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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