Exploding Imagery Market Places New Demands on Image Management Systems
By Rachel Rogers

Today we are producing more digital imagery data than ever before. Aerial and satellite imagery continues to grow, offering terabytes of purchasable data. As imagery explodes in the earth imaging industry, the management of the geo-imaging data can become an image management nightmare. Managing large quantities of digital images is a critical problem facing today's photogrammetric production shops. This image data may include traditional scanned aerial images and satellite images, as well as related raster products such as Digital Terrain Modules (DTM) and Digitized Raster Graphics (DRG).
      One earth imaging vendor has dedicated the last two years to R&D efforts to address this image management problem. Z/I Imaging has quietly developed a revolutionary technology to address the management and dissemination of large amounts of raster, digital elevation data and digitized raster graphics (geo-imaging data). During this year's ISPRS Congress in Amsterdam they introduced a new technology called TerraShare.
      TerraShare is a modular, client-server system designed to address the image management and distribution problems of geo-imaging producers and distributors. TerraShare provides a system that manages terabytes of geo-imaging data from acquisition to exploitation to storage to distribution. The TerraShare family consists of the following modules:
• TerraShare is the central module of the server-based raster data management system and includes server and client software. This new system provides full tracking and management functions for geo-imaging data and serves as the core for TerraShare add-in modules. The system is fully integrated into Microsoft Windows NT¨ and Windows 2000 so that any operator who can find a local file in Windows Explorer can use TerraShare.
• TerraShare Photogrammetric Manager (PM) allows one to designate storage throughout the production environment for the management of production geoimaging data. The core software resides on a server and tracks data throughout the environment using either Oracle8i™ or SQL Server. TerraShare PM manages terabytes of geo-imaging data and photogrammetry projects in a dynamic environment, while presenting a stable, static view to production operators.
• TerraShare e-geo makes it easy to establish an e-commerce site by projecting TerraShare geoimaging data to the Web. One can publish data for e-commerce activities or distribute project information and data to distributed users.
• TerraShare Software Development Kit (SDK) allows tailoring of the TerraShare environment to create systems that meet specific geoimaging environments.

Managing imagery in today's workflow
The modular, integrated design of TerraShare allows users to address image management and distribution needs within a single environment. This single-environment approach is true whether the organization has one workflow or several different operational flows. With TerraShare, the metadata database is used across all TerraShare modules. Images stored and managed within the TerraShare environment are instantly available for publication by using the e-commerce module. This integrated system allows users to significantly reduce the administrative burden, making data available for publication the instant it is created in the system.
      This new modular product line provides the tools to manage large amounts of geo-imaging data throughout the production environment, as well as making it easy to turn a corporate web site into an imagery e-commerce site. Since every business is unique, TerraShare is designed to allow organizations to implement only the functions that are needed. Begin with TerraShare, and then add the modules needed to address specific problems.

Improving data management
Traditional methods of managing data can involve a manual process such as storing the images for a project on a designated drive, workstation or server. This process can cause several problems such as:
• Fragmenting projects when disk partition space is exceeded
• Keeping the associated metadata with the image data
• Copying data onto workstations during data collection-or leaving data on the server
• Tracking data that is active and providing it to other departments or consumers
• Wasting valuable disk space by keeping multiple copies of the same data
      TerraShare addresses these needs in an organized, easy-to-administer approach. The system provides the tools to automatically track project data across one's enterprise. Even though the data may be located in various physical locations, once it is entered into the TerraShare system it is automatically tracked and then displayed within one static view. This automated system eliminates the time-consuming task of tracking imagery and metadata as it flows through the network.

Automating the imagery management system
TerraShare is not just another networking product; it is a new way of business for the earth imaging industry. TerraShare connects the entire business enterprise and automates the image management system. This automation can have a positive impact on the production environment and significantly reduce project costs. TerraShare immediately reduces the time devoted to tracking data throughout the production environment. Because it automates the tracking of data within the production environment, it will help reduce management overhead. This automated system also increases the efficiency of every person involved in producing the geo-imaging project.
      TerraShare connects the entire business enterprise and automates the image management system, increasing productivity throughout the workflow.
      Because TerraShare is an open-architecture software family that is integrated into the Microsoft Windows Explorer environment, users are immediately productive. Production operators can begin using the distributed image access functions within the first hour of opening TerraShare.

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