About NebraskaView

NebraskaView is Nebraska's state node for AmericaView, a nationwide U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) program that focuses on providing easy, low-cost access to remotely-sensed data and promoting remote sensing education, research and applications. Our mission is to ensure that Nebraskans (e.g., state and local agencies, K-16 educators) make the fullest use of geospatial data products (such as Landsat images, digital aerial photographs, and digital elevation data) and technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS).

Announcements/News

New USGS Mapping Products! Nebraska is one of 35 states that now has a completed USGS digital topographic map, the US Topo. The new US Topo maps, which include contours, hydrographic features, roads, and geographic names on an orthoimage base, are available at http://nationalmap.gov/ustopo/about.html.

USGS Historical Topographic Maps for Nebraska are now available for free download from the USGS Store Map Locator http://1.usa.gov/oSPTDv . They are available in a GeoPDF format and can be searched by state name, scale or map name. USGS plans to scan all scales and all editions of the more than 200,000 topographic maps published by them since the inception of the topographic mapping program in 1884.

Lights at Night
"Lights at Night," is an engaging interactive display developed by the Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. Explore images of Earth at night and compare images from 1993, 1997 and 2003 to infer changes in population, energy consumption, energy efficiency and economic activity.

2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers (AAG), Feb 24-28, 2012, New York, NY. Registration is open and a Preliminary Schedule and Program are available at http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting.

Nebraska Association of Teachers of Science (NATS) presentation. PowerPoint of September 30th presentation at Fremont available here.

THE GEOSPATIAL REVOLUTION Penn State Public Broadcasting has released all four episodes of its Geospatial Revolution Series. This documentary series, partially supported by a grant from the ASPRS Foundation, explores the evolution of modern mapping. The first episode provides an excellent general introduction to the role of geospatial technologies in our world today and can be used in both the classroom and as an outreach tool. The second episode consists of three chapters dealing with Creating an Interactive City, Powering Business and Finding a Healthy Future. The third episode, Serving and Protecting, deals with public safety applications, while the fourth episode Mapping Power to the People, identifies the uses of geospatial information in climate change research, global aid allocation, and disease tracking.

Using Landsat data in ArcGIS for NDVI . AmericaView member Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne (VTView) has created a video that shows how to download Landsat imagery from GLOVIS and then stack the layers, change the symbology, and generate an NDVI layer in ArcGIS. Landsat data that was previously seen as unavailable outside the domain of remote sensing experts can now be easily manipulated in ArcGIS using these instructions.

The latest edition of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2006) is now publicly available. This massive database updates our knowledge of the Nation’s land cover and documents precisely where land cover change has occurred between 2001 and 2006. NLCD is used for thousands of applications in such diverse investigations as ecosystem status and health, spatial patterns of biodiversity, indications of climate change, and best practices in land management. 

New Apps for Mac and Windows Now Available. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University has released an App called EarthObserver specifically for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. EarthObserver is available from the Education Category of the iTunes App Store. The app is free for a limited time. With EarthObserver you can learn about our planet’s terrestrial landscapes, oceans and seas, frozen ice caps, atmosphere and clouds, geologic terrains, topography, nautical charts, natural hazards, human impacts, and many other earth and environmental science topics as you travel and explore with your fingertips. GeoMapApp is a free companion application that runs on Windows, Unix/Linux and Mac OS X can be used to display the EarthObserver content, and provide additional content and tools for interactive analysis and graphing. It is an earth science exploration and visualization application that provides access to thousands of data sets, options for importing your own data, and analytical capabilities. (This message is for your information only; no endorsement is being made.)

ASPRS Films. The ASPRS has established a Films Committee to produce video films that describe the history and work of the society. To date five videos have been completed and shown as a part of the ASPRS 75th Anniversary. They can be found at http://www.asprs.org/films. They are also viewable on You Tube under the ASPRS channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/ASPRS.