SERVIR

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Leading the development of the Central American spatial data infrastructure; The Regional Visualization & Monitoring System (SERVIR) provides environmental management tools, maps, education, and decision support through cutting-edge satellite observation, local data collection, and predictive model analysis. SERVIR provides free-of-charge data and derived products for a variety of purposes. The long term goal of SERVIR is to provide strong technical and institutional support by providing for the network infrastructure and working data harvest systems which make up autonomous information systems supporting decision makers, students, non-profit organizations, public groups, scientists, and everyday people. Read about the President of the Republic of Panama and his SERVIR visit.

The Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) is the first autonomous SERVIR node. SERVIR/CATHALAC resides in the City of knowledge Panama; SERVIR's rapid prototyping and test facility is located at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

SERVIR's spatial-data networks offer information through a variety of services. Map tools display user defined geographic data and make it easy for anyone to make their own custom maps by combining layers from different sources. Not all SERVIR data are in one location, resources are hosted locally while networking allows partners to contribute remotely. The Real-Time Image Viewer is one way people can access data quickly and easily. The GeoIntegrator is an online data-view tool for putting together Web Map Services, it makes the use of SERVIR Data System easy by giving access to many Web Map Service systems. The SERVIR Data Portal enables users to access SERVIR Partner data anytime and from anywhere. The SERVIR Data Portal offers direct downloads to the users local computer.

SERVIR addresses Nine Areas of Societal Benefit as indicated by GEO in the GEOSS:10 Year Implementation Plan.

• Reducing loss of life and property from natural and human-induced disasters.
• Understanding environmental factors affecting human health and well-being.
• Improving management of energy resources
• Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating, and adapting to climate variability and change.
• Improving water resource management through better understanding of the water cycle.
• Improving weather information, forecasting, and warning.
• Improving the management and protection of terrestrial, coastal, and marine ecosystems.
• Supporting sustainable agriculture and combating desertification.
• Understanding, monitoring, and conserving biodiversity

SERVIR provides geographic data, tools, and real-time imagery (Products publicly available are oriented towards a variety of users)

• Products are part of the SERVIR Distributed Data System, not all data are in one location. Partners host resources locally and contribute remotely to the SERVIR system. Users may locate and display imagery from many sources using a Web Map Service, in most cases data may be downloaded and used for further analysis. The SERVIR Data Portal offers direct access to datasets and real-time image search tools.

• Online Maps and geospatial data are key components of the SERVIR system. Online Mapping tools display user defined GIS layers and imagery, users may produce custom products by combining multiple layers from disparate sources. The Real-Time Image Viewer allows for quick composition and animation of single or multiple image products; additionally, data may be viewed using the GeoIntegrator an open-source online data-view tool for compiling Web Map Services.

• 3-D Visualization applications have been used since the inception of SERVIR. The project has provided the first freely available 15 meter landsat mosaics of the Mesoamerican region (SERVIR Skyline). The SERVIR-VIZ application is the most recent SERVIR visualization deployment, it offers access to remotely hosted data using a cutomization of NASA's World Wind 3-D virtual globe. Many of the map products produced by SERVIR may be viewed in Google Earth using the Realtime Image Viewer.

• Thematic Decission Support Tools offer managers and planners custom products with which to plan for, anticipate, and respond to: natural disasters, weather events, and ecological phenomenon. Receive real-time and near real time updates on fires, floods, red tides, and weather conditions. Browse from a selection of customized regional climate change, land cover, and ecological data products.

[edit] External links

• SERVIR
• CATHALAC
• Central American Commission for Environment & Development (CCAD)
• Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) / Dartmouth University
• Department of Atmospheric Science / University of Alabama-Huntsville
• Information Technology & Systems Center (ITSC) / University of Alabama-Huntsville
• Institute for Application of Geospatial Technology (IAGT)
• Institute for Marine Remote Sensing (IMARS) / University of South Florida
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) / NASA
• Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) / NASA
• Terrestrial Observation & Prediction System (TOPS) / NASA
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
• Science Systems & Applications Inc. (SSAI)
• University of Mississippi Geomatics Center (UMGC)