PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
April 2017
261
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
.
org
E
ducation
and
P
rofessional
D
evelopment
in
the
G
eospatial
I
nformation
S
cience
and
T
echnology
C
ommunity
By Christopher McGinty, AmericaView Program Manager, and Roberta
Lenczowski, AmericaView Executive Director
E
xamining the mission statements of ASPRS and
AmericaView, Inc. (AV) confirms a natural affinity
for advancing imaging and geospatial science through
the educated use of remote sensing observations.
Over the past two years, ASPRS and AV have submitted joint
proposals on education innovation, citizen science outreach, and
socio-economic benefits of remote sensing. AV members rou-
tinely present their applied research and community outreach
outcomes at ASPRS national and regional conferences. ASPRS
professionals often join the AV Fall Technical and Winter Busi-
ness Meetings to share expertise. Not surprisingly, many mem-
bers of the AV consortium are also ASPRS members, active in
both national and regional technical programs.
A
merica
V
iew
B
ackground
Established in 2003, AmericaView, Inc., a 501(c)(3)
organization, serves as a nationally coordinated, university-
based, and state-implemented consortium advancing the use
of remotely sensed data, education, technology, and research
throughout the United States
1
. The AV consortium originated
at a time when satellite imagery was costly, and often difficult,
to obtain. Many AV state members, known as StateViews
(SVs), focused early funding awards on procurement of
remotely sensed data and the development and management
of independent data archives. These archives provided free or
low-cost access to remotely sensed imagery and some derived
information for academia, state and local governments,
non-government organizations, and some companies. The
availability of the archives fostered educational and outreach
programs that, in turn, encouraged the use of remotely sensed
data and facilitated the transfer of related technology to the
public and private sectors. In 2009, when Landsat data became
freely accessible through the USGS, the emphasis on state or
community archives of satellite imagery and data became less
dominant although still highly valued in areas of less robust
communication infrastructure or during crises response
efforts. SVs have shifted attention to high impact activities
(HIAs) that optimize community use of remotely sensed data
for state and local needs through the AV program of education,
outreach, applied research, and technology transfer.
The evolution of the AV program, and the trend of
PE&RS
articles, clearly reflect that the increase of freely available
remotely sensed data has exposed an upwelling of needs and
rapidly expanded the scientific study and practical use of
Landsat and other remotely sensed observations and data.
The socio-economic benefits are invaluable. In 2012, based
on a Booz-Allen study, the USGS assessed the economic
value of Landsat data: “monitoring land use change, wildfire
analysis and management, emergency/disaster management,
monitoring coastal wetlands, climate change adaptation, and
agricultural forecasting and management is estimated at
$1.7 billion/year.
2
“ An additional value was estimated to be
$400 million/year in the international venue. This exponential
growth in the dependency on Landsat data increased national
interest in AV and the goals and mission of the consortium.
In 2013, AV was the recipient of its second competitive five-
year grant through the USGS Land Remote Sensing (LRS)
Program, which enabled the AV consortium to expand to 39
active members by 2016. The USGS grant objective aligns
with recognized needs and available technology “
to promote the
uses of space-based land remote sensing data and technologies
through education and outreach at the state and local level and
through university based and collaborative research projects.
Technologies of interest include multispectral and hyper-
spectral electro-optical, thermal, and radar
.” SVs, within
their local consortiums, realize the grant objectives through
multiple educational and applied research roles. The SVs
further demonstrate the unique value of AV: SVs adroitly
interface between the local and state-level organizations’
requirements for satellite imagery and federal agencies’
design, deployment, and operation of systems for the collection
of satellite imagery. AV has over a decade of experience in
administering programs conducted by renowned academicians
and researchers at major universities and their centers.
With more than 350 associated professionals at the national
and state level, AV has the ability to call upon a significant
breadth of knowledge and skill to address challenges that may
be met by remote sensing. The extensive network also ideally
positions AV to address the USGS award interests: Nationwide
Remote Sensing Data and Information Requirements; Remote
Sensing Applications; Undergraduate and Graduate Research;
Education and Training; Technology Transfer; and Outreach.
Detailed information describing AV’s impact in each of these
interest areas can be gathered from the annually published
fact sheets prepared by each SV. Two initiatives that can
involve all
PE&RS
readers have similar acronyms, EOD and
EODN, but quite different objectives.
Earth Observation Day (EOD) is a Science, Technology,
1 AmericaiView, Inc.
.
2 Moderate Resolution Imagery in Improving Decision-Making, URL:
Booz Allen Hamilton (last date accessed 1
March 2017).
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 83, No. 4, April 2017, pp. 261–262.
0099-1112/17/261–262
© 2017 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.83.4.261
