Americaview’s Panel Discussion on Landsat Needs Assessment During the 2014 ASPRS Annual Conference

Following the successful launch of Landsat 8, discussions are underway about the capabilities of future Landsat missions. The US Geological Survey (USGS) is tasked with soliciting input from users in terms of their information needs. On March 26 at the 2014 ASPRS Annual Conference in Louisville, KY, AmericaView hosted a panel discussion that highlighted the value of moderate resolution Landsat data and solicited input for future data needs.

Russ Congalton, Chair, AmericaView Board of Directors

Russ Congalton, Chair, AmericaView Board of Directors, introduced AmericaView and highlighted its various accomplishments. John Crowe, Land Remote Sensing Program, USGS, provided an overview of the Landsat program, and described its value in terms of radiometrically calibrated data, historic archive, and free access to users.

StateView PIs highlighted one or more characteristics of Landsat data from their mapping and monitoring applications. Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne (VermontView) and Rick Lawrence (MontanaView) highlighted the value of calibrated thermal bands for conducting their research on urban heat island and geothermal heat flux of lakes in Yellowstone National Park respectively. Availability of several multispectral images during one or more years was highlighted by Jim Campbell (VirginiaView), Rick Lawrence, and Haluk Cetin (KentuckyView) for applications such as monitoring pest outbreaks in white bark pine, mapping crop growth, and water quality and soil moisture mapping. Brent Yantis (LouisianaView) demonstrated the value of Landsat’s long-term archive through the land cover change analysis of Pecan Island. Ramesh Sivanpillai (WyomingView) described the value of the panchromatic band for improving our ability to map small water bodies. Russ Congalton (New HampshireView) shared his study where spectral information from Landsat bands was combined with high resolution imagery for improving forest cover mapping efforts. Ramesh Sivanpillai moderated this session.

Following these presentations input was collected from those present about: a) the value of Landsat data for their research and educational applications, and b) data characteristics that they would like to see in future Landsat missions. Input collected from this and future panel discussions will be compiled and presented to the USGS.

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

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.

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USGS EROS Image Gallery

The EROS Image of the Week Gallery assembled by USGS is a wonderful resource for educational outreach.  You can browse and download posters that demonstrate how Landsat satellite imagery is used for everything from monitoring natural disasters to detecting anthropogenic induced land cover change.  The images are very powerful and the descriptions are clear and concise.

Earth Observation Day - April 8th, 2011

Last year I posted about AmericaView's 2010 Earth Observation Day, an education and outreach event designed to support K-12 and undergraduate teachers in their use of geospatial science and technology in interdisciplinary STEM education. Building on our success in 2010, AmericaView is hosting Earth Observation Day 2011 on April 8th. The focus again this year is on freely available Landsat data and the many interesting and exciting applications that teachers and their students can use to better understand the world around them. A Very Spatial podcast describing the project provides more detail.

To support Earth Observation Day (EOD) 2011, AmericaView has developed a web site that hosts educational resources and statewide Landsat posters of all 50 states. The educational resources span K-12 from kindergarten to high school, and can be adapted for use at the undergraduate level as well. Lesson plans are provided that feature the use of puzzle games of matching Landsat images, and lesson plans that use Google Earth to explore the land use patterns around schools, including a lesson that introduces land cover mapping. For an excellent introduction to the field of geospatial science and technology, the Geospatial Revolution Project at Penn State Public Broadcasting recently created a series of on-line episodes that teachers can use as background.

We hope that teachers and students find these resources to be both exciting and powerful as a way to introduce geospatial science and technology into the classroom.

Enjoy the event, and let us know what you think.

The AmericaView EOD Team

Accessing Landsat Data and Using it in ArcGIS

With a continuous record of global imagery extending back the 1972, the USGS Landsat archives are a real treasure trove of information.  For a long time Landsat imagery was the domain of remote sensing experts, but with USGS making most Landsat images available online through their Global Visualization Viewer (GLOVIS) the data are now accessible to all.  One of the most common questions I get when discussing image processing to GIS professionals is "How do I do that in ArcGIS?"  Well, if you are looking to download some Landsat imagery and manipulate it in ArcGIS, this video is for you.  It will walk you through the entire process, from downloading the imagery from GLOVIS to generating a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) layer in ArcGIS.