[ESIP-all] Looking for experts on GeoTIFF, MODIS & Landsat, plus a place to stash a few TB of images.

[James W. Wilson]

Regarding GeoTIFF, GDAL (http://www.gdal.org/) has code and utilities 
that can translate between GeoTIFF and various other formats.

James

-- 
James W. Wilson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Geographic Science
Department of Integrated Science and Technology
James Madison University
801 Carrier Dr. MSC 4302
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
540-568-2757 (p)        wilsonjw at jmu.edu
540-568-8741 (f)        http://www.gs.jmu.edu




On 8/14/2013 11:56 PM, Joe Hourcle wrote:
> It seems that everyone was so helpful in getting the requested
> images to help search for the Schooner SV Niña, that there's now
> issues with actually going through all of the data.
>
> (see Barbara's message, below.)
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.  And Barbara and I might be slow
> to respond tomorrow, as we're both going to be pretty well tied
> up 'til about 2 pm.
>
> -Joe
>
> ps. Yes, that really is my e-mail address.  You can check whois
>      if you don't believe me.
>
> pps. If someone offers you tickets to a Weird Al concert, I
>       highly recommend taking them up on it.
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Barbara Thompson <barbara.j.thompson at gmail.com>
>> Date: August 14, 2013 11:05:21 PM EDT
>> To: Joe Hourclé <oneiros at annoying.org>
>> Subject: Favor?
>>
>> Hi Joe,
>>
>> Would you mind forwarding the following request to the lists that you
>> originally sent the messages to?  You got such a huge response.  Sorry to
>> ask, but I think it'll be quicker if it comes from you because it'll go
>> straight to the people.  If there's any way I can pay back the favor (a
>> stash of Weird Al Yankovic tickets??) I'll be glad to do so.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Barbara
>> ********
>>
>> (Please note that this effort is entirely staffed by volunteers.  Those of
>> you who know me should be aware that I am contacting you as a private
>> citizen - this effort is not associated with my professional activities.
>> - Barbara)
>>
>> First and foremost, I thank all of you for your advice regarding the search
>> for the Schooner SV Niña.   More stories are surfacing of people who were
>> lost at sea for months, and it is very encouraging.  Aerial searches are
>> continuing, and we are receiving support from Earth-observing satellites to
>> provide imagery from the Tasman Sea.   Tim Paynter, one of our team
>> members, has made some videos to familiarize people with the Niña and her
>> crew, and why we find this effort so worthwhile:
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XmK0Rs4nSE
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLDn7fNGvWw
>> (see his Youtube Channel for even more)
>>
>> We have received many messages with excellent suggestions, and we are
>> attempting to follow up on all of the information we've received.
>> Unfortunately, there have been hundreds of emails, so I apologize if I
>> haven't gotten back to you quickly.
>>
>> I am writing you because we are hoping to attract help on three fronts:
>>
>> 1) Tomnod.com has launched a search for the Niña (
>> http://www.tomnod.com/nod/challenge/ninarescue2) and we welcome all
>> volunteers.  However, we are about to receive a huge amount of raw data
>> (several Terabytes) from DigitalGlobe, and we are trying to determine how
>> to make this data available.  All of our funds are volunteer funds, and the
>> sites for which we've gotten price estimates charge per GB of download -
>> which can add up to quite a bit of money.   We have a test data set (1.5
>> GB) already if you want to take a look.  The results of this effort will
>> guide aerial searches and help determine where satellite images should be
>> obtained.  Any advice on how to serve this much data would be greatly
>> appreciated - we only need it for a couple of weeks!
>>
>> 2) We need assistance in analyzing the data.  The images are in GeoTIFFs,
>> and none of our team has experience with that format (I study solar imagery
>> - looking in the wrong direction!).  We are working on attracting feature
>> recognition and information processing experts to analyze the data, but
>> some need us to export the data to a format that's more familiar to them.
>> We welcome help from who has experience with GeoTIFFs and image processing.
>>
>> 3) We've had several people point out that although many Earth Science
>> imagers have too low of resolution to find a 70-foot vessel, the wake of
>> the ship can extend for some distance and may be able to be seen in 250m
>> resolution data.  Any information about the history of the ship's course
>> could be useful helping drift modelers determine the most likely location
>> of the Niña.  However, no one on our team has experience with MODIS or
>> Landsat imagery.  We welcome assistance from anyone who may be able to help
>> with a search of relevant Earth Science data sets.
>>
>> Again, we are extremely grateful for all of the wonderful advice and
>> encouraging messages.  However, our small team is unable to take advantage
>> of all of the possible opportunities.  If you would like to assist in this
>> effort, please let me know.  We are grateful for any time you can spare.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Barbara Thompson
>> on behalf of the Schooner SV Niña search team (updates at http://evxx.com)
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-- 
James W. Wilson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Geographic Science
Department of Integrated Science and Technology
James Madison University
801 Carrier Dr. MSC 4302
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
540-568-2757 (p)        wilsonjw at jmu.edu
540-568-8741 (f)        http://www.gs.jmu.edu