Mr. Chairman, members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today concerning remote sensing as a research and management tool. I wish to present my remarks primarily as an academician from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prior to assuming my current position at Wisconsin, I was associated with the SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry (Syracuse, NY), and with the University of Minnesota.

In toto, I have taught remote sensing and conducted interdisciplinary remote sensing research for the past 25 years. Hence, my experience in this field spans the pre-Landsat to the EOS pre-launch era. During this time frame, the field has:

In addition to wearing my personal hat as a remote sensing academician, I wish to present my remarks in the context of my association with three other organizations and programs, namely;

By virtue of extensive previous testimony before this subcommittee, you are well aware of the current status of the land-oriented satellite remote sensing systems. I simply want to reaffirm that several interrelated factors are influencing the form and significance of these systems. Among these are:

•continued transition toward an information-based society in general.

As a consequence of the above, spatial technologies are playing an increasingly central role in a range of land and natural resource management activities, the day-to-day conduct of business and government, and the fundamental advancement of scientific knowledge about the earth as a system. In fact, geospatial information technologies enjoy relatively widespread application in such diverse activities as property conveyance, infrastructure design and facilities management, environmental assessment, and land use planning. Tasks as varied as drilling a well, assessing insurance damage claims, routing a transmission line (or other distribution system), managing a forest, implementing "precision farming", designing a transportation facility, providing famine relief, assessing groundwater contamination, formulating alternative climate change impact scenarios, siting a branch bank, studying human health statistics, guiding "intelligent" vehicles and construction equipment, implementing air quality management plans, or assessing the market for manufactured goods, can be greatly enhanced by the use of some form of geospatial technology.

What is extremely important from a scientific standpoint is that remote sensing (and its kindred geospatial technologies) is truly an enabling technology. It is beginning to pervade the entire array of disciplines where the spatial dimension of complex interrelated phenomena is important--from geoscience to human epidemiology. Geospatial analysis not only makes the asking of old scientific questions more efficient, it is enabling us to address a whole new series of questions over a range of spatial and temporal scales. This is not only providing an improved understanding of how the earth works as a system, it also provides a new paradigm for the management of natural resources and the environment, as well as the conduct of business.

Another important aspect of Geographic Information Science is its ability to bring numerous individuals to "the same page" in terms of the information on which they base their analyses and decisions. I am personally familiar with this in the context of our university’s participation in the NSF- funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program. Our Center for Limnology coordinates the North Temperate Lakes LTER project with the aim of developing a regional understanding of the interaction among lakes, landscapes, and human activities in the face of alternative scenarios of climatic variability. Spatial information science is forming the "glue" that brings the talents and scientific perspectives of a broad array of both natural and social scientists together in such an analysis--a task that has been historically daunting at best, and impossible at worse, in most university environments. In a similar fashion, shared geographic databases and analysis techniques are improving the dialogue between such entities as the land planner and the taxpayer, the regulator and the regulated, etc.

As we look across the nation’s research universities, town halls, board rooms, and government agencies at all levels, it is amazing how "spatially challenged" the conduct of science, government, and business has been up to now. I ask you to consider how profoundly different the present is becoming and the future will be in this regard. "Precision agriculture" and "business geographics" are merely emblematic tips of the icebergs of such opportunities for the future. In tomorrow’s world the "geophyte" will be a truly endangered species. Indeed, the "spatial literacy" and the explicit "spatial dependency" of the world will continue to increase tremendously. This is a trend that we as a nation must continue to lead, and in the most positive of senses, exploit--scientifically, socially, and commercially.

This brings me to the point that all of us in academia, government, and the private sector have the opportunity to make sure the nation’s leadership in this area is preserved and enhanced. From the perspective of the academic community, I think there are several issues that need to be addressed to ensure this future leadership:

My own personal experience in participating in a new model for university-government- industry cooperation in this field is predicated on my university’s involvement in the NASA ARC program (Attachment C). Mr. Brannon will be describing the ARC program from a national perspective in his testimony. Suffice to say here, ARC partnerships provide an innovative way for university faculty and students together with corporate partners at all levels to (1) realistically plan a demonstration project; (2) implement the objective creatively; and (3) discuss the impact of the introduction of the technology in terms of organizational needs of the company, investment needed, and potential new products or services. Whether it has been investigating the use of Space Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR) remote sensing to determine the volume of timber for a forest inventory (completed with George Banzhaf and Company, Milwaukee, WI) or creating a prototype moving map display for integration in emergency response vehicles on airports (completed with Orbital Technologies Corporation, Madison, WI), each ARC partnership at UW/ERSC has provided a window on the future of geospatial information technologies for these firms.

What we have found after eight such partnerships in a range of applications is that through the ARC process, commercial firms, long-time faculty researchers, enthusiastic graduate students, and others are working together to find innovative solutions to a whole range of applications. The depth and breadth of the process creates a multi-directional domino effect that results in (1) researchers asking better basic fundamental questions about spatial technology; (2) graduate students becoming equipped with technical AND business problem- solving skills for a better transition to jobs; (3) corporate firms having new tools and skills to offer the American public better products at lower cost; and (4) NASA and other agencies having a low-cost, effective way to stimulate high technology and have a diverse stream of lessons learned to better target future programs.

In conclusion, I wish to reiterate how truly profound the collective decisions we make in advancing the theories, techniques, and applications of remote sensing and geographic information science in general are to the nation’s scientific, social and, commercial future. New models for advancing this cause must continually be explored, evaluated, and refined. Business as usual simply will not get the job done.

On behalf of myself, UCGIS, and ASPRS, I appreciate the opportunity to participate in this hearing. I will also be happy to answer any questions the subcommittee may have.

(http://www.asprs.org/)

Founded in 1934, ASPRS is one of the world’s largest professional and scientific organizations devoted to the exchange of ideas and new information about remote sensing, photogrammetry, geographic information systems (GIS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), and related geospatial information technologies. The society’s 6,000 members come from across the spectrum of education, all levels of government, industry, and private practice. Additionally, there are 150 sustaining corporate members of the society. Hence, the organization includes a broad cross-section of remote sensing researchers, remote sensing practitioners, members of the value-added sector, and end-users of remotely sensed data alike. Over 25% of the membership resides outside of the US, in more than 85 countries.

The mission of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing is to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences to promote the responsible application of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic information systems and supporting technologies. Integration and application areas include, but are not limited to, mapping, environmental/natural resources, modeling/simulation/visualization, and socio-cultural understanding.

Among its major activities, ASPRS publishes the monthly journal Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, and several book manuals (including the Manual of Remote Sensing). For the past 20 years, ASPRS has administered a voluntary professional certification program. The society holds regular regional and national meetings, conducts a professional awards program, and administers a scholarship program. Recently, to more fully reflect the interests and activities of the Society, the moniker for the organization was changed to ASPRS: The Imaging and Geospatial Information Society.

The Affiliated Research Center (ARC) program is organized and managed out of NASA’s John C. Stennis Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) to provide US companies a low-cost (no exchange of funds) opportunity to examine the application of current and future remote sensing technologies in their businesses. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Environmental Remote Sensing Center (UW) is one of nine university centers so designated. Each university is contractually obligated to implement four ARC partnerships each year. These partnerships are typically 6-9 months in length, designed to be prototypical in nature, and typically lead to new methods or techniques that an industry partner can incorporate into their operations at a later date either by developing in-house capability or by enlisting the services of a remote sensing value added service provider.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison experience has a number of unique program aspects that were designed into the initial proposal to NASA, and that have subsequently driven the success of the program over the last two years. Twelve faculty investigators representing nine different departments are available to consult on topics ranging from digital photogrammetry to GIS, GPS, data integration, economics, and business management. This faculty mix allows project access to a range of ideas and perspectives much wider than traditional geospatial information technology boundaries. Additional institutional relationships were established between UW and numerous academic departments, administrative units, laboratories, state government agencies, and other technical and information conduits in an effort to bring a broad perspective to bear on commercial firm recruitment, project implementation, and technological impact. The concept of ARC was sufficiently important at the university administrative level that six separate units within the university (Institute for Environmental Studies, University-Industry Relations, Graduate School, and the Colleges of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science) all contributed matching support (financial and in-kind) leading to the first two years of program success.

Additionally, UW now has a number of critical "lessons learned" about corporate- university partnerships that have encouraged both further research in the geospatial information technologies and commercialization of said activity. All ARC projects at UW feature a technically "simple" technique or modest objective, mutually chosen by the university and the commercial partner. Then, throughout the 6-9 month relationship, both parties lend their expertise to enhance the project based on the potential future value to potential customers. From the initial meetings to the end of the project, the technological implications of the project are discussed in terms of both organizational development (i.e., Will you need to hire more people? Will this change your corporate focus?) and financial implications of the technology. Both the ARC process and products are critical — the partner must understand the process such that s/he can determine whether it will be valuable in the future to his/her company. This leads to the mutual creation of sample products that illustrate the value to potential clients (on one hand) and to NASA (on the other). We find that the demonstration nature of the ARC projects are in fact welcomed by the remote sensing and GIS consulting community — in a sense, the university is offering an accelerated, targeted "practicum" for entry-level partners which presumably will then become good customers for spatial information products and services in the future. Finally, major research universities are ideally suited as effective ARC program implementers as many, like UW, creatively encourage multidisciplinary projects.

What, then, has been the response to the ARC partnership opportunity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In a word, "overwhelming". Over 60 commercial firms responded to the UW broad-blanket announce of the program in the first year alone. Application ideas included: street tree and forest management assessment; environmental impact analysis and change detection for highway expansion; risk management assessment; telecommunications; software development; and many others. Typically, the commercial firm initiated contact with the program’s co-investigators and staff to assess the state of geospatial information technologies in relation to their commercial ventures, with many then coming to UW for further discussions and technology demonstrations. In assessing whether a ARC partnership was right for both UW and the potential commercial partner, the following key questions were addressed:

The four 1997 commercial partners fulfilled the questions above and represented an interesting technical mix for UW faculty and graduate students. The characteristics of these four are summarized on Table 1., and further information is available on each of these at the ERSC website (http://www.ersc.wisc.edu/ersc/Projects/arc/index.html). Within the program structure of ARC and in consideration of the important role of agriculture in the Wisconsin economy, a precision agriculture initiative was also implemented in an effort to self-educate UW faculty members and exchange ideas with faculty in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

We are currently working with four additional commercial partners on a range of applications. Our 1998 partners (including a short characterization of the project) are as follows:

Airborne Data Systems supplies digital data to primarily agricultural and natural resources customers, and also builds digital sensor systems. The purpose of this partnership was to consider enhanced product options (i.e., digital elevation models, large extent coverage formats, different spectral bands) for both their present and potential customer base. The anticipated impact of the project is that farmers and natural resource managers will be able to get airborne remotely sensed data faster, cheaper, and more targeted to their needs

Allison Tree Care Inc is a consulting arboculturalist to public sector and public sector clients alike in south-central Wisconsin. With urban forestry able to provide energy savings, esthethics, water run-off prevention, and carbon sequestration, there was an interest in how high resolution remote sensing and image processing tools and software could better provide services for a range of customers. With the company principal as both a leader of urban forestry initiatives in the state and a frequent guest on Wisconsin Public Radio, his experience with the technology will be widely broadcast and discussed.

Risk Management Planning frequently responds to large chemical spills and other toxic events, where they use their real-time data collection and analysis system to help emergency personnel in rural locations determine the extent and direction of toxic plumes. Complex city environments, however, with both varying topography, tall versus short buildings, etc., present a very difficult situation for modeling the movement of such toxic plumes. Using very high resolution digital elevation models, and considering appropriate computer algorithms, this partnership is designed to investigate some of the complexities involved with issues of scale and the efficient creation of such high resolution data nationwide.

Ramaker and Associates have worked on GIS issues with both WI state agencies and individual public school districts to assist them consider how best to spatially represent and analyze operations (bus routes, population density, etc). Through image enhancements and visualization of high resolution data sources, this partnership will work with the Middleton-Cross Plains school district in investigating how spatial technologies can help them consider new facility site selection, future school district boundaries, and increasing student enrollment. With public funds scarce throughout WI and the nation, this has widespread implications for how public school districts analyze growth in the future.

After only two years of projects, the accumulated impact of the ARC projects cannot truly be quantified, but selected illustrations are indicative of the overwhelming success of the program:

Through the ARC process, commercial firms, faculty researchers, and graduate students are working together to find innovative solutions to a range of applications. The depth and breadth of the process is a multi-directional domino effect that results in (1) researchers asking better basic research questions about spatial technology; (2) graduate students becoming better equipped with technical AND business problem-solving skills; (3) corporate firms, with new tools and skills, able to offer the American public better products at lower cost; and (4) NASA and other agencies with a low-cost, effective way to stimulate high technology.