Public Use of Earth and Space Science Data Over the Internet
NASA's Digital Library Funding Program
NASA repositories of Earth and space science data are a source of information
of interest to general public, especially in the areas of environmental
monitoring, education and lifelong learning. This information has so far been
largely unavailable to the general public due to lack of infrastructure and
access technologies.
NASA Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications (IITA) program aims
to accelerate development of technologies and applications that make it
possible for the public to obtain NASA information of interest via the National
Information Infrastructure (NII). NASA IITA program addresses all four
elements of the IITA component of High Performance Computing and Communications
(HPCC) with special emphasis on the Digital Libraries and Education and
Lifelong Learning national challenge applications.
In order to accommodate the public need for Earth and space science data, while
at the same time stimulating research and development in the private sector,
NASA's IITA program solicited proposals via a Cooperative Agreement Notice
(CAN) entitled "Public Use of Earth and Space Science Data Over the Internet."
Proposals for cooperative agreements were sought for research and development
of digital library technologies, for development of innovative applications of
remote sensing data targeted to users outside the traditional user communities,
and for a Remote Sensing Public Access Center. Cooperative Agreements are a
relatively new funding vehicle designed to enhance collaboration among
government, academic and industrial partners. The response to the CAN was
enthusiastic. More than 350 proposals were received from private industry,
academic institutions, and state and federal government agencies.
Twenty-six teams, comprised of members from private industry, academic
institutions and government agencies, have been selected for awards totaling
$37 million.
Selected teams in the digital library technology area will address problems
related to: data compression and transmission techniques, search engines for
content-based queries, enhancements to the popular World Wide Webbrowser,
Mosaic, scalability and interoperability, and access to Internet over cable
television.
Selected teams in the applications domain will develop applications pertaining
to forestry, agriculture, tourism, museums, and "info-tainment," television and
education. In addition, several proposals provide access to data available on
the Internet to promote student inquiry into the Earth as an integrated system.
These projects improve access to educational materials by all students and
teachers, irrespective of the physical locations of their school.
The IITA program has established a Remote Sensing Public Access Center in
Fairmont, WV to coordinate, test and facilitate access to the products and
services developed under the Cooperative Agreements. NASA is also a cosponsor
of the NSF/ARPA/NASA Joint Initiative on research on digital libraries.
The homepage for the set of projects for developing Digital Library
technologies is
http://sdcd.gsfc.nasa.gov/ISTO/DLT
and the homepage for the application projects is
http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/rsd.
There you will find additional information as well as pointers to all of
the homepages pertaining to the projects. The government-wide High
Performance Computer and Communications (HPCC) Program also has a homepage:
http://www.hpcc.gov.
To join the NASA Digital Library Technologies mailing list, send a request to
Susan.Hoban@gsfc.nasa.gov.
Linda L. Hill
Interagency WG on Data Mgt for Global Change
University of Maryland
College of Library and Information Services
Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences (USRA)
301-286-8875 (Goddard) or 301-345-8904 (beeper access)
lhill@usra.edu
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