Imagery

Reading and Interpretation of Air Photographs and Satellite Images

Goals of this lab session: [see related document]

This exercise has three parts. Please work with the three segments and return this worksheet to the instructor (TA) by the end of the session.

List students in group (about 4 per table)

1. Look up some images on the Web:

Pick two of the following services:

• MIT orthophoto service (limited to Boston, zooms in to 0.5 m)
• Terraserve (a Microsoft service, might work best with Explorer...)
• SPIN-2, source for 2m photographs from Soviet spy satellites
• EarthRISE, a server of pictures taken out the Shuttle window (zoom in a LOT)
• National Air Photo Program (EROS Data Center)
• Thurston County GIS, interactive mapping service, turn on airphoto button (limited to Turston County), pick a place by street address (if you know one). Zoom in A LOT.
• Landsat 7 Archive; samples to browse; extent of coverage (still in early phases); (notice this platform is in the public domain) ; the kind of "glitches" they worry about...
  • Insets preselected for
    • Pyramids of Giza (in 15 m panchromatic)
    • Portland, Oregon ; full resolution over airport and Vancouver, WA

Questions:

A.What kinds of features can you see at the various resolutions?

B. How does the interface work?

Site 1: _______________

Site 2: _______________

2.Uses of satellite imagery:

Pick one (or find one):

Ocean data: (sea elevation measurement from TOPEX-Poseidon)

The El Nino/La Nina cycle (1997-99 series)

Pick one of the sites at Earthshots.

Go to NASA and follow your interests (get lost?)

A. Nothing special here, just nose around and see how imagery gets used in science...

Comments?

3. Air Photos of Ship Canal (1 August 1977)

This series has been broken into clips with at least four full-color images.

Arrange these in sequence along the flight line.

Observe the detail present...

A. Attributes: what kind of land use map could you make from this source?

B. Geometry: Use the dividers to estimate the degree of distortion between a feature when it is in the center of the adjacent one.