NASA To Release Landsat 7 Data On the Web 56
UAVThumper writes "The US Geological Survey homepage is featuring an article about the upcoming release of select Landsat 7 image data (on June 4) at glovis.usgs.gov or earthexplorer.usgs.gov. This is to be a pilot project for a larger effort called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, whose end result looks like a version of Google Earth using Landsat data. Seven Landsat satellites were launched over a period of 27 years, the last in 1999. More on Landsat can be found here on Wikipedia or here at the official NASA Page."
Okay, but... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Okay, but... (Score:4, Funny)
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World wind (Score:4, Informative)
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Silly me, I assumed people would read the summary and infer the context.
Re:World wind (Score:5, Informative)
The short answer is that what you're seeing in WorldWind (or what you're seeing in a color image, regardless) is only part of the data collected by the landsat satellites. The landsat satellites are multispectral sensors--they collect data over a broad range of the spectrum, not just visible light.
The article doesn't specifically say, but it's referring to releasing the full multispectral images...
3 band false color composites have been available free globally for quite awhile; here they're talking about releasing the full 7 band images. I would assume they'll have multiple date ranges for most locations, as well...
Sites like the GLCF already have a lot of this data available, but this is an effort to get much more of it processed, georeferenced, and online.
Or that's what I gather, anyway... Actually, I'm not quite sure why this is on slashdot. It's just a quick news relase about the project, and it's not really much in the way of news, either. Must be a slow day!
Re:Space exploration is always a good thing (Score:5, Funny)
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Did anyone read the Wikipedia article? (Score:1)
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Wow! (Score:5, Interesting)
This is really fantastic! I've done some academic work in geospatial analysis, and finding good data is always the biggest challenge--especially on a tight budget.
It won't always be perfectly aligned with the project objectives, but to have it easily available and pre-processed (ortho-rectified, with metadata) will help with many projects.
Soviet Landsat (Score:5, Funny)
Er, wait a minute....
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how is this differ from the landsat 2000 data? (Score:1, Interesting)
https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/ [nasa.gov]
Other than the fact that its mostly in the MrSid format ?
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Just to answer your question, those are 3 band, false-color composites. They're only part of the data the landsat sensors collect (7 bands).
Most of the multispectral data they're talking about is already online, though. This is just a project to get more of it online, and in a centralized place.
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The Landsat 2000 data set is the result of a planned campaign to obtain worldwide coverage; the Landsat 1990 data was collected from whatever was available and has gaps (particularly islands) which are covered in the Landsat 2000 data,
This is excellent (Score:1, Insightful)
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Uh...World Wind? (Score:2)
And Antarctica??? Missing dudes (Score:2)
There should be lots of data from nasa, its not like they can miss the south pole.
Judging from the bad rendering on a sphere, i notice lots of math errors/scewing around the pole. A pole is the same everywhere, this is a static
render.
Is it (C)?
Same as below ocean views, we have good undersea maps, so that would be good too even if its is of much lower resolution.
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The amount of visible light data available for the South Pole depends on the orbit of the satellite and the data gathered by the satellite.
Incidentally, J-Track - 3D [nasa.gov], NASA's realtime Java-based satellite tracker, lists only three LANDSAT satellites in orbit: LANDSAT 4, LANDSAT 5, and LANDSAT 7. Although they are in polar orbits, these three gathered only non-visual data. Information about each of these satellites can be
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Landsat data now inferior to, eg, Indian data (Score:5, Insightful)
after using it for years.
For example, in USDA (United States Department of Agriculture),
Landsat images have become essentially unuseable.
The Landsat satellite remaining has been producing alternate good data and striped data.
The data has been very slow (less frequently produced) compared to some Indian data.
The Indian satellite data has been far cheaper until now and more frequent, but must be ordered.
So, eg, data on U.S. geographic sites on specific dates does not exist unless ordered.
This is understandable when you realize how much disk space would be consumed
and that Indian satellites make much more fequent passes than Landsat
For almost half a century, the U.S. had a lead in space,
almost solely from its efforts in the 1960's.
On numerous fronts, this is no longer true.
Indeed, it can no longer be true.
The United States stocks its legislature with lawyers, not engineers.
The President stocks its agencies heads largely with lawyers, not engineers.
For example, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration was first headed in the 1890's by
an engineer, and similarly reputable people until about 1976.
That agency puts a picture of its heads and primary qualification on a wall.
For a few decades now, that agency's heads have been outrages to technology.
One head's picture puts his qualification as "football player".
Then there are the many heads that are lawyers.
Indeed, in the super agency, U.S. Department of Transportation,
a few years ago lawyers came to line management positions,
lawyers who thought so much of themselves that they actually demoted (including less salary)
numerous engineers.
After a few years, this egregious act was reversed,
but that act merely reflects a great deal of what has become the U.S. Federal Government.
For example, a sample of Federal Agencies' libraries reveals that
its libraries (USGS, USDOT, USDA,
Its as if the need for books in Federal Government ceased around 1980.
At USDOT, one researcher sought a book that detailed regulations that it set for vehicles.
That book was in a library, a locked room with no open hours.
The telephone number on that library's door led to no-one with a key.
Finally, someone was found with a key to the library,
but the book, produced by USDOT no longer existed,
and the only hope of a copy now lie in the hands of a contractor.
The U.S. government once provided some good service.
Its vast expenditures guaranteed that, amongst its enormous expenditures, something good
would get produced.
My impression is that the last quarter century has greatly reduced that amount of good
coming out the the U.S. Federal Government.
How can a government spending several trillion dollars a year,
spend but about $25 billion on space technologies,
and then manage to hobble even that?
How can a nation that had engineering marvels,
now produce but about 50,000 engineers a year.
This is about the same number produced by the little country of South Korea.
Japan, with less than half the U.S. population, produces twice as many engineers.
India produces somewhere between 100,000 and 400,000 (according to one Indian entrepreneur)
engineers. China produces several times more engineers than the U.S.
A country does not advance using air-in-its-head; it advances using something more tangible.
The U.S. is massive (in area, population, and resources), but has put itself on a diet.
It's shedding engineers, scientists, and technology like Landsat.
Re:Landsat data now inferior to, eg, Indian data (Score:5, Informative)
The reason the Indian and Chinese numbers are so ridiculously inflated is that they boost their counts by considering everyone who does something even slightly technical, including things like small engine repair, to be an "engineer". Partially this is because of problems in translation -- the article mentions that the word "Engineer" doesn't translate well to Chinese, for example.
In contrast, in the U.S. the title "engineer" is very specific and refers only to a few specializations that require an advanced degree -- in fact, most states require licensing (with very difficult tests) and several years of experience working under a P.E. (Professional Engineer) before a person can technically call himself one. Here we're not discussing "software engineers" but REAL engineers -- i.e. people who work with physical engineering, i.e. mechanical, civil, and electrical engineers.
So relax about THAT at least. We produce just as many ACTUAL engineers as anyone else, even if we don't give them jobs when they graduate.
As far as some of the other things you mentioned, well, what you're describing is the general state of civil service itself. The lawyers HAVE taken over, and they DO only respect other lawyers. As most Americans know (or at least suspect) our current federal government is a "great big pile of dumb" (in the words of a guy I used to work with).
Things are better (somewhat) at the state level. Try New York; we've got our heads screwed on straight.
Hah....engineers! (Score:1)
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All official U.S. counts use the official U.S. definition. This was the point I was making. WE count ACTUAL ENGINEERS. China and India count all sorts of other people who are NOT engineers.
Anyway, there is, technically, an engineering discipline called "systems engineering" but it usually applies to factory layout and as
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A Washington Statistical Society presentation last year went into great detail why
one agency, after using Landsat for 20 years, had belatedly ceased using Landsat.
You didn't mention which agency you worked for that is dominated by science/engineering managers.
What is the CURRENT background of the "Secretary" [top person] of that department? Lawyer?
NASA, NSF, or a standards agency?
You mention your employer had operations in Virginia,
so I would initially guess you wo
Simple: They've Jumped The Shark (Score:1, Flamebait)
It was once (a long time ago, relatively speaking) the obvious world leader in technical advances, science and research.
This is no longer the case more often than not.
I'm not saying it's dead, I'm not saying all-y'all should mass-exodus like lemmings, but seriously folks - the US of A is getting a little grey and wrinkly these days.
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The shark was outsourced from India.
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Your pointless rant notwithstanding, the leaders in satellite imaging are DigitalGlobe and Space Imaging, both US companies.
Perhaps NASA feels that the money is better spent elsewhre when private comapnies are already providing such a service?
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People are missing the point here... (Score:4, Informative)
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However, a great deal of LandSat _is_ available freely through GLCF ESDI ( http://glcfapp.umiacs.umd.edu:8080/esdi/index.jsp [umd.edu]), with all its bands, and has been for years. So while most of the posters here aren't quite informed, their basic question is relevant: Why is NASA making this new website? I can imagine a few possible reasons.
1. They want to do GLCF a favor by offloading their servers?
2. Maybe they will offer more complete set of LandSat with diff
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Put a bunch of right-wing war-mongering drum-beaters into office, have them rig the election so a moron can lead them, and stock the executive, judicial and legislative branches with the minions of wall street, the fat-cat oil companies and telcos, appoint cronies to sub-cabinet positions who will run roughshod over civil rights, the environment, get rid of insurance and other safety-net items for the middle class, lower taxes on the rich, raise taxes on the middle class, start some wars in foreign countrie
There are world-wide sets of Landsat data ... (Score:2)
Landsat 7 has been ailing for the last four years and Landsat 5 is older than most slashdotters, though still soldiering on (Landsat 6 was lost on launch.) The delay in launching a continuity mission is a scientific crime, as 35 year's worth of continuous acquisition is going to be interrupted -- unless the ailing birds can ke
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Why keep it a secret? It's a great resource, and the more people use it, the more support it will get and the more benefit we will all realize.
Blatant Commercial Plug: I make software for processing Landsat image bands into Natural Color GeoTIFF images [alphapixel.com].
Best Imagery . . . (Score:3, Funny)
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