LANDSAT DATA CONTINUITY THROUGH THE 1990’S 
Peter M.P. Norris, Executive Vice President 
Richard P. Mroczynski, Director, External Affairs 
Earth Observation Satellite Company 
4300 Forbes Blvd. 
Lanham, MD 20706 USA 
(301) 552-0545 
ABSTRACT 
In the mid-1970s the remote sensing user community was concerned about the continued availability of remote 
sensing data from space. This concern was centered around the issue of sustained U.S. government support 
for future Landsat missions. To a lesser extent during this same period, users were concerned about the 
stability of a computer compatible tape (CCT) format. Although during this period CCT use was subordinate 
to photographic hard copy, the tape format had been modified by the government at frequent intervals and 
was an issue to digital data users. 
By the mid-1980s the issue of data availability from space had lessened in importance. The Landsat system 
was joined by operational remote sensing missions sponsored by the French, Japanese, and Indians. All these 
systems were capable of delivering high quality digital data. The meaning of data continuity was now more 
directed to the continuity of data format. It was obvious by the close of the decade that data availability was 
no longer the issue that it had been ten years earlier. Utilization of digital data had increased. Personal 
computers were common tools in the work place, and many had image processing capabilities far exceeding 
those available in the 1970s. The user community concern was now directed toward the stability of data 
formats. 
The list of potential remote sensing missions operating by the mid-1990s should completely negate the issue 
of continued data availability. The real issue in the 1990s will revolve around the users ability to integrate the 
different data types delivered by these various remote sensing missions. This issue will become more important 
as concern about the global environment heightens. Remote sensing systems, continue to become more 
important to the study of the global environment because they provide the only source of timely, quantifiable 
data. 
By the mid-1990s remote sensing data will be available from a variety of active and passive sensor systems, 
operated by governments and private industry. The users community will be faced with multiple data types 
and formats. The users community will be faced with multiple data types and formats. Todays conventional 
wisdom about data formats seeks to include all possible data into a ’single’ archive format. However, these 
single archive formats are counter productive for customers wanting to quickly extract information from the 
data. EOSAT has selected a simple to use data format that permits the customer to rapidly access and begin 
to process the data. The new "Fast Format" should be just as acceptable to the data archivist, because there 
are no expansive, difficult to interpret header records to maintain. 
EOSAT believes that the commercial data users will demand products that are easy to access. Current remote 
sensing data formats are cumbersome and inefficient from the users perspective. International committees 
which recommend data formats are motivated by archiving objectives which are not necessarily compatible with 
data users requirements. These bodies do not represent a commercial interest and over the long term do not 
represent the data users best interests. This paper will discuss EOSAT’s plans for the future and its plans to 
introduce new digital products. 
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