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USER-CUSTOMIZED ENVIRONMENTAL MAPPING AND DECISION SUPPORT USING NASA WORLD WIND AND DOE GENIE PRO SOFTWARE
Citation:
PILANT, A. N., L. D. WORTHY, D. J. WILLIAMS, AND J. G. LYON. USER-CUSTOMIZED ENVIRONMENTAL MAPPING AND DECISION SUPPORT USING NASA WORLD WIND AND DOE GENIE PRO SOFTWARE. Presented at Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference, Victoria, BC, CANADA, September 24 - 27, 2007.
Description:
Effective environmental stewardship requires timely geospatial information about ecology and
environment for informed environmental decision support. Unprecedented public access to high resolution
imagery from earth-looking sensors via online virtual earth browsers opens new possibilities for public involvement in the pursuit of environmental monitoring and analyses. Remote sensing information products (e.g., land cover maps) derived from aerial and satellite
imagery are crucial to understanding and monitoring the inherently complex landscapes and ecosystems we inhabit. Typically these are produced by trained specialists using sophisticated image processing methods and software tools. However, limitations of this approach include:
challenges to incorporating expert on the ground knowledge of local conditions, time lag between image acquisition and interpreted maps, and suitability of generic land cover
classifications with respect to users' particular analysis needs. Can we put imagery and easy-to-use image processing tools on the desktops of local experts and decision-makers so they can use their specific knowledge to generate customized remote sensing information products? Toward this end, the EPA Environmental Feature Finder project
seeks to improve connectivity between existing data, software and cyber infrastructure, most of which is open source. NASA World Wind virtual earth is used for image discovery, access and visualization. Los Alamos National Laboratory's Genie Pro assists users in performing
automated feature extraction. Together they help user's produce their own land cover and environmental feature maps. This presentation will describe the software, data, interoperability issues and example applications in environmental analysis (e.g., impervious surfaces, vegetation and water-body mapping).