NASA is making it easier than ever to discover, access, and utilize Earth science data through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). According to NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program, their vision is “to identify and deliver high value Earth science data in formats compliant and compatible with GIS standards; to ensure data are interactive, interoperable, available, and GIS-enabled through primary GIS platforms; and to provide the maximum impact to research, education, and public user communities requiring data visualization and spatial analysis.”
“GIS software has increased support for integrating multidimensional scientific data formats in their platforms. Two commonly used GIS software programs are QGIS and ArcGIS Pro.” NASA highlights that “support for raster data can be provided using a mosaic dataset. A mosaic dataset is a data model that acts as a shell to input a collection of multiple raster files, which include different file types, and is viewed as a single image.” This makes it easier for GIS users to process and analyze Earth observation data.
For those interested in leveraging NASA’s vast GIS resources, the agency provides tools such as “Worldview and Earthdata Search that can help you optimize your GIS data.” Explore these powerful datasets and learn more through the NASA GIS portal.
