| Abstract |
The use of earth observation technology is rapidly expanding under the impetus of large scale application and scientific programmes. It is currently not uncommon to see projects covering very extensive areas or addressing resource assessment or environmental monitoring questions at regional, continental and even global scales. Many of those world-wide research activities are faced with a permanent problem of access to information about remote sensing data availability. In the case of a series of IGBP (International Geosphere Biosphere Programme) related projects for example, there is a need for accessing a sample of high resolution data which can assist in the validation of the ecosystem analysis derived from low resolution data. In the TREES Project of the European Commission over Tropical forests, there is a need for acquiring a sample of high resolution data at the pan tropical level in order to calibrate the low resolution global analyses and to measure deforestation in often finely fragmented forest land capes. Rapid agricultural production assessments require efficient access to satellite data information on crop conditions in widely dispersed growing areas of the world. The demand for up-to-date world-wide information on data availability from a growing range of high resolution earth observation platforms data availability is high and is likely to grow steadily in the near future. Such demand is, as a rule, difficult to satisfy.
Joint research center- European commission
SpaceBel informatique S.A
Da Vinci Consulting S.A
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