Simpson presented this handout at the 1999 NICAR National Conference. It suggests great web sites to get you started with satellite imagery and geospatial data.

http://eduww.cr.usgs.gov/webglis

The U.S. Geological Survey's EROS DATA Center is the government's primary unclassified intelligence imagery from the 1960s and 1970s. GLIS is the primary index to the collection and is relatively easy to use considering the vast scope of the material. Declassification of certain intelligence satellite imagery from the later 1970s and 1980s is presently underway and will most likely be available via USGS site.

http://gcmd.gff.nasa.gov and http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/daacpages/otherdaacs.html

These NASA sites are gateways to a giant, evolving effort, known as EOSDIS, to link indexes to imagery around the world. The effort is by no means complete and sometimes operates awkwardly, but the sites permit access to a wide range of unclassified U.S. government imagery and scientific data gathered from outer space.

http://waa.saanoaa.gov

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's index of its weather imagery provides high-quality and, often, free imagery of continent-sized parts of earth.

In addition to overhead images of hurricanes and typhoons, it provides the wide-angle imagery necessary to see the scope of forest fires throughout the northern Amazon, environmental crises in northern Africa and similar very-large scale phenomena.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com

This very large data collection combines USGS aerial photography of the continental United States with very high-resolution imagery gathered throughout the world by Russian Sovinformsputnik satellites. The USGS data can be downloaded for free; the high-quality Russian data is offered at a modest cost but is spotty in its coverage.

http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg/crisp.html

This Singapore-based ground station provides an index of imagery collected over Southeast and much of South Asia by satellites from the United States, Canada, Europe, SPOT, Japan and other sources.

http://isis.dlr.delservices/ISIS/ISIS-query.html

This index, sponsored by the German Aerospace Center, provides convenient access to imagery of Europe from several sources, as well as links to other indexes worldwide.

http://www.eurimage.itleinet/einet_home.shtml

The European Space Agency operates this user-friendly index imagery collected over Europe, much of the Middle East and the western territories of the former USSR.

http://www.fas.orglirplindex.html

Operated by the Federation of American Scientists, this index specializes in declassified "spy satellites" imagery and support for treaty-verification projects.

http://www.spaceimaging.comlhomelprod-ucts/carterralworldviewlindex and http://www.spaceimaging.comlhomelproducts/carterralcarterra3dlindex.html

This is Space Imaging Corporation's Carterra imagery index, which provides access to commercial and unclassified government imagery gathered over the United States. The second URL provides the first access to "assembly line" (as distinct from custom-built) fly-through, moving satellite images that simulate the view that low-flying aircraft might see over, say, China's nuclear test range at Lop Nor.

http://www.spot.com and http://wwww.spot.com/spot/home/sirius/welcome.htm

SPOT Image's commercial DALI index presently costs $100 annually to subscribe. It provides an unusually well-organized and complete index from medium-resolution imagery (about 30 meters per pixel) for almost any point on earth.

SPOT's imagery is often more complete and more current than its competitors, though not as useful for close-up shots of the ground. The new Sirius index promises to maintain DALI's functionality, offer new services and be available for free. The Sirius product should be available this spring.

Chris Simpson can be reached by e-mail at simpson@american.edu