WyomingView workshop highlights the value of no-cost Landsat data for natural resources monitoring

WyomingView coordinator Ramesh Sivanpillai described how no-cost Landsat data can be used for monitoring and mapping natural resources in one of the several pre-conference workshops of the 2013 Geospatial Conference of the West held in Laramie, WY. Participants were introduced to remote sensing basics and data characteristics in order to provide an overview of various data sources along with various advantages of Landsat data.

Landsat data constitute the longest collection of remotely sensed earth observations. Starting 2008, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has made the entire Landsat data archive available to users at no-cost which has created an unprecedented opportunity for monitoring and mapping changes to the earth’s surface features.

Participants were introduced to similarities and differences among data collected by various Landsat satellites and how to search and download them for their area of interest from USGS’ web portal - Earth Explorer (earthexplorer.usgs.gov). More information about Landsat data can be found at: landsat.usgs.gov.

WyomingView conducts workshop highlighting the utility of Landsat data for natural resources monitoring

WyomingView coordinator Ramesh Sivanpillai conducted a workshop at the Cable Center in Denver, CO as part of the 2012 GIS in the Rockies Conference, highlighting remote sensing concepts and the utility of Landsat data for natural resources monitoring.  This workshop introduced GIS professionals to the characteristics of remotely sensed data and how they are collected.  Participants learned how each task required data at appropriate spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions, and the consequences of working with inappropriate data.

In the second part of the workshop, participants learned about the Landsat archive and the value of earth observation data spanning over 40+ years.  Sivanpillai explained the data characteristics of the five Landsat satellites (1-5 and 7), and how these data sets can be used for monitoring changes in the surface of the earth.  Landsat images were used to demonstrate how seasonal, annual, and long-term changes can be monitored and quantified.  Participants learned to browse and download Landsat data from GloVis (glovis.usgs.gov) – a USGS web portal.

Participants were asked to describe how they plan to use Landsat data in their future work.  One of the participants said “After this workshop, I realize that I can use Landsat for my future work in vegetation surveys … Interestingly I also realized that Landsat can be used for business, real estate, development etc.”  Another participant, a University of Northern Colorado student said “…useful when writing geographic papers (in fact before and after map)”.  While others mentioned that they planned to use Landsat data for mapping invasive species, threats to archeological resources, and avalanche forecasting.

This WyomingView educational outreach activity was conducted on 19 September 2012 (http://www.gisintherockies.org/GISITR2012/Workshops/Workshops.aspx).

UW College of Ag personnel and students learn to analyze crop growth with Landsat images

Eleven UW College of Agriculture personnel and students learned how remote sensing technology can help distinguish patterns of good and poor growth in crops.  In a workshop conducted by WyomingView they learned to display and analyze remotely sensed images in ERDAS ViewFinder (EVF), a freeware image viewer.

Participants saw the value of Landsat's infrared bands for highlighting crop growth differences and how reflectance values in those bands can be related to growth patterns (or vigor).  They collected reflectance values of features such as crops, rangelands, water and built surfaces (asphalt roads) to gain insights about how each feature interacted with electromagnetic radiation.

Analysis of crops showed that variability in the near-infrared reflectance (band 4) values of Landsat can be associated with the patterns of crop growth within a field.

Finally, using a measurement tool in EVF, they learned to calculate areas of poor, medium and low growth within a field.  Other sources of satellite and aerial images (SPOT, IRS, IKONOS and Quickbird) for agricultural applications were discussed.


Participants provided the following (anonymous) feedback about this workshop:

• Excellent.  Has peaked [sic] my interest in research applications of this technology
• Amazing freeware.  Almost as powerful as the old ERDAS software I have used
• Great workshop.  I appreciate the background information and all the examples
• Good workshop, very interesting!

This WyomingView education and outreach activity was conducted by Ramesh Sivanpillai on 24 Feb 2006 as part of the annual Wyoming Agriculture Experiment Station's Research & Extension Center Planning Conference.

WCES personnel learn to display and manipulate Landsat images in ERDAS ViewFinder

Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (WCES) personnel learned to work with remotely sensed images in ERDAS ViewFinder (EVF), a freeware image viewing and analyzing software.  WCES personnel can install EVF in their computers and do not have to periodically renew its license.  WCES personnel learned to change Landsat band combinations, obtain pixel reflectance values at specific locations, and compute areas of features such as rangelands, crop fields, and water bodies.

By displaying Landsat images in different combinations (true color, false color infrared etc.), participants learned to highlight vegetation growth in rangelands, crop growth in fields, and differences in water quality.

Some participants suggested that this 1/2 day workshop should be expanded (1- or 2-day workshop) to accommodate more examples, while others wanted to take Landsat data in a portable devices to their offices to work on problems specific to their county/region.

This WyomingView education and outreach activity was conducted by Ramesh Sivanpillai on 23 September 2005.