TerraLook: A GIS-ready time-series of satellite imagery

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Abstract

The goal of TerraLook is to provide satellite images that anyone can use to see changes in the Earth's surface over time. Landsat and other satellites have been collecting images of the Earth from Space for more than 35 years. TerraLook allows users to create their own collections of georeferenced simulated natural-color JPEG images from Landsat (circa 1975, 1990, 2005) and ASTER (2000 to present) at no charge. The simulated natural colors in TerraLook images are consistently processed so that images from these time periods can be easily compared. TerraLook images are bundled with stands- compliant metadata, a world file, and an outline of each image's ground footprint, enabling their use in Geographic Information Systems and Web mapping applications. Different ArcGIS solutions were developed to use with TerraLook Collections. For ArcGIS and ArcGIS Explorer users, project files are available to permit TerraLook Collections to be easily integrated into GIS projects of educational curricula for visual analysis. A Pythion Script is available to extract vector data, such as country boundaries, protected areas, hydrography, and populated places, from global datasets to create extended TerraLook collections. Users can add local data, included ground photography, to the TerraLook Collections, These localized collections can be easily shared. An ArcGIS Publisher tool is provided with the ArcMap project file for publishing documents for use with the free ArcReader application.

Publication type Conference Paper
Publication Subtype Conference Paper
Title TerraLook: A GIS-ready time-series of satellite imagery
Year Published 2009
Language English
Publisher ESRI
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description 14 p.
Larger Work Type Book
Larger Work Subtype Conference publication
Larger Work Title GIS—Designing our future
Conference Title ESRI International User Conference
Conference Location San Diego, CA
Conference Date Jul 13-17, 2009
Country UNITED STATES
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