The Land Surface Imaging Constellation Portal

The CEOS LSI Constellation Portal for Mid-Resolution Optical LSI Satellite System Information and Enhanced Data Access provides users with a single web destination where they can go to obtain the fundamental information about currently and previously operating mid-resolution LSI satellite systems and data that they need to know in order to optimally apply those systems and data in their individual research or practical applications. The Portal also provides users with active links to the data search and order tools for all CEOS agency mid-resolution LSI systems that offer open user access, and it provides links to a wide variety of free sample data collected by mid-resolution optical LSI systems operated by CEOS member agencies. Mid-resolution optical systems are those that acquire reflected and/or emitted electromagnetic radiation in the visible, short-wave infrared, and thermal infrared (VNIR, SWIR, and TIR) wavelengths with spatial resolutions between 10 meters and about 100 meters.

The CEOS LSI Constellation Portal was designed and built by the LSI Constellation in response to input from the community of users of mid-resolution optical land remotely sensed satellite data and with the support and assistance of the CEOS Working Group on Information Systems and Services (WGISS). CEOS agencies participating in development of this Portal include CNES, CONAE, INPE, ISRO, NASA, JAXA, and USGS. Currently, the website provides information about, and links to, mid-resolution optical data that currently are being collected by the aforementioned agencies or have been collected by them over the past 35 years. Future development of the website will include addition of information about future mid-resolution optical missions, as well as information about other LSI satellite systems and data.

The intent of the Portal is to provide sufficient information so that the site will meet a high percentage of user requirements for such information while avoiding over-population with minute detail and extraneous information that cause users to become bogged down and frustrated with too much information and detail. Satellites and sensors covered by this Portal are listed, along with the operating agency, on the Satellites and Sensors Information page, which links from the Portal homepage.

From the Satellites and Sensors Information page, users can link to several additional pages, presented in tabular form, that present a variety of important information about mid-resolution satellite systems operated by CEOS member agencies. Satellite status, launch, and orbit information is presented, along with important information about sensor spectral characteristics, spatial resolution, and geographic and temporal coverage. Links also are provided to overview information about the mid-resolution LSI programs and satellite systems of CEOS member agencies and to pages that provide important documentation and data access information, including direct links to data search and order systems offered by the various agencies and to sample data offered by those agencies. From all tabular information pages, links are provided to International Directory Network (IDN) pages that provide additional detail about the individual satellites and sensors addressed by the LSI Constellation Portal.

From the Portal homepage, users can link directly to an active list of CEOS agency search and order tools, which provide access to mid-resolution optical LSI data offered by those agencies. Users may also link to the CEOS homepage and to a site that provides detailed information about the CEOS Constellation for Land Surface Imaging.

These web pages/portal are a collaborative work between the CEOS and WGISS LSI teams, the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Maryland UMD), and NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). NASA supports the University of Maryland through the MEaSUREs Program, NNX08AP33A.