player paints, the more houses added to your village and the more warriors you have to protect against invaders.

However, the underlying goal of this game is crowd-sourcing the validation of global land cover types in order to improve global satellite-based land cover maps and products. The game was developed in cooperation with the Geo-Wiki.org project (http://www.geo-wiki.org). The game can be downloaded from iTunes.

Host a LDCM / Landsat 8 Launch Party!

2013-01-24T13:06:00.000-08:00

Earth’s land cover is changing at an increasingly rapid rate, and these changes have dramatic impacts on our lives whether we know about them or not. Scientists use a variety of instruments to observe and quantify the changes in an ongoing attempt to better understand their ramifications on society, and on the ecosystems upon which we all depend.

Dating back to 1972 and free to the public, the Landsat series of Earth observing satellites offers the longest and most comprehensive data set of the Earth’s surface from space. The future of the program, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), is a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and is ready to take the next big step. On February 11th, 2013, Landsat 8 is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force base in California aboard an Atlas V rocket. To learn more about the LDCM, NASA has developed a video available here.

NASA and the USGS have been working on the LDCM for years. To celebrate the LDCM and raise awareness of the many benefits of this increasingly important civilian land imaging satellite, the Landsat Education and Public Outreach Team has put together a website of materials that people at universities, museums, community centers, or anywhere could use to hold their own launch party. They invite us all to participate in this exciting and historic milestone in humanity's efforts to make our Earth more livable and sustainable. You can join others around the world in celebration of this much-anticipated event by hosting a launch party! Planning and hosting your own launch party with NASA resources is fun and easy, and it's a wonderful way to engage your community in your interests and the work you do.

Everything you need to host a great party and join in the launch fun is at your fingertips, right here.

You will find activities and decorations to make your party fun for all ages. You'll be able to watch the launch and associated events live, including talks from NASA and USGS scientists and engineers.

Enjoy the celebration of the LDCM, and please pass this information on to others.

Geospatial/Remote Sensing Jobs at an AmericaView Member Institution

2012-11-05T09:54:00.000-08:00

The Michigan Tech Research Institute in Ann Arbor, MI, a member of the MichiganView consortium, is looking to hire talented people to work on applied science problems utilizing remote sensing and geospatial analysis.

Assistant Research Scientist - Geospatial Database Analyst
The Assistant Research Scientist – Geospatial Database Analyst will provide relational database and web decision support tool support for ongoing and future applied research programs focused on the application of remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and statistical data analysis to solving critical problems in earth sciences and environmental processes. Current research areas include carbon budget and emission impacts from wildfires, carbon flux modeling, improved geotemporal visualization of complex data and patterns, Arctic landscape change, Great Lakes aquatic sensing, invasive species mapping, transportation infrastructure assessment and logistics modeling, wetlands assessment, amongst others. The position is based at MTRI in Ann Arbor, MI (www.mtri.org).

Research Engineer/Scientist II - Advanced Geospatial Analyst
The Research Engineer/Scientist II – Advanced Geospatial Analyst will fulfill the need for advanced geospatial analysis, programming, geotemporal visualization, statistical analysis, and modeling. The position will need to combine analytical skills with the ability to visualize complex geospatial data. The position is based at MTRI in Ann Arbor, MI (www.mtri.org).

Applications should be submitted online through the links above.

The Virginia Geocoin Adventure

2012-10-01T10:32:00.002-07:00

The Virginia Geospatial Extension program (VGEP), in partnership with VirginiaView and the National Geospatial Technology Extension Network (NGTEN) has recently developed the Virginia Geocoin Adventure, a geospatial learning activity. The activity is appropriate for informal education, such as 4-H groups and scout troops, as well as formal educational settings such as middle and high school classrooms.

The Virginia Geocoin Adventure is an experiential geospatial learning activity that uses the hobby of Geocaching. Participants hide a geocoin – a small trackable coin – in a geocache and then “follow” their coin online as it changes locations when geocachers move it to other geocaches. Participants will learn to use a GPS receiver while placing the geocoin, and increase their geospatial awareness through coin tracking.

The Virginia View Geocoin
Additionally, there are 4 learning lessons linked to the activity that explore environmental issues and geospatial techniques. The additional activities include topics on invasive species, watershed health, landscape ecology, and remote sensing. These activities utilize free software (Google Earth) and lead participants in experiential activities that range from an aerial photography scavenger hunt, to taking basic measurements, to assessing watershed boundaries.

Virginia Trackable Geocoins are available from the Virginia Geospatial Extension Program for educators and groups (complete the online application here). In addition, Geocoin Adventure Getting Started Guide is available online at http://virginiaview.cnre.vt.edu/education.html. In Virginia, educators can check out a GPS kit from local 4-H offices if they do not have access to a GPS receiver. Other organizations also provide GPS receivers and associated resources for educators as well, including several of members of the AmericaView consortium.

The Virginia Geocoin Adventure is a starting point for incorporating geospatial learning into a variety of settings in an accessible, hands-on, and engaging way. The program could easily be altered to fit other states and educational objectives.

VirginiaView Geospatial Education Workshop

2012-08-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

During July 2012, VirginiaView (www.virginiaview.net), the Virginia Geospatial Extension Program (http://gep.frec.vt.edu), and three partnering Virginia community colleges organized geospatial workshops located at each of these community colleges for precollege teachers and other educators. These workshops were funded jointly by VirginiaView and the National Science Foundation. Each workshop introduced participants to the basics of GPS, GIS, and remote sensing. The workshops included approaches to integrating geospatial technologies in the classroom and were cross-referenced to the applicable Virginia Standards of Learning.

The workshops were conducted by Alison Goforth, a high school science teacher from Montgomery County, Virginia, and Tammy Parece, a Ph.D. student in Virginia Tech’s Geospatial and Environmental Analysis Program. The workshop’s two-day program was developed by Alison, Tammy, John McGee - Virginia Tech’s Geospatial Extension Specialist, and James Campbell - Professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Geography. The workshops were hosted and supported by each of the community colleges’ faculty.

The curriculum was divided into discrete sessions covering different topics, starting the first day with “What is GPS?” Participants were provided with a history of GPS, instruction on the use of one particular type of GPS receiver, did an outside activity with the receiver, and then downloaded and used the gathered data in Google Earth^®. On the afternoon of the first day, they were introduced to Geocaching, using trackable VirginiaView geocoins and associated learning lessons.

The morning of the second day was an introduction to GIS. Participants were directed to an online GIS program and provide guidance on using the program; including adding the data acquired with the GPS receivers the previous day. In addition, participants were guided through online searches for downloadable and free GIS data. They learned where to find tested lesson plans, and were assisted while they actually worked through some of these lesson plans.

The afternoon of the second day was reserved for remote sensing. Many participants were familiar with GPS and GIS, but remote sensing was entirely new. First, they received a brief history of remote sensing. The initial activity introduced them to the application of stereoscopes and aerial photos. They then progressed to an activity using on-the-ground photos as a tool to locate and identify a specific area in Google Earth^®. After remote sensing using aerial photography, satellite imagery was studied along with applications of satellite imagery in different analyses. They explored an online Landsat Imagery viewer. Dr. Campbell also provided preprocessed Landsat images with different band combinations, and an additional activity was conducted around these images.

By the afternoon of the second day, participants realized that they weren’t being introduced to three completely independent technologies. They understood these technologies could be used separately but became more powerful when used jointly.

Each participant received a binder with all documents used in the two day workshops, a DVD with the presentations - both in document and in presentation form, supplemental documents with URLs of websites accessed, and the images used in all activities.

Participants included high school teachers representing diverse subjects – e.g. human geography, science, and math. The workshops also attracted middle school teachers, elementary school teachers, 4-H coordinators, a master naturalist, a Red-Cross volunteer, and a nursing instructor. One 4-H coordinator advised that she signed up for the workshops questioning how these would benefit her in her main focus area – honeybees and beekeeping. But by the first break, her thought process was changing, and by the end of the second day, she had made detailed notes throughout both workshop days on how she was going to implement each technology and was sure that they were going to jointly change and enhance her work. Likewise, the nursing instructor advised that she had the same concerns but as presentations of different topics and lessons occurred, and discussions on the applicability to different subjects proceeded (especially uses in medical geography), she felt that she was on the forefront of technology that was going to revolutionize her profession. Many participants asked if additional workshops would occur next summer, continuing beyond the basics that were taught this summer.

Cladophora Mapping

2012-08-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

Cladophora is a filamentous, green algae that grows in all five Laurentian Great Lakes. Although native, clear water created by zebra mussels and high levels of phosphorous have allowed it to become overgrown and cause local environmental problems. As the algae sloughs off and is carried to shore, there have been outbreaks of avian botulism as well as reports of beach fouling. Because of it's harmful effects, determining the extent of Cladophora is useful for water quality managers as well as utility operators and recreational beach-goers.

In 2011, Michigan Tech Research Institute developed a technique to use satellite imagery to track the extent of Cladophora. Using an algorithm based on the the work of Lyzenga (Lyzenga 1978, 1981, Lyzenga et al. 2006), they depth-corrected Landsat data to map Cladophora at a test site - Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - and achieved 85% accuracy (see right). You can view a *.pdf of the test site results or read more about the process they used here.

The algorithm was subsequently applied to the coast of Lake Michigan and charted the location of Cladophora to a depth of ~20 meters. An interactive map of the result can be seen here.

"State In A Year" Animation Tutorial from MichiganView

2012-07-03T10:47:00.001-07:00

MichiganView has posted a number of useful tutorials on their website intended for AmericaView members. The most recent one details the steps to creating a "State In A Year" animation - a *.gif composite of a year's worth of MODIS images. Here's the animation from 2011:

MichiganView's tutorials range from an introduction to raster images to comprehensive guides to GDAL and Google Earth overlays. Visit their resources page to view the full spread.

Introducing Laramie Junior High School Students to Remote Sensing Concepts and Applications

2012-04-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

One hundred and fourteen students in Ron Whitman’s eight grade physical and seventh grade biological sciences classes (three class periods each on April 4^th and 5^th, 2012) learned how remotely sensed images are acquired in different regions of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and their uses for monitoring earth surface features such as trees, crops, bare ground, water, roads, buildings, etc.

WyomingView coordinator Ramesh Sivanpillai described the differences in the interaction of earth surface features with EMR, and how those interactions result in their appearances or colors. Students learned the uses of images collected by satellites and airplanes for monitoring the effects of beetle attacks on pine trees, deforestation, crop growth, and changes in the surface areas of lakes and reservoirs. Mr. Whitman commented that the presentation helped “students understand the use of different electromagnetic waves for practical applications.”

In the lab, students working in teams used ALTA ™ Spectrometers to measure spectral reflectance in 10 different regions of EMR. Next, they calculated percent reflectance values, which were then plotted against wavelength to generate the spectral signature for each leaf. Analyses of these signatures led the students to conclude that the spectral signature of each leaf was distinct.

Hands-on lab component for measuring and calculating “percent reflectance of the four types of leaves at different wavelengths, actively engaged the students the entire lab time” Mr. Whitman said. Sivanpillai explained the differences in the spectral signatures of different earth surface features and remote sensing scientists rely on these signatures for mapping those features.

This educational outreach activity was conducted as part of AmericaView’s Earth Observation Day activities aimed at introducing teachers and students to remote sensing science and applications.

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Using satellite images, 5th and 6th grade students in a Laramie (WY) School learn about human impact on environment

2012-03-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

With the help of satellite images fifth and sixth grade students at Mr. Tim Blum’s geography class (photo below) at the UW Lab School got a birds-eye view of how humans have impacted or modified their environments (31 January 2011). Images acquired by satellites decades apart showed cleared forests, irrigated crop fields in the middle of the deserts, altered landscapes (new roads and water bodies), and urban growth.

As part of the Earth Observation Day (EOD) activities, WyomingView coordinator Ramesh Sivanpillai described the utility of images acquired by satellites are useful for monitoring changes on earth’s surface. For example, Landsat images acquired in 2000 (bottom left) and 2009 (bottom right) shows the newly constructed roads (linear features), drilling pads (square features at the end of the roads), and ponds (in different shades of blue) for an area within the Powder River Basin.

The goal of EOD activities is to introduce teachers and students to remote sensing science and technology and is promoted by AmericaView. Sivanpillai works with individual teachers in Laramie-area schools and develops remote sensing course materials that relate to the topics taught to students.

Blum and his student teachers introduced students to the human impact on the environment. The remote sensing “presentation fit with our curriculum and the students were captivated,” Blum commented. “Your presentation certainly made an impression on our students because the information you provided was referenced in several discussions that occurred later in our unit.” Tailoring materials to individual class needs increases student engagement and learning.

Virginia Middle School Students View the Earth’s Surface in Time and Space

2012-02-29T04:57:00.009-08:00

By Tammy Parece, Geographic Society at Virginia Tech

On Saturday, February 25, 2012, VirginiaView, and the Virginia Geographic Society participated in Kid’s Tech University (KTU). Kid’s Tech University is a program at Virginia Tech with one primary goal: creating the future workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by sparking kids’ interest in these fields. KTU, active at Virginia Tech since 2009, invites middle school students from across the Commonwealth to participate in a university research experience. Geographic Society Members have participated on an individual basis in the past, but 2011 is the year we decided to be involved as a Society.

The title of our program was Looking Down is Looking Up: Why do we work with aerial photography? The GIS portion of the program was designed by Dr. John McGee, Associate Professor and Geospatial Extension Specialist, Department of Forestry and Environmental Conservation, and a leader of the VirginiaView program, and has been presented by John at KTU over the past three years. This year, John asked if the Geographic Society could provide the manpower for the event and members jumped at the chance to support student research experience. Geographic Society Members have participated on an individual basis in the past, but 2011 is the year we decided to be involved as a Society.

The program introduced participants to applications of some common geospatial tools - geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), and remote sensing, to provide these young minds with a new understanding of the earth. In this activity, the students used GIS to identify changes on the earth’s surface. They also examined aerial photography from three different time periods (1962, 2002, and 2008). The students explored, estimated, and measured general changes in land use during these periods. Our display was the first one the students saw when they walked through the door of the Lane Stadium West Club Box.

At our first table, we had two laptops with GIS programs running. The students were shown how to display the different layers in GIS, zoom in and zoom out to obtain different scales, and view the changes between aerial photos of the New River Valley Mall area. Students were awed at the changes between 2002 and 2008, but flabbergasted when they saw 1962. In most instances when they saw these 1962 aerial photos, they commented “nothing is there.” When they looked closer, they were able to identify farm fields, trees, streams, and the VPI Horticulture Research Center which was located on land now occupied by a strip mall.

At our second table, Dr. James Campbell, Professor, Department of Geography, introduced students to applications of stereovision in the analysis of aerial imagery introduced students to applications of stereovision in the analysis of aerial imagery. On a portable light table students could look at a glass plate of a 1968 aerial photo of Chicago and a 1980s high-altitude color infrared aerial photograph depicting the Roanoke, Virginia metropolitan region. Using a large mirror stereoscope, students could examine coastal landforms near a Minnesota Lake, using stereoscopic capability to see subtle variations in landforms and vegetation cover.
At our third table, participcants could view episodes of the Geospatial Revolution, a video series that introduces key applications of geospatial technologies in today’s world. We discovered that parents were not the only ones extremely interested in this video - many of the middle school students could not believe the capabilities of geospatial technologies, and their significance for our society.

Observing these kinds of changes helps us understand how landscape changes influence our local communities and environments. The activity was co-sponsored by VirginiaView, a state level organization within AmericaView, a national consortium that focuses on research, outreach to K-12 and community college educational communities, and distribution of imagery to a spectrum of users at state and local levels.

At the end of the day, we were thanked by VBI officials, including Dr. Kathleen O’Hara and Dr. Reinhard Laubenbacher. They told us that they were looking forward to our participation again next year. We let them know that we are participating in the next KTU event scheduled for Saturday, March 25. The theme for that KTU session is Health, Nutrition, Biomedical Engineering, and Medicine. They asked how we could participate in such diverse topics from session to session, an insight that highlights the essence of Geographic inquiry, which seeks to illuminate interrelationships between the physical and human worlds.

GPS Workshop for "Citizen Scientists" at Whitegrass Ski Touring Center

2012-02-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

By Rick Landenberger, AmericaView Executive Director

"Citizen science" can be broadly defined as science undertaken by non-scientists. According to internet lore, the term was coined by Rick Bonney at the Cornell Ornithology Lab when writing a National Science Foundation proposal.

Regardless of where the term originated, most of us have probably heard about citizen science projects - GLOBE, SETI@Home, and ELOKA, all come to mind. These are examples of citizen science

initiatives that engage 'ordinary' people, including children, in the process of scientific investigation, assessment, and monitoring. These and similar projects leverage the breadth and expertise of non-scientists to help with large projects, typically to help the pros resolve a perplexing problem that requires a geographically distributed network of sensors, dispersed data collection protocols (dispersed in either space or time), or computing power.

I've been leading what I'll call "citizen science" workshops at Whitegrass Ski Touring Center in Canaan Valley West Virginia for the past decade or so. Whitegrass uses the USFWS-managed Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge for some of its trail system, thus is required to provide natural history and/or scientific education and outreach workshops as part of their special use permit. My recent sessions have focused on GPS for mapping the landscape, and I've had a very rewarding experience 'training' people of various backgrounds in the use of GPS technology to map a wide variety of resources and features that exist at Whitegrass and on the Refuge. These include hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), now threatened by the exotic invasive Hemlock Wolly Adelgid, and red spruce (Picea rubens). Both spruce and hemlock have seen extensive reductions in their former distribution due to early 20th century logging and fires, and both of which are great for slowing runoff due to heavy precip and snow-melt, reducing flooding. Other features of interest include watershed boundaries (challenging to map in Canaan Valley), springs and seeps (areas for amphibian restoration projects), trails, and other scientific and cultural features.

This past weekend I had 10 'attendees', despite the poor weather and lack of snow (we usually either ski or snowshoe around the area, gathering waypoints, mapping boundaries, etc.). Several were Brooks Bird Club volunteers, genuine citizen scientists (the Audubon Society has been doing similar citizen science work for 100 years). They were interested in mapping bird locations that they contribute annually to the breeding bird survey on the refuge and around WV. Others were interesting in mapping trails that they'd found on their cross-country hikes. One young man, Andre, a student at a local elementary school, had been learning about latitude and longitude, and wanted to do some actual hands-on mapping to reinforce his text book lessons. There's nothing like a hands-on experience to reinforce and strengthen understanding of what might otherwise be a fuzzy concept.

As most of you know, passing on basic knowledge is a very rewarding experience. Doing so to those who will be using their new knowledge to benefit society is even more rewarding. It is great to see that citizens and scientists share so much in common, and that we can learn from each other so easily and effortlessly.

Thanks to Todd Ensign, Director of the Educator Resource Center at the the NASA IV &V Facility in Fairmont, WV, for the GPS units. Todd is a citizen scientist trainer of the highest caliber.

MultiSpec Update

2011-12-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

A new version was released on December 19, 2011. Some of the new features include:

MultiSpec now handles the Polar Stereographic projection.

MultiSpec now reads the GML header projection information in JPEG 2000 files. The test for this has been with simulated French PLEIADES data. This spacecraft was launched this past week.

The coordinate view will be displayed and default to Lat-Long units when an image window is first opened if MultiSpec can handle the projection information that is available in the image file. This was done as a time saving feature; at least it has helped me out!

More details on the update are at the MultiSpec News link.

Archiving and Distributing Indiana Historic Sanborn Maps

2011-11-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

This project archives and distributes the Indiana Sanborn 1883-1966 Historic Maps via the Indiana Spatial Data Portal (ISDP). All 11,517 maps are available in both TIFF and PDF formats on Indiana University’s Scholarly Data Archive (SDA). The SDA is located at both Indiana University Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses, providing automatic off-site copies of data for disaster recovery. Both the larger TIFF and the smaller PDF Sanborn images are available for spatial discovery via the Indiana Spatial Data Portal (ISDP). The public domain Sanborn images (1883-1923) which represent 87% of the dataset are available for download. Users may contact the staff at IU’s Government Information Services to request copyright restricted images (1924 – 1966) once they discover the images they need via the ISDP interface.

Landsat Tutorials from ColoradoView

2011-10-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

ColoradoView has some really great downloadable PDFs and HTML files that take users step-by-step through essential remote sensing and GIS functions including downloading free Landsat data from the USGS GLOVIS website, creating multiple scene mosaics, clipping mosaics to a defined study extent, applying Maxent modeling and more! Many of the following ColoradoView tutorials were directly funded through AmericaView and created by ColoradoView Student Interns at Colorado State University. Head on over to the ColoradoView Training page!

K-12 Students Present at the AmericaView Remote Sensing Conference in Cleveland, OH

2011-10-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 20 middle and high school students presented their research projects alongside professors and graduate students at the AmericaView Fall Technical Meeting and Remote Sensing Conference in Cleveland Ohio. The projects all used geospatial technologies (GPS, GIS and remote sensing) to address an environmental problem. Ten student-led research projects were presented in a poster session in which a total of 40 projects were highlighted, including projects from university students, professors, and state agency researchers. Some of the student projects included study of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the best roofing material to use to reduce urban heating, the Earth’s energy budget as affected by land cover changes, and the impact of ocean temperature on Cholera outbreaks. Students attended the conference for free and stayed for research presentations on wetland monitoring and ecological assessment by United States Geological Survey (USGS) and university scientists. The students received an AmericaView medal and teachers received a certificate for their participation.

Students and teachers from the following schools attended:
Penta Career Center, Perrysburg, OH – 12th grade
Lakewood Catholic Academy, Cleveland, OH – 7th and 8th grade
Roswell-Kent Middle School, Akron, OH - 7th and 8th grade
Westerville North High School, Westerville, OH
Mr. Stefan Smolski, Grafton High School, Taylor County WV

AmericaView 2011 Fall Technical Meeting Kicks Off

2011-10-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

The 2011 AmericaView Fall Technical Meeting kicks off today in Cleveland, Ohio. There are a broad range of panel discussions, presentations, and workshops from some of the leading remote sensing experts in the nation. You can view the full program here. If you are looking to connect with a remote sensing guru in your state you can find contact information on the AmericaView membership page. You can follow the meeting on Twitter #avftm2011.

AmericaView welcomes our 38th and 39th members: OregonView and Rhode Island View

2011-08-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

OregonView is directed by Michael Wing, Associate Professor in the Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University in Corvallis. In addition to teaching courses in remote sensing, Michael is co-director of the Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory (ERSAL) and teaches courses in geospatial analysis of forested landscapes, GIS, and surveying. OregonView partners include Geoffrey Duh at Portland State University, Anne Nolin in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Cy Smith in the Oregon Geospatial Enterprise Office, and Mary Hartel in the Branch of Geographic Sciences at the Bureau of Land Management.

Rhode Island View is director by Y.Q. Wang, Professor of Terrestrial Remote Sensing at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, and Director the URI Laboratory of Terrestrial Remote Sensing. Rhode Island View is co-directed by Greg Bonynge, a Geospatial Extension Specialist in Extension at URI. Y.Q. and Greg have a great start at their consortium, including Shane White in the Division of Planning at the Rhode Island Department of Administration, John Mustard in the Department of Geological Science Brown University, Peter Cornillon in the Graduate School of Oceanography at URI, Peter August in the Department of Natural Resources Science at URI, Chuck LaBash in the Environmental Data Center at URI, Peter Schultz, Director of the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium at Brown University, Lynn Carlson in the Environmental and Remote Technologies Center at Brown University, and Paul Jordan in the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.

Welcome OregonView and Rhode Island View!

Displaying Orthophotos

2011-06-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

In this video I cover some of the basics of displaying panchromatic, 3-band, and 4-band orthophotos. Although this video makes use of Vermont data the information is relevant to anyone who uses orthophotographs.

Access orthophotos in VT using Map Services

2011-06-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

Downloading imagery can be slow, plus it takes up a lot of disk space. The good folks at the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) have put together a collection of map services that allow one to stream the best available color and pancromatic orthophotos in VT into ArcGIS. It's simple, it's easy, and it's fast. This short video will show you how to make use of the VCGI image map services within ArcGIS 10.