A User-driven Approach for Meeting the Nation's Land Imaging Needs

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Land Imaging Program (NLIP) has built a long-term capacity to collect and analyze land imaging user requirements to advance the Nation's operational and science objectives and better serve the land imaging community. The USGS documents the land imaging requirements of U.S. Federal, state/local, academic, industry, and international users to promote needs-driven, prioritized investment decisions for land imaging systems, products, and services. Requirements are collected in a technology agnostic format focused on spatial, spectral and temporal information needs, and can be compared to U.S. government, commercial and international capabilities to identify architecture solutions, data gaps or collaborative opportunities. The USGS has also collected information from scientists about their current use Earth observation (EO) technologies, which is useful for identifying the utility of specific EO systems across communities of use. The importance of USGS requirements activities increases with the demand for smart investments in land imaging technology to support vital societal needs in agriculture, water quality and availability, disaster mitigation, land resource management, and economic development. This session will highlight how requirements play a vital role in developing responsive land imaging solutions.