Earth Observation Data Management 
at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing 
R. Boudreau!, A. Buffam? and J. Guenette? 
Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, 588 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0Y7 
?Prologic Services Limited, 75 Albert Street, Suite 206, Ottawa, Ontario, KIP 5E7 
ABSTRACT 
The Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) has operated an information system, called GCNet, since 1990. 
This system is being used regularly by the Canadian and international resource managers, global change researchers 
and scientists in order to locate earth observation data sets in Canada or abroad. This paper will present an 
overview of the GCNet system capabilities, including access to the International Directory Network, the QUERY 
Image Inventory and the PlaNet bulletin board. Statistics on the utilization of GCNet will also be presented. Future 
developments in the areas of data management at CCRS will also be examined: on-line access to digital browse; 
international catalogue interoperability and links with other projects such as the Land Information Network for 
Canada (LINC) developed by the Surveys, Mapping and Remote Sensing Sector (SMRSS) of Natural Resources 
Canada, and the Canadian Earth Observation Network (CEONet). 
RÉSUMÉ 
Le Centre canadien de télédétection (CCT) exploite le système d’information GCNet depuis 1990. Ce système est 
utilisé régulièrement par les gestionnaires des ressources naturelles, les chercheurs intéressés par les transformations 
à l’échelle du globe et autres scientifiques canadiens et à l’étranger afin de localiser des jeux de donnés au Canada 
ou à l’étranger. Cet article présente un survol des capacités de GCNet: Réseau de répertoire international, 
l’inventaire d’images QUERY du CCT et le babillard électronique PlaNet ainsi que les statistiques d’utilisation du 
système depuis son installation. Enfin, on se penchera sur quelques développements à venir au CCT dans le 
domaine de la gestion des données d’observation terrestre: accès en ligne aux images minutes, interoperabilité entre 
les catalogues internationaux et les liens avec d’autres projets important tels le système Canada sous réseau de 
télécommunication (CARTE) développé par le Secteur des levés, de la cartographie et de la télédétection (SLCT) 
de Ressources Naturelles Canada et le Canadian Earth Observation Network (CEONet). 
KEYWORDS: Global Change, Information System, Catalogue Service, Directory Service 
and image browsing could be carried out at few 
locations using microfiche, the cataloguing and 
access systems supporting satellite data archives 
were quite primitive. They consisted essentially 
of a computer printout of the existing archived 
scenes and accompanying microfiche. From the 
viewpoint of the user, both were somewhat out 
available to users from various groups including of date because of the delays in updating, 
resource managers, scientists, students and the printing and processing of new acquisitions. 
public. More importantly, since few remote terminals 
existed and the database access software was not 
available, the access to information about 
archive data was rather limited. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Since the launch, in 1972, of the first land 
remote sensing satellite, Landsat 1, large 
quantities of data have been acquired around the 
world. Although archiving has not always been 
uniform, many images have nevertheless become 
When the number of images was relatively 
small, computer technology was not widespread 
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