NRSA announces new Programme for data products
The National Remote Sensing Agency has updated its strategy for the new financial year at the Ninth User Interaction Workshop at Hyderabad. It also updated users about developments in the areas of new sensors, data products and services, discussing user requirements in terms of data specifications, product medium, format and associated services, and finally, to get feedback on their experiences.
In a well-attended workshop with about 250 delegates, complete information about the overall activities and plans of NRSA such as data acquisition and dissemination, archi-val policy, sales data, performance, improve-ment and promotional efforts were unfolded.
Data acquisition:
Irrespective of user’s requests, data from IRS-1B, IRS-P3, IRS-1C/1D, NOAA-14 satellites are being acquired and archived. Data from ERS-2 is programmed, acquired and archived as per user requirements, and that of Landsat TM data as per the user’s request. Archives of PAN coverage for the country and Indian foot print area is available and systematic coverage of IRS-1C/1D PAN data is being carried out.
Archival Policy:
The new archival policy being implemented at present states all acquired good quality data to be retained, existing archives beyond five years to be screened and four cycle data to be transcribed and retained for a given type of sensor. The policy also states about Archival Media and about the switchover from high-density Digital tapes (HDDT) to Digital linear tape (DLT)/ CD ROM.
Radarsat Data Distribution:
NRSA has signed an agreement with Radarsat International (RSI) on 13th August, 1998. About 80 Radarsat screens worth US$ 200,000 have been procured till now.
Performance:
Assessment of performance reveals that about 100 new private sector users have been included. NRSA has now appointed distributors in neighboring countries also. [Table 1]
Foreign Sales:
Substantial hikes in foreign data sales (13% of the total) have been recorded.
Steps for improvement in production:
NRSA has developed a new generation UNIX based system for data acquisition, data processing; with improved TAT and high throughput, data quality evaluation and for quick look and for browsing data generation.
Promotional efforts (1998):
NRSA has developed a website that reveals organisational data including its aerial services and facilities, training courses offered, User Interaction Workshop announcements, and their INTERFACE quarterly bulletin which is now also published in Hindi. They propose to release a handbook on IRS-1D, a video program and two CDs for demonstrational purposes.
Future Plans:
NRSA plans to use Internet extensively for publicity/ information dissemination purpose. Seminars and workshops will now be focussed on usersegment, new promotional products will be brought out, more domestic distributors will be appointed, new advertisements will be made to attract trade and business, demonstrations will be made for user convenience and a permanent exhibition will be held at Birla Planetorium. Plans include online NDC services so users can select, order through the Internet.
New launch:
NDC is currently preparing for the launch of IRS-P4 for which data policy has already been finalized and IRS-P4 handbook is under preparation. MSMR data and selective OCM data will be made available to users through Internet on daily basis and announcement has been made for opportunity for pilot studies.
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