There is no one in any of the surrounding states that are doing anything like this, according to Bleiweiss. Arizona doesn’t have any satellite ground stations for remote sensing. Some remote sensing research is done at Colorado State, where they work with a lot of the same data that NMSU uses, but their interests are primarily in meteorological applications. “Besides meteorological applications we’re interested in getting into agriculture and environmental issues, hydrologic modeling, and dust storm modeling,” said Bleiweiss.
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ET map of a portion of the Mesilla Valley, just below the city of Las Cruces, based on the satellite data from the ASTER sensor on board the NASA-TERRA satellite. |
CARSAME’s data comes from NASA in a real time subscription service, which is automatically shipped on a daily basis. The polar orbiting satellites cover a swath from which they receive information which is approximately 2-3,000 kilometers wide. CARSAME’s ground stations enable them to get information covering the U.S. from Canada to Mexico. “It’s available daily, or with a geostationary satellite it’s available every 15 minutes.”
Ideas for getting funding still abound: an endowment may set it free from having to beg for money every year, but it would probably be a larger amount to begin with. Also EPSCOR is an agency that provides funding for states where the funding from particular agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) is less than the average for the funding for the rest of the states. EPSCOR is designed to provide infrastructure building to allow those states to become more competitive when they go out and submit proposals. “Without this infrastructure you’re kind of in the mode where we are right now,” explained Bleiweiss. “You need something set up and running before you can ask for money to do things.” CARSAME has an NSF/EPSCOR proposal pending to help get their remote sensing center real time operational.
Bleiweiss sees remote sensing satellites as one piece of the puzzle, and the more pieces you have the better able you are to figure things out. “I think we really do understand the issues of real time and operational,” he said. “If you’re not doing things now, it doesn’t do any good to collect information and try to come up with a report in a week or two weeks. You need to get information out to users immediately and you also can provide information throughout the region to people who are doing research.”
In the past, NASA has attempted to establish regional application centers for remote sensing. Bleiweiss said if they can develop an application center for New Mexico, there’s no difference between doing that and doing one for Arizona, and the cost is not significantly more. “There is no reason why we couldn’t share our information with our neighbors. I would hope the usefulness of this information could mitigate some of the cost. This isn’t something only for Las Cruces or New Mexico, it’s for the whole region.”
Visit the CARSAME website
Top News of the Week
Satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe released CitySphere 2.0, an enhanced version of its extensive library of on-demand digital satellite imagery of the most populated global cities. CitySphere 2.0 features the addition of dozens of never-before-available views of global cosmopolitan cities such as Dubai, Seoul and Jakarta, plus city images from less developed geographic regions across Africa, South America and Asia. CitySphere 2.0 also includes integrated aerial imagery capabilities for select worldwide cities, such as San Juan and Edinburgh, where demand for surface-detail imagery is especially critical in evaluating economic development and environmental issues.
Acquisitions/Agreements/Alliances
Virtual Geomatics, a provider of LiDAR solutions, announced that the company has signed a reseller agreement with Sanborn to serve as a reseller to its customers of the VG4D Suite consisting of Production Manager, Data Manager and Viewer.
Virtual Geomatics also announced that the company has signed a reseller agreement with Third Coast GeoSpatial (3cGeo), a Texas based leading geospatial industry consulting firm, to serve as a reseller of the VG4D Suite consisting of Production Manager, Data Manager and Viewer.
Definiens announced it teamed up with Sydney-based Lagen Spatial to deliver highly-integrated image analysis solutions and services, especially to governmental customers. Lagen Spatial conducts consulting business, software distribution and reselling for spatial or location based technologies.
Geospatial Holdings Inc., a solutions provider of proprietary technologies to accurately map and geometrically assess underground pipelines, announced on Tuesday (1 July) the formation of Geospatial Pipeline Services LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.
Geospatial Pipeline Services has reportedly been formed to integrate the company's Smart Probe Pipeline Mapping Technologies with various trenchless pipeline rehabilitation methods. It will offer its specialised pipeline services throughout North America.
Announcements
Pictometry International Corp., a provider of geo-referenced aerial image libraries, whose proprietary technology is used globally to capture oblique image libraries, announced today that it will be holding two day-long Regional Technology Seminars for county officials and government agencies in New Jersey and Pennsylvania involved with Public Safety/9-11 and GIS/assessment.
The seminars, which are scheduled for July 9 (Public Safety) and July 10 (Planning, Assessment, Transportation and GIS), are being hosted by the Montgomery County Department of Public Safety in Conshohocken, PA and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission in Philadelphia. Pictometry Technology Seminars are held throughout the year in several regions across the U.S. For more information on regional seminars, call 888-771-9714.
Below is a schedule outlining the next three ERDAS webinar topics and the solutions featured:
July 16 – Rapidly Connect & Share Your World (ERDAS TITAN)
July 17 – ERDAS IMAGINE 9.3…IMAGINE What’s Next!
For more information about ERDAS or its products and services, please call +1 770 776 3400, toll free +1 866 534 2286, or visit the website.
Adding to existing facilities at Noida and Hyderabad, RMSI has opened a new 7,500 sq. ft. development center at Dehradun in the state of Uttranchal in India. The office is equipped with high-end IT Infrastructure built on premium workstations, servers and storage products from leading solution providers. The new facility is designed to improve efficiencies and to further enhance the services provided by RMSI to its clients in North America.
People
DMTI Spatial (DMTI), a provider of enterprise Location Intelligence solutions, has announced the appointment of Kristina Cleary to Vice President, Marketing. As a member of DMTI's senior management team, Ms. Cleary will be responsible for the development and execution of a strategic marketing plan in support of the company's aggressive growth objectives. In this role, Ms. Cleary will manage overall market positioning including product marketing, marketing communications, corporate communications, and public relations. Ms. Cleary replaces John Sorrell who has been appointed Vice President & General Manager, Mapping Solutions.
New Products
Pictometry International Corp., a provider of geo-referenced aerial image libraries, whose patented and proprietary technology is used globally to capture oblique image libraries, announced today that 34 counties in 18 states across the country have recently purchased the Pictometry ChangeFindr® Suite of products. Coverage from these sales represents more than 3 million parcels nationwide. International ChangeFindr projects in Mexico and Canada are also underway.
Geospace Inc. , a provider of geospatial information and solutions, today announced the release of FeatureObjeX 1.0, a new user-friendly software tool for the automatic and semi-automatic extraction of visual features in satellite and aerial images designed to minimize image analysis time.
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-- Susan Smith, GISCafe.com Managing Editor.
