>From ACM TechNews (
http://technews.acm.org/):"Cloud Computing, Data Policy on Track to 'Democratize' Satellite Mapping
South Dakota State University (03/24/11)
New U.S. Geological Survey data policies and advances in cloud
computing are leading to the democratization of satellite mapping,
which could lead to wider access to information about the earth
through platforms such as the Google Earth Engine. "This is an
incredible advantage in terms of generating the value-added products
that we create for quantifying deforestation, natural hazards,
cropland area, urbanization, you name it," says South Dakota State
University (SDSU) professor Matt Hansen. He says free satellite
images, coupled with the cloud computing capability offered by Google
and similar organizations, is making it possible for ordinary users to
analyze satellite imagery without costly hardware. Hansen and SDSU
postdoctoral researcher Peter Potapov collaborated with Google to help
process more than 50,000 images in order to generate a detailed map of
Mexico to demonstrate the technology's potential. Enhanced publicly
available processing tools will democratize satellite data processing
as more people become engaged in working with the data. However,
Hansen notes that this will entail greater collaboration between
academics, government scientists, and private industry in processing
and characterizing the satellite data sets."
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/574813/-Glen
http://zzzoot.blogspot.com/--
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