instruction manual for trainers - hatfield...

Instruction Manual for Trainers

Recommendations for using the Earth Observation Module of the Nile River Awareness Kit

15 JUNE 2006

Produced by:

Dr. Nathalie Beaulieu (CIAT) Remote Sensing Specialist (Senior Research Fellow) Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

Nile River Awareness Kit i Instructors’ Manual for EO Module

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................. 1

2.0 SUGGESTIONS IN ORGANIZING THE LEARNING PROCESS........ 2 2.1 DEFINING AVAILABLE LOGISTICAL RESOURCES............................................. 2 2.2 DEFINING THE TYPES OF LEARNING PROGRESSION...................................... 3

3.0 SETTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND CONTROLLING ACHIEVEMENTS................................................................................. 4

3.1 INTRODUCTION TO EO TECHNOLOGY ............................................................... 5 3.1.1 Remote Sensing Basics ..................................................................................... 5 3.1.2 Satellite/Sensor Cards...................................................................................... 13 3.1.3 Nile Basin from Space ...................................................................................... 14 3.1.4 Applications ...................................................................................................... 15

4.0 CASE STUDIES................................................................................. 16 4.1 FLOOD MAPPING/MONITORING......................................................................... 16 4.2 AQUATIC WEEDS MONITORING......................................................................... 16 4.3 LAND COVER CHANGE DETECTION ................................................................. 17 4.4 BASIN WIDE MONITORING.................................................................................. 18

5.0 EO TOOLS AND RESOURCES ........................................................ 19 5.1 VISUALIZATION TOOLS....................................................................................... 19 5.2 DATA GATEWAY.................................................................................................... 20 5.3 EO AND GIS RESOURCES................................................................................... 20

Nile River Awareness Kit 1 Instructors’ Manual for EO Module

1.0 INTRODUCTION

This manual aims at guiding educators, instructors or facilitators of a learning process, through the process of using the Earth Observation (EO) module as support material.

The Nile River Awareness Kit (NRAK) was developed for environmental basin managers, decision makers, educators, and local citizens. Its EO Module aims at describing the application of Earth observation technologies in environmental management.

The information contained in the NRAK EO Module can also be used in University or high-school classes on Remote Sensing, geography, geology, or environmental science.

The instructor should encourage an attitude of exploration and discovery among the participants, but should guide them through the process by ensuring that the learning objectives have been met for each of the chapters and topics. This manual is divided into five main sections, including this introduction:

Section 2.0 provides some suggestions in organizing the learning process;

Section 3.0 lists the learning objectives and suggested questions for the “Introduction to EO technology” chapter;

Section 4.0 provides some suggested questions for the chapters in the “Case Studies” section; and finally

Section 5.0 provides an overview of the “ EO Tools and Resources” section.


2.0 SUGGESTIONS IN ORGANIZING THE LEARNING PROCESS

As we mentioned before, the educator should facilitate a process where the participants explore and discover the content of the module themselves, while guiding the learning. However, the time available and the availability of computers will influence how the learning process can be organized.

2.1 DEFINING AVAILABLE LOGISTICAL RESOURCES

The logistics will be different for the following distinct situations:

Participants are able to attend numerous workshops or training sessions over a period of time:

This is possible when participants live relatively close to each other and can meet for reflection workshops in between which they can explore the content of the module on their own. The educator should then catalyze their curiosity during these workshops and help them control their learning objectives through a series of questions. He/she can give them homework in between the face-to-face meetings.

Participants are able to attend one continuous workshop and numerous computers are available:

This is often the best way to proceed when participants live in different cities and resources available for training allow them to travel only once. The educator should give an introductory talk, and then encourage participants to explore the materials on their own during a series of one-hour sessions. In between these sessions, he/she should catalyze their curiosity and help them control their learning objectives through a series of questions. He/she can give them small assignments during the personal work sessions.

The participants are able to attend one continuous workshop but only one computer is available, which is linked to a video projector:

In this case, participants cannot explore the content on their own. To ensure as much interaction as possible between participants and the content, it is recommend that participants take individual turns in exploring the materials in front of the audience. Suggestions and questions by the other participants should be encouraged, and in this case, the educator can also guide the discussions and catalyze curiosity ensuring the learning objectives.


2.2 DEFINING THE TYPES OF LEARNING PROGRESSION

The learning objectives will be different for different groups and individuals, as some will eventually want to develop their own applications while other will only want to gain a better understanding of Earth observation principles and applications. The order in which the materials should be covered depends on the particular interest of the group. The progression can be:

Linear:

Participants look at the four sections in sequential order to learn (Introduction to EO Technology), apply (Case Studies), test (Test Your Knowledge) and explore (EO Tools and Resources). All of the topics of one section are studied before starting a new section.

Application-driven:

The “Case Studies Section” is studied first, and for each case study, a series of questions are asked about the technical concepts and physical principles allowing these applications. To answer these questions, participants are guided to the appropriate topics in the Introduction to EO Technology module. If the learning is to be conducted in various sessions, each session can encompass one or two case studies.

Non-linear:

Participants can jump from one section to the next, depending on their interests. This is possible for personal learning, but a group process will be more effective if one of the two preceding progression types is chosen.


3.0 SETTING LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND CONTROLLING ACHIEVEMENTS

The diagram below shows the basic structure of the EO module.

EO ModuleHome Page EO Case Studies

EO and GIS Resources

Introduction toEO Technology

Satellite/Sensor Cards

Nile Basin from Space

Remote Sensing Basics

Applications

Air

Water

Land

Aquatic Weeds Monitoring

Land Cover ChangeDetection

Flood Mapping/Monitoring

Basin Wide Monitoring

Data Gateway

EO & GIS Resources

Visualization Tools Open Source SoftwareSample Data

Tutorials

EO Glossary

For each section and topic, the learning objectives and corresponding questions will be listed. For the case studies, we will list the learning questions and, for each one, the corresponding topics in which to find the answers. Learners who wish to have a case study approach should read the case studies first and then read the remote sensing basics, after their curiosity has been sharpened.


3.1 INTRODUCTION TO EO TECHNOLOGY

The introduction to EO technology has four chapters:

Remote Sensing Basics

Satellite/Sensor Cards

Nile Basin from Space

Applications

3.1.1 Remote Sensing Basics

The Remote Sensing Basics chapter contains 17 topics listed on the left-side menu bar, accessible after clicking on the “Remote Sensing Basics” link on the “Introduction to EO technology” home page:


For each of these topics, learning objectives and questions are listed below.

What is Remote Sensing?

Learning Objectives Questions

Understanding the meaning of the expression remote sensing, and that it is probably much broader than what they imagined.

Give a definition of “Remote Sensing” in your own words.

Understanding that Remote Sensing involves many different steps, and knowing what these steps are.

What are the different steps involved in Remote Sensing?

Which steps would you be involved with?

Space, Air and Ground Sensors (or Space, Air and Ground Platforms)


Understanding the difference between a sensor and a platform.

What is the difference between a sensor and a platform?

Knowing which vehicles can be platforms for sensors on the ground, in the air and in space.

Give examples of platforms that are used on the ground, in the air and in space.

Understanding that the applications for the three types of platforms are different and why, and knowing which types of applications are possible from these three perspectives.

What are the types of applications for ground based, aerial and spaceborne remote sensing? Why?

Passive vs. Active Sensing


Understanding the difference between passive and active remote sensing.

What is the difference between passive and active remote sensing?

Being able to label different types of remote sensing as either active or passive.

Give examples of each type.

Understanding the kinds of energies involved in passive Remote Sensing.

Which are the two types of energies that can be recorded by passive sensors?

From where has the Earth received this energy?

Understanding the difference between reflected and emitted energy.

Can sensors recording reflected energy function at night? What about sensors recording emitted energy?

Image Characteristics (or “What is an Image?)


Understanding the meaning of the words “image” and “photograph”.

What is the difference between an image and a photograph?

Are all photographs images? Are all images photographs?


Understanding the difference between a pictorial image and a digital image.

Which are the two ways of displaying an image? How can we convert a pictorial image into a

digital image? How can we convert a digital image into a

pictorial one?

Understanding how colour composites arecreated by combining bands from a multi-spectral image.

How can we display colours from a series of separate spectral “bands”?

What is the maximum number of bands that can be involved in a colour composition and why?

Understanding the difference between colour subtraction and colour addition.

Which are the three primary colours for screen display? What are they for printers?

Satellite Orbits and Swaths


Understanding the difference between a geo-stationary orbit and a near polar orbit.

What is the difference between a geo-stationary orbit and a near-polar orbit?

If a satellite has a geo-stationary orbit, does it mean that it does not move?

Which kinds of satellites have this sort of orbit?

Understanding the meaning and the advantages of the sun-synchronous orbit.

What does the word sun-synchronous mean? Why would we prefer having a sun-synchronous orbit?

What would happen if the orbit was not sun-sun-synchronous?

Could a geo-stationary satellite have a sun-synchronous orbit?

Understanding ascending and descending passes. What do the expressions “ascending pass” and “descending pass” refer to?

What is the relationship between “ascending” and “descending” passes and the two types (“active” and “passive”) of sensing?

Understanding the difference between the length of the orbit cycle and the revisit period.

Define the expressions “length of the orbit cycle” and “revisit period”. In which cases can these be different?

Spatial Resolution


Understanding that the resolution depends both on the IFOV and the sensor-target distance.

Which are the two factors upon which the resolution of passive sensors depends on?

Understanding the concept of IFOV and understanding that it is an angle.

What is the instantaneous field of view? What units do we express IFOV in?

Understanding how the size of a resolution cell can be calculated from the sensor-target distance and the IFOV.

How can we calculate the size of a resolution cell?


Understanding the difference between pixel size and the size of a resolution cell.

How are the concepts of “resolution cell” and “pixel size” different from each other?

How can we make the pixel size larger than the resolution cell? If we make it larger, do we see as much detail?

How can we make it smaller? If we make it smaller, do we see any more detail?

Understanding the expressions of high and low resolution.

What do the expressions “high resolution” and “low resolution” refer to, in terms of size of the resolution cell and amount of detail discernable on the image?

Understanding the concept of scale and becoming familiar with it; avoiding the common confusion between the expression “large scale” and studies that encompass large areas.

How do you calculate the ground to map ratio? On a 1:10 000 scale map, how long would the

representation of a 1 km road be? What do the expressions “large scale” and “small

scale” refer to, in terms of area covered and level of detail? Why are these expressions sometimes confusing?

Spectral Resolution


Understanding the concept of spectral resolution. In what respect are Black and white photographs different from colour photographs? Which of them has a higher spectral resolution?

What is the definition of spectral resolution?

Understanding the applications in which improved spectral resolution can be useful.

What types of application need a high spectral resolution?

Being able to name types of sensors employing very high spectral resolution.

What do we call sensors that have many bands of very high spectral resolution?

Radiometric Resolution


Understanding the concept of radiometric resolution for a detector.

What does the concept of radiometric resolution refer to for a detector?

Understanding the concept of radiometric resolution for a digital image.

Could different spectral bands of the same image have different spectral resolutions?

Which are the two factors affecting the radiometric resolution of a digital image?

Understanding binary numbers. Give a few examples of binary numbers. What would the number 110 be equal to?

And 1111?

Understanding how the number of bits available for data coding affects the number of possible values that are possible to store for each pixel of each spectral band.

What is the relationship between the number of available bits for each pixel and the number of values that are possible to store?

How many values could we store if we had three available bits?


Temporal Resolution


Understanding the difference between the revisit time and length of orbit cycle.

What is the difference is between the revisit time and length of orbit cycle?

What can make the revisit time be inferior to the length of the orbit cycle?

Do swath overlaps increase or decrease with latitude?

Understanding in which applications it is useful to have a higher temporal resolution.

Give four cases when a smaller revisit time, and therefore a higher temporal resolution, are desirable.

Aerial Photography


Verifying if the concepts learned in the “Active vs passive” topic are properly understood.

Knowing that many photos are usually taken one after the other, would you say that photography cameras are active sensors or passive sensors?

Understanding the concept of focal plane. What is the focal plane?

Understanding the concept of angular field of view and its relationship to the focal plane.

What is the angular field of view? What is the relationship between the focal plane

and the angular field of view?

Understanding the mechanism of colour creation in colour photography.

How are colours obtained in colour film?

Understanding the mechanism of colour creation in infrared colour photography.

How are they obtained in a colour infrared film?

Obtain a general understanding of stereoscopy and how it is used.

In vertical photography, why are successive photos taken along one flight line made to overlap? (Give two reasons).

What are stereo pairs useful for, and how are they used?

Obtain a general understanding of the field of Photogrammetry.

What do we call the field of making measurements from photographs? In which types of application is it useful?

Understanding the difference between digital cameras and film-based cameras.

How do digital cameras differ from conventional film-based cameras?

Multi-Spectral Scanners


Understanding the concept of scanning, and understanding the different types of scanning.

For a multi-spectral scanner, what does scanning refer to?

Which are the two types of scanning possible? How do we call the scanners in each case? Give an example of a sensor functioning under each type.


Understanding the concept of multi-spectral. What does the expression “Multi-spectral” refer to? How is it achieved in scanners?

Understanding the difference between a sensor and a detector.

What is the difference between a sensor and a detector?

What does the acronym CCD refer to?

Understanding how detectors work in both types of scanning.

How do the detectors of an along-track scanner differ from the ones of an across-track scanner?

Which are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

Understanding the advantages of multi-spectral scanners with respect to photography.

Which are the major differences between multi-spectral scanning and photography?

Knowing in which part of the electromagnetic spectrum multi-spectral scanners work.

In which part of the electromagnetic spectrum do Multi-spectral scanners operate?

Radar Remote Sensing


Understanding the difference between microwaves and the optical domain.

In which part of the electromagnetic spectrum do radars work?

Do microwaves have a longer or shorter wavelength than light in the optical domain? Which advantages does this imply?

Revisiting the distinction between passive and active technology, now applied to microwaves.

What is the difference between active and passive microwave technology?

Understanding the applications made possible by radar technology .

Give examples of applications that are made easier with radar remote sensing and why?

Why do radar images complement images obtained in the optical domain?

Being aware of the existence of non-imaging microwave technology.

Do all radars produce images? If not, give examples of non-imaging radar technologies.

Understanding the concept of spectral band for radars.

What do the letters P, L, C, and X refer to? Which is the difference between them? Why do the images acquired with different bands

appear different for a same geographical area? Which are the spectral bands used on the

satellites currently in orbit? (See satellite sensor cards)

Understanding the concept of polarization. What does the word “polarization” refer to? Which kinds of polarization are available on the

satellites currently in orbit? (See satellite sensor cards)

Image Analysis


Understanding the concept of target. What does the word “target” refer to in an image?


Understanding the concepts of “analog” and “digital” display, and how colours can be obtained for an image, in both cases.

What is the difference between an analog and a digital display?

How can colour representations be obtained for an image?

Understanding the difference and the relationship between manual interpretation and digital analysis.

What is the difference between manual interpretation and digital analysis?

What are the advantages of each? Can both be combined? Can a computer make the ultimate decision regarding the relevance of the extracted information?

Visual Interpretation


Knowledge of the elements that allow interpreters to detect and identify targets on an image and to compare them with their background.

List the types of elements that allow interpreters to detect and identify targets on an image and to compare them with their background. Give a short description of each.

Digital Image Processing


Acquiring a general understanding of pre-processing functions.

In which stage are pre-processing functions applied?

Why are radiometric corrections necessary? Why are geometric corrections necessary?

Acquiring a general understanding of image enhancement functions.

Which kinds of functions can be applied to enhance (or suppress) certain features?

In your opinion, are image enhancements useful only for visual interpretation or are they also useful for digital analysis?

Acquiring a general understanding of image transformation functions.

Why are image transformations conducted on imagery?

Which kinds of operations are applied? Which types of data are combined in these

operations?

Acquiring a general understanding of image classification and analysis functions.

What is the goal of image classification? (We will spend more time on the subject in the next section)

Classification and Analysis


Understanding the distinction between visual interpretation and digital classification (revisiting concepts seen previously).

What is the difference between visual interpretation and digital classification, in terms of how to identify homogenous groups of pixels or classes of interest?


Understanding the difference between information classes and spectral classes.

What is the difference between information classes and spectral classes?

Understanding the difference between supervised and unsupervised classification.

What is the difference between supervised and unsupervised classification? What is the general approach used in each case?

Deepening the understanding of the supervised classification approach.

In a supervised classification, how are algorithms “trained”?

Deepening the understanding of the unsupervised classification approach.

In which type of classification is the grouping of similar pixels often referred to as “clustering”? Why?

Applications of Remote Sensing


Being aware of situations and applications where temporal resolution is important.

Give a few examples of applications requiring data repeatedly and often.

Which sensor characteristic becomes important in these cases?

Give one example of an application needing an area to be imaged only once.

Understanding situations where multi-sensor analysis can be useful.

Give examples of situations where it is useful to combine images of different sensors.

Understanding situations where multi-temporal analysis can be useful.

Give examples of situations where it is useful to use multi-temporal series of images


3.1.2 Satellite/Sensor Cards

To see the satellites/sensor information, just slide your mouse over any of the satellites listed on the left, and the information will appear on the right side of the screen.

Here, the learning objectives are to simply help you get acquainted with each of these satellites and sensors. We will not have a separate list of questions for each, but a general list of questions, which can be asked for each sensor:

Are these sensors active or passive?

Are they multi-spectral?

In which part(s) of the electromagnetic spectrum do they work?

In which applications sector can they be used for?


3.1.3 Nile Basin from Space

For this chapter, choose a sensor by clicking on its name. A series of rectangles will appear on the map of the Nile basin, showing the location and extent of available images on this CD. If you click on any of these rectangles, the image will appear on the right side of the page with a brief explanation of how it was acquired, and what it depicts.

In the case of the space shuttle, some of the available images were acquire with radar sensors, either the SIR-C/X or the X-SAR, and others are actual photographs taken by the astronauts. To understand why these are different, and why radar images with X-band and C-band are different from each other, consult the topics of “What is an image?”, “Active vs. Passive” and “Radar Remote Sensing” in the remote sensing basics section.


3.1.4 Applications

For this chapter, select an application domain, which is divided into the three elements, to view a brief summary of the satellites/sensors currently providing environmental information on specific applications. The matrix below lists specific application domains in relation to specific satellites and sensors. Potential uses for a satellite/sensor are indicated by the blue dots while orange dots provide a detailed description of operational services or studies.

In the case of certain applications (e.g., wetland and land use/cover applications) there are numerous satellites/sensors capable of providing useful information. What are the technical factors that allow satellites/sensors to overlap in this capacity? Keep in mind the following questions: What is the spatial coverage of the satellite/sensor? What is the spatial resolution? What portion of the electromagnetic spectrum does it operate in? To understand the different technical capabilities of different satellites/sensor, consult the “Satellite/Sensor Cards” chapter.


4.0 CASE STUDIES

4.1 FLOOD MAPPING/MONITORING

Questions Where to Find the Answers

Why is it useful to understand flooding dynamics? Who could make better decisions with this knowledge?

Look in this case study and in the Applications topic, under Water and Flooding

Which satellite/sensor is used in this study? Is the sensor active or passive? Is it microwave or does it work in the optical domain?

Look at the satellite/sensor cards, at the topic Active vs. Passive, and at the topic Microwave Remote Sensing

What are the physical principles allowing to distinguish flooded areas from surrounding areas? Why are flooded areas so dark?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Microwave Remote Sensing, look for the sub-topic entitled Specular Reflection vs. Diffuse Scattering

What image processing technique is used to “segment” the image, to separate the dark areas from the lighter ones? Which parameter must be determined by the user in order for the algorithms to conduct the separation?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Classification and Analysis, look for the sub-topic on Density Slicing

What is image speckle and how is it removed? Why does it need to be removed?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Microwave Remote sensing, look for the sub-topic on Speckle And under Image Analysis, look for the topic on Speckle Reduction

After image segmentation, which techniques are used to generalize the classification? Why is this useful? How does a majority filter work? Before this is applied, why do isolated pixels of classified “flooded areas” end up in the mainland, and pixels of “non-flooded” end up in the flooded areas?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Classification and Analysis, find the sub-topic on Generalization of Classifications

Why was a digital elevation model from the SRTM used for the geocoding of the images?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Microwave Remote Sensing, look for the sub-topic on Relief Displacement

4.2 AQUATIC WEEDS MONITORING


Why is it useful to understand the dynamics of water hyacinth infestation? Who could make better decisions with this knowledge?

Look in this case study

List the satellites/sensors used in this study. For each, answer the following two questions: Is the sensor active or passive? Is it microwave or does it work in the optical domain?

Look at the Satellite/Sensor Cards and in the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” look at the topic “Active vs. Passive”, and at the topic “Microwave Remote sensing”


For the multi-spectral images of the optical domain: What are the physical principles allowing to water hyacinth areas from surrounding areas? How would they be recognizable by visual interpretation on a colour composite display of the images?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under look at the topic Electromagnetic Spectrum, in the sub-topic on the Reflectivity of Different Components of Landscapes Look at the topic of Visual Interpretation, in the sub-topic on Interpreting Multi-spectral Imagery

For the radar imagery, what is the physical principle allowing water hyacinth to be distinguished from standing water? Why are the ship wakes and waves classified as potential hyacinth in the first classification? What other features can also be confused with water hyacinth?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Microwave Remote sensing, look for the sub-topic entitled Specular Reflection vs. Diffuse Scattering

For the radar imagery: What image processing technique is used to “segment” the image, to separate the dark areas from the lighter ones? Which parameter must be determined by the user in order for the algorithms to conduct the separation?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Classification and Analysis, look for the sub-topic on Density Slicing

After image classification or segmentation, which techniques are used to generalize the classification? Why is this useful? How does a majority filter work?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Classification and Analysis, find the sub-topic on Generalization of Classifications

4.3 LAND COVER CHANGE DETECTION


Why is it useful to understand the dynamics of land use and trends in agriculture? Who could make better decisions with this knowledge, and which decisions can be improved?

Look in this case study, especially in the conclusion

List the satellites/sensors used in this study. For each, answer the following two questions: Is the sensor active or passive? Is it microwave or does it work in the optical domain

Look at the Satellite/Sensor Cards, and at the topic Active vs. Passive

Which were the image analysis techniques used to classify the images? Why can agricultural areas be distinguished from surrounding areas?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Electromagnetic Spectrum, in the sub-topic on the Reflectivity of Different Components of Landscapes Look at the topic of Visual Interpretation, in the sub-topic on Interpreting Multi-spectral Imagery

After image classification or segmentation, which techniques are used to generalize the classification? Why is this useful? How does a majority filter work?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under “Image classification”, find the sub-topic on Generalization of Classifications

How are changes identified between classifications? Look in this case study

Why is accurate geometric co-registration so important in this type of analysis?



4.4 BASIN WIDE MONITORING


Why is it useful to understand the dynamics of vegetation? Who could make better decisions with this knowledge, and which decisions can be improved?


Which satellite/sensor is used in this study? (note: the sensor used for the analysis is different than the one used to prepare the location maps) Is the sensor active or passive? Is it microwave or does it work in the optical domain?

Look at the Satellite/Sensor Cards, and at the topic Active vs. Passive

What is the NDVI? How is it calculated? What are the physical principles underlying the fact that the NDVI increases with chlorophyll activity?

In the full CCRS tutorial found in “Remote Sensing Basics” under Electromagnetic Spectrum, in the sub-topic on the Reflectivity of Different Components of Landscapes

What operations are conducted on the image to depict changes with respect to the 2000 image?



5.0 EO TOOLS AND RESOURCES

The remaining sections “EO Tools and Resources” and “Test Your Knowledge” have been organized to allow participants to explore these sections on their own. With the exception of “Test Your Knowledge” the remaining topics provide additional EO and GIS resources to allow participants to explore various manuals, tutorials and other sources of information from other organizations.

5.1 VISUALIZATION TOOLS

Provided on the NRAK disc is OpenEV; a simple to use and powerful geospatial toolkit that will enable a user to begin view and analyze EO and vector geospatial data. It is an open source application created by the software development community. In addition, this section contains various sample data sets to facilitate visualizations of different sensors. All data sets provided can be viewed with the OpenEV software provided.

The first page following the OpenEV page describes the software available from the European Space Agency (ESA). This suite of software tools caters mainly to ENVISAT data users and can be downloaded free from ESA websites, but can CD-ROM copies can also be obtained from ESA’s TIGER help desk. An e-mail address for the help desk is provided.

Finally, a list of other software packages that can be used to visualize and analyze spatial information is provided. Many of these are evaluation versions of full software suites, while some are free open source software packages that can be used in day-to-day work flow. Although these resources are freely available on the Internet, they vary in size and some may take some time to download.

Furthermore, the main GIS and image processing software vendors are often willing to provide evaluation licenses of software packages, so if you think that your department or group will benefit from access to professional software, it is often advisable to try the different packages out before purchasing one. Contact your local software providers/distributors to discuss access to an evaluation license.

If training is going to include any of this software, it is best to request download software/ order CD-ROMs and complete installation ahead of time in order to allow time for delivery and proper installation.


5.2 DATA GATEWAY

The Data Gateway provides resources that are intended to advise and guide new users in the identification and acquisition of EO data for their work and research.

The first section provides insights and advice that is aimed at assisting new users to acquire data. It provides tips and suggestions for image selection and purchase before listing numerous websites and image catalogues that can be used to identify potential image data.

Following this is a brief overview of the CEOS TIGER Initiative, with which the NRAK is aligned. Links are provided to both the ESA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) TIGER websites. Finally, an overview of available information networks is provided. This table summarizes global spatial information networks by thematic and geographic focus, with links the network portals. Many of these networks facilitate access to spatial data and metadata that can be used in analysis and mapping exercises. These networks are also a good source of data that can be used for training exercises and it is advisable to explore them thoroughly before developing a training course.

5.3 EO AND GIS RESOURCES

The final chapter of EO Resources and Tools provides reference materials and tutorials that can be used to enhance and expand training activities. Again, it is advised that a thorough exploration of these sources is completed in advance of a train activity. A great deal of time has been spent by these agencies, compiling education and informational materials that you can use directly in your training activities.

The reference materials range from sensor handbooks to links to online scientific journals where you can read about the latest advances processing and analysis. Through the kind cooperation of a number of organizations, access is also provided to tutorials created by the Canadian Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS - the basis for the Remote Sensing Basics chapter), NASA and the American Museum of Natural History. You will find all of these materials useful if you decide to expand your course, curriculum or seminar content beyond the information provided in this version of the NRAK. Although a full glossary of terms is provided with the NRAK, including all EO references, access is also provided to several remote sensing glossaries that include many more technical and domain specific terms.

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