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The article offers information about ChangeMatters developed by Esri. It states that ChangeMatters allows users to navigate around the globe and to quickly view the Global Land Survey (GLS) Landsat imagery both multi-spectrally and multi-temporally and to conduct simple change detection analysis. It mentions that it offers access of Landsat imagery to both scientific and nonscientific users.

The National Report of the United States summarizes the structure and membership of ASPRS since the XX Congress in Istanbul Turkey, Following a brief introduction, the report provides an overview of the ASPRS structure and membership, reviews Society publications, and summarizes member services and new initiatives undertaken since the last Congress. The report concludes with a short outlook on the future for ASPRS. Meetings, publications, workshops, and member services represent the primary activities of ASPRS while membership is composed of individuals from private practice, government civil service, and academia. Society membership totals approximately 6,000 professionals who are spread more or less equally among the three membership sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the innovative methods develop by the Furgo EarthData, Inc. on producing highly detail maps of benthic habitats in the U.S. An overview, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Service Center had chosen Furgo to help them on saving and restoring the state's coastal marine habitats and understanding of the causes of change in these habitats. Furgo had used digital airborne imagery Leica ADS4 with one meter pixel resolution, 12-bit National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery. It was revealed that the project has shown automated image classification techniques can be used for successful produce detailed coastal habitat maps.

The article reports on the Landsat program. The program is considered the most successful satellite remote sensing program which is devoted to civilian land remote sensing observations. There are two Landsat satellites which collects moderate resolution imagery of the Earth. These satellites are Landsat 5 and Landsat 7. The Landsat 5 was launched in 1984 while the Landsat 7 was launched in 1999. The family of Landsat satellites provided humanity with standardized and moderate spatial resolutions and multispectral images of the world.

Earth remote sensing has long been considered essential to human endeavors. Beginning with military reconnaissance and evolving to weather, agriculture, environmental, and disaster monitoring, remote sensing broadens our view and provides context for our actions. While the provision of airborne remote sensing data is overwhelmingly a function of the commercial sector, space remote sensing remains predominately the purview of the public sector. Most attempts to commercialize space remote sensing have failed because there has not been a consumer base large enough to finance the enormous fixed costs of designing, building, launching, and operating space remote sensing systems. This paper reviews the business models for remote sensing with a particular emphasis on the Landsat program including its history and its political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the future of moderate resolution land imaging in the U.S. The key parameters of the future of moderate resolution land imaging include the operational nature of future missions, and long term planning. Input from American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) into the policy formulation process is being requested by the Future of Operational Land Imaging Interagency Working Group. After the Hot Topics Session on the future of land imaging at the recent ASPRS Annual Conference in Reno, Nevada, it was decided that ASPRS will conduct Future of Operational Land Imaging Societal Benefits Survey.

A process for integrating remote sensing and spatial data analysis to accurately map and monitor agricultural crops and other land cover in the Lower Colorado River Basin is described. These maps were then used as input into a model that accounts for consumptive use throughout the basin. Water is an important and incredibly valuable resource in this area. International treaties and court decrees dictate water allocation to the states of Arizona, Nevada, and California, and to Mexico. Maps of the agricultural crops with a requ ired overall accuracy of 93 percent for use in the water model were generated from Landsat Thematic Mapper data four times per year. An automated signature extraction process and data exploration techniques were developed to aid in achieving these required accuracies. All maps were subjected toquantitative accuracy assessment, and error matrices were produced to evaluate overall and per-class accuracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article recounts a decade-long quest to define the U.S. geospatial industry and its workforce. Its focus is a milestone reached in 2009-2010, when the U.S. Department of Labor issued descriptions of five new geospatial occupations, estimates of current and projected geospatial employment, and a new Geospatial Technology Competency Model (GTCM). The GTCM identifies the foundational, industry-wide, and industry sector-specific expertise that distinguishes, and binds together, successful geospatial professionals. It identifies 43 "core geospatial knowledge and abilities," as well as specialized competencies related to positioning and data acquisition, analysis and modeling, and software and application development. The paper describes the GTCM's content, the process by which it was developed, and its potential uses, including assessments of how higher-education curricula align with workforce needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]