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Landsat Data to be Available at No Charge In April, the USGS released a technical announcement, outlining the plan for the release of no-charge Landsat data. Over the next 9 months, they will be opening up the Landsat archive for no-charge ordering. Please see the announcement below for details, and feel free to contact any of the Landsat staff for more information. Imagery for Everyone
RESTON, VA The USGS Landsat archive is an unequaled 35-year record of the Earths surface that is valuable for a broad range of uses, ranging from climate change science to forest management to emergency response, plus countless other user applications. Under a transition toward a National Land Imaging Program sponsored by the Secretary of the Interior, the USGS is pursuing an aggressive schedule to provide users with electronic access to any Landsat scene held in the USGS-managed national archive of global scenes dating back to Landsat 1, launched in 1972. By February 2009, any archive scene selected by a user with no restriction on cloud cover will be processed automatically to a standard product recipe, using such parameters as the Universe Transverse Mercator projection, and staged for electronic retrieval. In addition, newly acquired scenes meeting a cloud cover threshold of 20% or below will be processed to the standard recipe and placed on line for at least six months, after which they will remain available for selection from the archive. Newly acquired, minimally cloudy Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data covering North America and Africa are already being distributed by the USGS over the Internet at no charge, with expansion to full global coverage of incoming Landsat 7 data to be completed by July 2008 (see timeline below). The full archive of historical Landsat 7 ETM+ data acquired by the USGS since launch in 1999 will become available for selection and downloading by the end of September 2008. At that time, all Landsat 7 data purchasing options from the USGS, wherein users pay for on-demand processing to various parameters will be discontinued. By the end of December of 2008, both incoming Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data and all Landsat 5 TM data acquired by the USGS since launch (1984) will become available, with all Landsat 4 TM (1982-1985) and Landsat 1-5 Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) (1972-1994) data becoming available by the end of January 2009. All Landsat data purchasing options from the USGS will be discontinued by February 2009, once the entire Landsat archive can be accessed at no charge. Landsat scenes can be previewed and downloaded using the USGS Global
Visualization Viewer at http://glovis.usgs.gov [under Select Collection
choose Landsat archive: L7 SLC-off (2003-present)]. Scenes can also be
selected using the USGS Earth Explorer tool at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov
[under Select Your Dataset choose Landsat Archive: L7 SLC-off
(2003-present)]. For further information on Landsat satellites and products,
see http://landsat.usgs.gov Pixel size: 15m/30m/30m Kristi Kline, PMP James Lacasse, PMP Rachel Headley, PhD Brenda K. Jones ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In summary based on the emails below and phone calls: - There will be only one recipe (Pixel Size 15m/30m/60m Media Type CD/DVD/Download Output Format GeoTIFF Map Projection UTM only Orientation NUP Resampling Method CC). - When sets of data become free, one will NOT be able to order other "recipes" for those sets of data. - Lower level Landsat products will not be available at this time. I am sure that I do not understand the pressures being applied that resulted in this "solution". If one needs to remap these Landsat scenes to another projection for whatever reason one will have to do what one is not supposed to do .... resample already resampled scenes ... which builds spatial errors on spatial errors. Also there will be no choice for digital analysis but to base them on data which have been spatially averaged. (James Lacasse commented that they did discuss this issue with other scientists ... half said it was no problem, half said it was a problem.) As the messages from Rachel Headley and James Lacasse below request ... please pass along concerns that any have. Thanks for your questions, and your list of comments. Let me see if I can address some of your concerns (and theirs) in some sort of succinct manner. 1. Standard recipe only? True. This will occur as the archive is opened for free. So, for instance, on 30 September when a user can order any L7 scene for free, it will have to be the standard product. Paying for a different recipe will no longer be an option. The same will be true for L5 TM in December, and for L1-5 MSS in January. 2. A lower-level product availalbe? Not at this time. Randy Wynn is partially correct - there is a Level 0 product planned for LDCM, but there has been no direction from HQ on the Landsat 1-7 lower level products. L0Rp products are not simply files to handle, so even if they were made available, we would expect low levels of orders. 3. I did ensure that both LDCM and USGS HQ was made aware of Jim G.'s comments - I actually forwarded his email to both groups for consideration. 4. CC vs. NN. LDCM will not be able to produce NN products, so in order to be consistent across the Landsat 1-7 archive, all Standard Products will be processed with CC. I think that covers the outstanding questions in the email traffic, although
these are bound to raise more. Please continue to pass along any questions
or concerns. The following are copies of some email traffic passing around AmericaView and Purdue concerning the one recipe only: Anyone else see a problem with this scheme? Free Landsat data is nice but the problem we have is that there is only one product "recipe". One can't get the unprocessed level 1 ... ...... Additional comments from emails included here. As promised, here are details on the Landsat Standard L1T products recently announced by the USGS. Standard Terrain Correction (Level 1T) (SLC-off only) The Level 1T (L1T) data product provides systematic radiometric and geometric accuracy by incorporating ground control points, while also employing a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for topographic accuracy. Geodetic accuracy of the product depends on the accuracy of the ground control points and the resolution of the DEM used. The Standard L1T product is a processed dataset that will be available for download from USGS EROS. This dataset will include ETM+ SLC-off scenes that are over North America, have a quality score of 9, and have 10 percent or less cloud cover for data acquired prior to October 1, 2007 and 20 percent or less cloud cover for data acquired after October 1, 2007. The scenes will be processed based on the following parameters: Pixel Size 15m/30m/60m Media Type CD/DVD/Download Output Format GeoTIFF Map Projection UTM only Orientation NUP Resampling Method CC For reference you may find this information on the web at: http://edc.usgs.gov/products/satellite/landsat7.html. As I read through this I see that the text needs to be updated from future to present tense and to reflect the gradual expansion of both geographic coverage and instrument. You noted in our conversation that there is a lot of e-mail traffic in your community regarding the future non-availability of other than standard recipe products. We appreciate it if you will forward any feedback you have or receive
regarding the release of these products, positive and negative, to Dr.
Rachel Headley, who is included on the e-mail list. If you have additional
questions please don't hesitate to call. GIS Lessons Library I thought the first of the following 4 new lessons on the ArcLessons
library at ESRI, on: http://www.esri.com/arclesons might be particularly
of interest to you all if you are using elevation data. 1) DEM: Downloading and Analyzing 2) Analyzing Historic and Current Population in Utah 3) Japanese American Internment 4) Yosemite: First Visits, Lasting Impressions As always, we invite you to contribute to the ArcLessons library! Joseph J. Kerski, Ph.D
Urban and Environmental Modelers Datakit Available Looking for GIS data for the U.S.? 1990 and 2000 census blocks, tracts, places, counties and MSAs
from the Census; All shapefile and raster layers are projected to a common projection (Lamberts Conformal Conic, North American Datum 1983); and all raster layers utilize a common 500-meter grid cell size making overlays, Boolean algebra, and spatial analysis a snap. Each shapefile and raster dataset is located in its own directory, which is then zipped to reduce space. Zipped datasets vary in size from 500 Kb to over 50Mb. Before downloading, users can preview each dataset in a .pdf map, or review the data specifications in an .html metadata file. The data were produced at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) at the University of California, Berkeley; and the Penn Institute of Urban Research (Penn IUR) at the University of Pennsylvania, in cooperation with Penn's Cartographic Modeling Lab (CML). This work is funded by the National Science Foundation under its Human and Social Dynamics Program. Project working papers and links to other projects and datasets will be forthcoming. The data is free, and we invite all interested urban and environmental planners, analysts, modelers and enthusiasts to use it with attribution. To our knowledge, this is the first time spatially comprehensive and comparable urban and environmental GIS data is available on a single site. It is our hope that the availability of this and similar data will further narrow traditional disciplinary gaps between urban and environmental planning researchers/practitioners. Users who uncover problems (Yes, we know "Modeler" is mis-spelled
on the title banner) or might wish to add their own national data to the
website should e-mail John Landis at jlan@design.upenn.edu. Feel free
to forward this announcement to other potential users. Geodesy and Revised Geoidal Height: How High is Mount
Everest Exactly? by Staff Writers Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 map "The historic map was in the news this week because German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially transferred the map to the Library of Congress in a ceremony that took place on Monday, April 30. The map is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is the first known map to depict a separate Western hemisphere, and to identify 'America.' The Library of Congress published an article about the map and its acquisition that is good background reading. (The map has actually been housed at the Library of Congress since 2001, and the purchase - from Prince Johannes Waldburg-Wolfegg for $10 million - was completed in 2003.)"
(From Directions Magazine, May 3. Copyright 2007 Directions Media) Nikolas Schiller's Aerial Imagery Art "Nikolas Schiller contacted me about an in-depth article that appeared about him and his work in the Washington Post last month. Schiller's art/cartography is difficult to describe - it's one of those "you have to look at it to get the idea" kinds of things. A few words that come to mind: hypnotic, rebellious, weird, surreal, beautiful. Below is a quilt pattern generated using an image of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). As a quilter, this one appealed to me, but it's only one example of the art he's cranking out at a rate of at least one map every other day at The Daily Render." (Excerpted from the April 5 issue of Directions Magazine. Copyright 2007 Directions Media.) Check out latest news and imagery at NASA's Earth Observatory Web Site! http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/ LANDSAT Data Continuity Mission "For more than 30 years, Landsat satellites
have collected data of the Earth... The Landsat Program provides repetitive acquisition
of high resolution multispectral data of the Earth's surface on a global
basis. The data from the Landsat spacecraft constitute the longest record
of the Earth's continental surfaces as seen from space. It is a record
unmatched in quality, detail, coverage, and value." How to solve problems downloading data from the USGS
seamless data server Have you ever received a data extract error message when you are downloading elevation, land cover, digital raster graphics, or other data from the USGS seamless data server (http://seamless.usgs.gov)? There is a wealth of data on the site, and I receive questions every so often from folks who are frustrated when they get so close to downloading but the last step doesnt work. Read on.
First, make sure your popup blockers are off, because the seamless server uses popup windows. Or, do the following: Most software will allow you to hold the Ctrl key while selecting your area to disable the pop up blocker for that instance.
Second, the extract error you are receiving may be due to a conflict
with Internet Explorer and Windows XP service pack 2. 1) In Internet Explorer, go to Tools---> Internet Options --->
Security Tab Also, if you are using Windows XP service pack 2, click on the custom
level button just above the OK button on the security tab. Scroll down
to the downloads section and make sure all three options are enabled. GPS to GIS Resources You might receive some questions in your work concerning the bringing in your GPS points into your GIS or mapping software. Whether you use a full GIS package for this or with "mapping software", the plethora of tools available these days to do this in 2D and 3D modes is truly amazing. These include OziExplorer, National Geographic Topo!, ArcGIS, ArcExplorer, MapTech Terrain Navigator, DeLorme TopoQuads and TopoUSA, EasyGPS, USA PhotoMaps, TopoFusion, and more. Some are free; and some you pay for, but the cost may be worth it. Some are even web based these days - for example, see www.gpsvisualizer.com where you can map your GPS coordinates on a web-based map! I recently borrowed and read the book "GPS Mapping: Make Your
Own Maps." GPS Mapping: Make Your Own Maps The author has a companion web site with examples of output from these
various tools, and much more, on: http://www.makeyourownmaps.com ASPRS GUIDE to LAND IMAGING SATELLITES
The latest version of the ASPRS GUIDE to LAND IMAGING SATELLITES, developed by Bill Stoney, is now available at http://www.asprs.org/news/satellites/
This version provides the most recent information on land imaging satellites and replaces a version which was distributed at the most recent Pecora 16 Conference in Sioux Falls. It contains a correction to the Satellite Launch data list, which was in error in the printed copy distributed at Pecora. If you have questions and/or comments, please contact Bill Stoney directly at Wstoney@mitretek.org. In its overview of Earth Observation Satellites, the Environmental Remote Sensing Center at the University of Wisconsin maintains separate files for past, current, and future Earth observation satellites. The tables include satellite names with hot links; the year of launch; and sensors, number of channels, and spatial resolution. Update frequency is listed on the web site. (from http://caryandassociates.com with permission.) GIS Training and Reference Sheets for ArcGIS 9 Three common questions many new (or even long time) GIS users often have are: - How can I take a map image (scanned or from the web or elsewhere) that
is not geo-referenced and make it line up correctly with other maps in
my GIS?
Also available: "Free GIS Layers on the Web:" Worksheet from
May 2006 course
More information at www.gistrainingsource.com We welcome your contributions to
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