| From the Editor
By Greg Thomason Recent News Offers a Mixed-Bag of Encouraging and Discouraging Developments SOS (save our satellite)
If not already under consideration as the "official mantra" for the satellite remote sensing industry, this adapted phrase might well be considered, given recent events. Irrespective of the fate to EarthWatch's EarlyBird 1 satellite, the big losers in the recent spate of ill-fated remote sensing satellites are the existing and prospective end-users of this data. While industry officials calmly claim that what befell Landsat 6, ADEOS, Lewis and, at press time, potentially the EarlyBird 1 satellites is nothing out of the unexpected, investors, when asked to share-the-risk will, in the future, assign an added cost for their gamble. At a time when companies coming into the market are taking every step to keep image costs down, the prospect of more expensive venture capital is counter-productive.
While expectations over the associated benefits of high resolution, multi- and hyper-spectral data run high, the reality is: new markets will not emerge and existing markets will not expand until such time that the imagery is widely viewed by researchers and their findings reported in the commercial trade press. Until such time that several of the scheduled satellites start to transmit data, the potential new uses of this imagery can only be speculated on, leaving an increasing group of disappointed university researchers, consultants, image analysts, and software developers anxiously awaiting the opportunity to use some of the early data from these scheduled 'birds'. And that represents an important component to making the commercial high resolution remote sensing industry viable. In The Press
News Week is feeding the general public with glimpses of the future. In a recent issue, the weekly news magazine gave the masses a look into the not too distant future in its "The Millennium Notebook" department. In a one page profile on farming in the 21st Century titled: "O Brave New Farm, Tilled by Satellite and Robot," writer Thomas Hayden provides a sketchbook view on where new technology is taking the world's second oldest profession. Oversimplified for easy ingestion, Hayden makes a point to mention by name all the key technologies. Car Buffs, Too
Now that Automobile Magazine has published a two-page review on some of the better-known road map software programs available, how long will it take for popular demand to skyrocket? In its "Front Of the Book News" section, Automobile writer Dave Plank takes four programs for a desktop spin. And who were the lucky computer map manufacturers? This first "test-drive" includes, DeLorme's AAA Map'n'Go 3.0, paired with DeLorme Street Atlas USA 4.0; Rand McNally TripMaker, 1998 Edition, and the StreetFinder, 1998 Edition; Microsoft Expedia Trip Planner, along with Microsoft Expedia Street 98; and TravRoute Road Trips City-to-City 1997 and TravRoute Door-to Door 1997. In This Issue of EOM
We're doing our best as well to bring you information on the popularization and uses for GeoTechnologies. In the February issue Anthony Montesano reports on the use of declassified Defense Information Agency aerial imagery, and, more recently, Spot Image satellite imagery that may hold clues to locating an Ark anomaly on Mount Ararat. Decide for yourself whether the lapse in time between the DIA's first acquiring the images and their release, under the Freedom of Information Act, constitutes a cover up!
If simpler is better, then Dave Knopp and John Gerhard's article on the newest software to automate the process for creating image mosaics suggests the industry may just have moved light years ahead of where it was when the process was manual and human error was the norm.
You'll also read in this issue of EOM about a new GPS/modeling software in which the 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts.' According to Mike Michaelson, the potential areas for application expand to law enforcement, the military, commercial airlines, recreation and urban planning.
Thanks for making EOM your source for news in the GeoTechnologies. Greg Thomason Back |
