Geospatial information can empower decision-making on "extremely important" concerns in developing countries, such as development andenvironmental conservation, said Susan Wolfinbarger, from the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Global geospatial group to promote equitable data access

Gozde Zorlu

18 August 2011 | EN

A high-level global group promoting geospatial information could help developing countries gainbetter access to data to help tackle issues such as climate change, conservation and disastermanagement.

The UN has set up an expert committee and a programme on global geospatial information management under its Economic and Social Council to encourage international cooperation and establish best practice on the use of geographic data, collected by technologies such as remote sensing and the global positioning system (GPS).

The decision, announced last month (27 July), was triggered by a report earlier this year by the UN secretary-general that concluded that many developing countries have a "serious lack of institutional capacity to harness the enormous potential of geospatial information technologies and to build a sustainable national infrastructure".

There have been several efforts to manage such information, including the Permanent Committee for Geospatial Data Infrastructure of the Americas (PC-IDEA) and the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP).

"But these discussions have been regional in focus," said Paul Cheung, director of the new initiative and head of the UN’s statistics division in New York.

"There is a need for a global platform, for all countries to come together and focus on all of the issues. That is why we have created this committee," he told SciDev.Net.

A key task will be to standardise geospatial information and applications to enable the sharing of data and services across borders.

According to Cheung, geospatial data is increasingly owned by multinational corporations, which sell software and platforms to developing countries that may not have the capacity to know what the best products are or how best to use them. The new committee could help represent developing countries and advise them on building up their national institutions.

"Spatial information and analysis lie at the heart of nearly all major international peace, global health and economic development problems," Mark Becker, a geospatial applications expert at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, United States, told SciDev.Net.

"Having a central committee focused on setting standards for accuracy of data and guidelines for the fair redistribution of data is essential," he said.

Becker added that the new committee could increase the efficient use of spatial information in projects for developing countries, such as managing refugee centres and immunisation programmes.

"If you can easily discover and download data that is critical for your operations and not have to create it yourself you have increased your efficiency," he said.

Geospatial information can empower decision-making on "extremely important" concerns in developing countries, such as development andenvironmental conservation, said Susan Wolfinbarger, from the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"Given the rapid development of technologies such as remote sensing, mapping and GPS, a group of experts on geographic technology is essential to help develop standards for data quality, cooperation and use of geospatial information," Wolfinbarger added.

The first UN high-level forum on geospatial information management is scheduled to take place in Seoul, Korea, in October to bring together countries, international organisations and the private sector.

"But at the end of the day, it is governments that will have to decide on issues," said Cheung.

Link to UN secretary-general’s ‘Global geospatial information management’ report [217kB]

source: http://www.scidev.net/en/science-communication/open-access/news/global-geospatial-group-to-promote-equitable-data-access.html

The 2010 data has more than 200,000 areas in the dataset, 50 percent more than were reported in the 2008 data. Terrestrial protected areas is one of more than 40 map layers already available to view and download free of charge.

CEC latest newsletter highlights the new map layer and also shows the protection level of each of North America’s level I ecoregions. Read it online at:

English: http:/www.cec.org/newsletter/Newsletter_August31_en.html

Français: http://www.cec.org/newsletter/Newsletter_August31_fr.html

Español: http://www.cec.org/newsletter/Newsletter_August31_sp.html

If you would like to receive the Atlas newsletter on a regular basis (normally once every other month), please submit your e-mail address under the “subscribe to updates” section of the Atlas website (www.cec.org/naatlas).

GLOBIO is a modelling framework to calculate the impact of five environmental drivers on land biodiversity for past, present and future.

GLOBIO is based on cause-effect relationships, derived from the literature. To use GLOBIO no detailed species data are needed. Instead, the model uses spatial information on environmental drivers as input. This input is mainly derived from the Integrated Model to Assess the Global Environment (IMAGE).

The current version of GLOBIO, GLOBIO3, focuses on the terrestrial part of the globe. A module for the freshwater aquatic environment is under development (GLOBIO-aquatic). The Sea Around Us Project of the University of British Colombia (UBC) has developed a similar model for marine ecosystems: EcoOcean.

The information under this menu item refers to the current version of the model: GLOBIO3.

To further improve on our website, we would welcome your comments or suggestions (to michel.jeuken@pbl.nl).

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TerraLook permits users to create their own collections of georeferenced JPEG satellite images. TerraLook images allow for visual interpretation and comparison without the need for complicated software. While user-friendly software has been developed for TerraLook to help use the imagery, any program capable of opening JPEGs can be used. The georeferenced TerraLook collections are compatible with most GIS and Web mapping applications. All TerraLook data and software is available at no cost.

Landsat and other satellite sensors have been collecting images of Earth from space for more than 35 years. For the most part, use of this data has been limited to the scientific and land management communities. TerraLook was developed to broaden the population of satellite image users by providing both ASTER and Landsat data as simulated natural-color JPEG images. TerraLook aims to serve user communities who have a need for images of the Earth but do not have technical remote sensing expertise or access to expensive and specialized scientific image processing software. TerraLook Collections consist of readily usable remotely sensed images designed for visual interpretation and are distributed at no cost to the user. TerraLook collections will be of value to anyone who wants to see the changes to Earth’s surface since 1972. Users who have a need to perform digital analysis can acquire the source data. The georeferenced TerraLook product is compatible with most GIS and web mapping applications.

What is the history of TerraLook?

The TerraLook product and software build on the success of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Protected Area Archive project. Originally developed for the conservation and emergency response communities, TerraLook has received support from The Nature Conservancy, the World Bank Development Grant Facility Program’s Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network Connectivity Project, the U.S. State Department, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation’s Amazon Protected Area Network project, and The World Conservation Union.

In 2007, USGS EROS became the operational home for the TerraLook product. JPL continues to serve a major role in outreach, particularly to the conservation community, in the coordination of the development of the TerraLook software, and in the evolution of the TerraLook product. The TerraLook project is a joint project between USGS EROS and NASA JPL.

What is a TerraLook Collection?

TerraLook collections consist of images derived from two satellite imaging programs:

• Landsat Global Land Survey (GLS) images from the USGS EROS archive
• ASTER images from the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center

Since 1972, a series of Landsat satellites has been collecting digital images of Earth. Visit the NASA Landsat and USGS Landsat Web sites for further information about the Landsat Program. The Landsat Global Land Survey (GLS) images were selected from 2.5 million images in the Landsat archive to provide global coverage of the Earth’s surface at four epochs of time (circa 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2005). Images for each epoch were selected for best cloud-free coverage during the local growing season. The nominal pixel size is 80 m for the 1975 images and 30 m for the 1990, 2000, and 2005 images. These images, captured by different types of Landsat sensors (MSS, TM, and ETM+), can be combined within collections to create a time series of images:

• 1975: 1972–1982 MultiSpectral Scanner (MSS)
• 1990: 1984–1997 Thematic Mapper (TM)
• 2000: 1999–2003 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+)
• 2005: 2003–2008 TM and EMT+

ASTER, one of five sensors on the Terra spacecraft, has captured over 1.5 million imaes since its launch in 1999. To learn more about ASTER, visit the ASTER Web site hosted at NASA JPL. TerraLook images can be derived from any image in this archive from early 2000 to the present to provide the most recent images captured at twice the resolution (15 meters) of the best Landsat sensors.

The TerraLook images are bundled with image footprint and metadata files that describe the images and the collection. The image footprint files delineate the image boundaries so the image location can be easily seen, and the metadata files contain variables that describe the sensor, acquisition time, and the name of each image file. The image footprints are stored as industry-standard GIS shapefiles. The image and collection metadata are stored in standards-compliant XML files. TerraLook products consisting of images, footprints, and metadata are bundled zip files.

A TerraLook collection can consist of any combination of images from these ASTER and Landsat GLS datasets. A common use is the study of Earth over time, however many users simply want an image of their area of interest. A typical choice is a collection through time for one or more cities or parks, or for a region or country, but a collection can also consist of images from one sensor for a larger area within the same time period. The selection of images is completely up to the user.

In addition to the custom collections you can create, Archived Collections from locations around the world have already been compiled, providing an easy way for you to get acquainted with the imagery without first having to make selections: merely download the zipped file.

What is a TerraLook Image?

TerraLook images have many advantages. The JPEGs are compressed about 12:1, making them quick to download. Simulated natural color makes the imagery easy to understand by a wide range of users. The algorithm used to process TerraLook images permits the creation of a visually consistent time series from the earliest Landsat sensor launched in 1972 to the currently orbiting ASTER and Landsat sensors.

TerraLook images are a simulated natural color rather than a "true" or "natural" color image. True- or natural-color images are created from blue, green, and red light. Most satellite sensors do not collect data in the blue spectral band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Even when a blue band is available, the blue light, as seen from space, is scattered by atmospheric moisture (the reason for blue skies) creating a very noisy blue band, particularly in humid areas. Most satellite sensors collect near-infrared (NIR) data, which is sensitive to the health of vegetation. In response to the lack of a blue band and the availability of an information-rich NIR band, most satellite images are viewed using some combination of visible and infrared data. TerraLook images use the bands derived from the red, green, and NIR bands collected by Landsat and ASTER sensors
with the algorithm described below to form a simulated natural-color image.

Red = Red

Green = 2/3 Green + 1/3 NIR

Blue = 2/3 Green – 1/3 NIR

The synthetic green band is enhanced through the addition of information from the vegetation-sensitive NIR band. The synthetic blue is created from the spectrally-most-similar green band with the vegetation information suppressed.

TerraLook images are georeferenced with industry standard world files, which makes them suitable for use in most Geographic Information Systems, image processing systems, and Web mapping applications. Just as important, the images can be viewed in any software that can read and display JPEG images; this includes most Web browsers, word processors, and graphics packages. Pixel size is in decimal degree equivalent at the center of the image of the source image or approximately 111,200 meters per degree at the equator. GLS 1975 has 60 meter (0.00054 degrees latitude) pixels; GLS 1990, 2000, and 2005 have 30 meter (0.000270 degrees latitude) pixels; and ASTER has 15 meter (0.000135 degrees latitude) pixels. Pixel size along longitude can be roughly estimated by pixel size along the latitude / cos(latitude) at the image center. As a consequence, TerraLook image pixels are not square. To display correctly in image display applications that cannot handle rectangular pixels, TerraLook images must be stretched by the ratio of the x and y pixel sizes.

What is TerraLook Software?

TerraLook Software is a bilingual (Spanish and English), open-source product designed for use with TerraLook Collections. The easy-to-use software allows you to view, compare, and annotate TerraLook imagery. TerraLook Software displays the image footprints, allows images to be viewed by selecting an image footprint, and manages each Landsat epoch and ASTER archive separately, making it easy to study Earth through time and to construct virtual mosaics. The images can be annotated to create graphics for meeting or classroom presentations, and vector layers can be overlaid on the images (a vector layer can be overlaid on top of an image to show a point location, a line such as a road, or a polygon such as country boundary). Some vector layers come with the images, and additional vector layers can be created interactively to store interpreted information such as park or urban boundaries, to insert locations of ground-sampled information, or to compare changes in surface features over time. A great number of vector layers are also available via the World Wide Web.

source: http://terralook.cr.usgs.gov/index.php

This marine protected areas tool (www.wdpa-marine.org), created by the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is part of the recently redeveloped World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) – the authoritative and most globally comprehensive list of marine and terrestrial protected areas.

This new system allows users to view information on marine protected areas in their web browser, to visualise them in Google Earth, to download data, to bring together other important data like species and ecosystem information into the same portal and more.

The WDPA-Marine comes as nations, communities and people around the globe mark World Oceans Day – a day designated by the United Nations to raise awareness of the current challenges faced by the international community in connection with the oceans and to seek solutions such as those offered through the establishment of marine protected areas.

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With the Geoportal extension, you can

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