Imaging satellites go mainstream

This color infrared photograph of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., can be manipulated to distinguish between rooftops, roads, vegetation and other surface materials

August 16, 1999
Web posted at: 4:53 p.m. EDT (2053 GMT)

(ENN) -- Computer software is on track to move satellite-imaging systems from the realm of military applications to everyday farmers, city engineers, real estate developers and school bus drivers.

David Landgrebe, a professor of engineering at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., has developed a computer number-crunching program to process the imaging data to make it applicable to those with little technical expertise.

"The analogy I use is that you don't need to have detailed knowledge of how an internal combustion engine works to drive a car," said Landgrebe.

In the past, interpretation of space-based images has been left in the capable hands of expensive computers and scientists. At such costs, however, the data was utilized only by those with computer access and the intellect to understand the data.

"The idea was to make software easy to learn and easy to use," said Landgrebe. He and his colleagues have posted the software on the Internet and it is there for the taking free of charge.

The newest wave of satellite image technology detects a large range of the light spectrum extending into the infrared and reveals general details about surface characteristics, such whether it is covered in asphalt or trees.

This multi-spectral approach can tell military planners whether the soil type will permit the effective operation of tanks. As well, detailed images of cities could identify the proportion of land covered by asphalt, grass, trees and concrete, information that engineers need to calculate water runoff for designing better storm drainage systems.

The imaging could also be used by bankers to track changing land uses for property valuation, by school transportation officials to plan the most efficient busing routes and by farmers to pinpoint which sections of their fields need the most fertilizer or insecticide.

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