USDA Planning Meeting

Landsat - added new blue band and another that were supposed to replace the thermal band and be used for cloud detection. This isn't a good monitoring tool. USDA is trying to get the thermal band added, but there is a problem because it is a 16 day product and it would miss a whole month of collection or an entire growing season.

AWiFS (56m) via FAS. When collection is not occurring on the scheduled areas, the sat is turned off. This can create a problem for emergency situations like fire monitoring. Hypothetically getting 4 ½ day coverage in some areas.

US National Land Imaging Program - Interagency working group. Not funded, but USGS to head up.

NASS using AWiFs for Cropland data layer.

FAS contract discounts provided.

FAS supposedly negotiating with agencies to adjust collection time frames (more in August, less in April). Who from FSA: Rep to RSCC - list of areas in mid December.

Indian Space Research has invited USDA to provide input to next generation satellites. USDA is the biggest customer. Looking at doing 25m, but swath downsized some. Want added red-edge band and short-ware IR (NRCS request). ARS drafting the white paper, agencies to review by January 12. Final to RSCC meeting Jan 24.

APFO Reorganization: Presenter: Ron Nicholls.

Ron presented APFO Organization - PPT or PDF

Kent Williams presented, APFO, Office of the Director. Geoff Gabbott presented, Contracting.

Branch Level Roles & Responsibilities: Each Branch gave an overview of their section in the above mentioned PowerPoint.

Operations Branch - Ken Koehler

Technological Services Branch - Lori Uhlhorn

Geospatial Services Branch - Brian Vanderbilt

Production Services Branch - John Stadelman

Quality Assurance Branch - Brenda Simpson

Glenn Bethel - EPA is very interested in having the vault archived. EPA might be interested in cost sharing. EPA is interested in going back and looking at old photos.

RMA Activites; AWiFS & Satellite Data: Presenter, Jim Hipple

Jim presented Preprocessing of P6-AWiFS for Field Level Data Extraction and Data Mining - PPT or PDF

Using CLU with sat imagery, looking at .7 acres (size is set up by AWiFs pixel) and other aspects of raw data (radiance, reflectance, etc). Developed with ESRI Arc Catalog model builder. Model could be used across USDA with current GIS tools. JACIE developed algorithms for exploitation of commercial imagery. Use to construct/calculate vegetative index, water index, land surface water. Want to acquire the early and late month imagery for early crops (winter wheat) and late crops in certain parts of the country. Working with CLU that meet criteria of minimum size, try to do near real time classification of crop type cover on a per field basis. Going to validate with 2006/2007 NASS cropland data layer. Look at near real time classification of crop type cover on a per field basis. Doing on image by image basis. Expects to have field by field reliability. Looking for program integrity, data source for policy decisions, responding to disaster events, etc. Can also be used for compliance and determining validity of claims, or allowing claimants in certain areas depending on the type of crop grown, continued loss, etc. Have not compared what he is doing to actual reported acreage data (not that far yet). Is developing everything to be able to move to another agency if there is interest in the process.

Going through a renewal of the ESRI Contract. We need some help with the requirements.

APHIS Activities: Presenter, Laura Stretch

Laura presented Animal & Plant Health Inspection Services 2007 Update - PPT or PDF

APHIS is increasing their use of NAIP and realizes the benefit of being a future NAIP partner. Discussions on future being a potential cost-share partner needs to be raised to the senior management level at APHIS.

APHIS imagery requirements are to have the most current data available. Given the choice, they would prefer current imagery over older high resolution data.

USFS RSAC Activities: Presenter, Tom Bobbe

Tom presented Remote Sensing Applications Center - PPT or PDF

RSAC is looking at UAVs for fire collection in conjunction with NASA. Don't think they can afford to own/operate, but they want to see if some of the technology will translate to their equipment. They have large and small class UAV. Using satellite products for pre and post fire imagery assessment/analysis.

Moving into a data center environment; several teams set up to determine the best way to deal with data. Primary focus is to provide the data within the FS firewall.

Contracting Activities: Presenter, Geoff Gabbott

Geoff presented USDA 2007 Contract Summary - PPT or PDF

There was a significant budget reduction for 2007 and APFO could only award 14 states. This reduced funding made it difficult to award contracts in an efficient matter.

2007 saw a 6% increase per average DOQQ cost.

The FSA compliance program is changing and will be relying more on statistical sampling and less on complete county imagery. Future NAIP imagery will only be collected at 1-meter.

We should advertise the success of the 5 year cycle of NAIP.

We need as little as 9 million to keep up the 5 year cycle.

Question: How is the data distributed to partners (FS-CO didn't get their copy of NAIP in 2005)? NAIP is sent to a single point of contact for each state and that person is responsible to redistribute to remaining partners. Should the data get distributed at the national level because that's how the partnership is? GSTC is the point of contact for NAIP distribution to the FS regional offices. It is the region's responsibility to get it to the individual forests.

USFS WDC Report: Presenter, Bill Belton

Bill presented The USDA Forest Service Update for FY2008 - PPT or PDF

Forest Service prefers ½ meter and stereo imagery but due to funding limitation, we can live with NAIP's 1-meter resolution. The NDOP Technical Sub-committee was asked to look into stereo specifications and issues.

Due to budget costs in Region 1, 8, and 9, are will be no resource photography flown in 2008.

USFS Region Reports:

R-2 - Presenter, Melinda McGann

The Bessey Ranger District built a new building that is Green certified.

Shoshone NF resource photography project is nearly complete (84% and 14% acquired 06 and 07, respectfully). Digital scans are being delivered.

Nebraska NF resource photography project has been acquired and digital scans have been received.

The 10 year resource photography program is still on track. Arapaho and White River NF are planned for next year.

Melinda has used a few scenes from AWiFS and they are going to explore using this a little more.

Due to the droughts in Northern Colorado, the Pine Beetle infestation is now an epidemic. Region 2 is partnering with USGS to get Quick Bird imagery.

Denver is hosting the Democratic Convention in 2008 and there will be a large demand for imagery to support the expected increase in FS visitors.

Region 2 uses NAIP extensively. Right now they are using NAIP to look at the dams and see what structures would be affected if a particular dam broke. They use 1-meter NAIP in the background of visitor maps. They also use it for historical purposes.

R-3 - Presenter, Candace Bogart

Region 3 has a strong 7 year cycle resource photography program.

Apache and Sitgreaves NF are scheduled to have resource photography flown in 2008.

In Arizona 2005, we worked with the State GIS Council to acquire high-resolution imagery. Due to licensing, it may not be distributed or placed in public domain.

In 2006, Region 3 partnered with the state of New Mexico to acquire 1 meter imagery. The region purchased hard drives for each forest and distributed the data to them.

The Forest GIS Coordinators meeting is coming up in the next couple months.

The region really appreciates APFO and their good working relationship.

The forests have made a request for digital stereo coverage.

R-4 - Presenter, Sanford Moss

The resource photography program is feeling pressure to cut back on the acquisition cycle. We are looking for ways to cut costs and may require modification of the cycle period or fly only "more important" areas. We are putting together a questionnaire to survey the Forests.

Bridger and Teton NF were flown this year.

Small area projects - Region 3 was flying their own plane for photography but found it to be to expensive. Now they contract this out. They fly post fire projects as well.

R-5 - Presenter, Rich Spradling

On the Sequoia NF we paid $55.00 a linear mile.

Resource photography program is dropping to a 10 year cycle.

The region sees the resource photography going down and the NAIP getting harder to fund.

Inyo NF is scheduled to have resource photography flown in 2008.

Region 5 is looking for shared services from some of the other regions to maintain the photography contract because they are unable to fill some key personnel positions.

Fly about 10 projects on average each year.

Remote Sensing Lab - continue to buy Landsat and SPOT imagery. Dropped from 5 year to 10 year cycle.

NAIP imagery is used extensively in region 5.

They have had great support from APFO over the years.

R-6 - Presenter, Michael Golden

They have acquired only a half a dozen Landsat scenes. Most of this has been used in the office.

They always buy the ortho ready product.

NAIP - 2005 all of Oregon was acquired at both 1 meter and ½ meter resolutions. The ½ meter was a buy up. Washington was acquired in 2006.

Discussed an overview of what imagery they've received and where they are with the processing of the data.

Resource photography - don't have a cycle. Siuslaw NF was the last project requested in 2007. Nothing has been requested in 2008.

Special purpose - small projects, large scale photos. In 2005 they retired a plane and then contracted all the work out. Susan Costa is running the program. This year they had 85 projects. Flew over 1100 linear miles at $106.00 per linear mile.

They've doubled the linear miles and the cost has come down from 2001-2004 prices.

They do the flight planning and it's much more efficient.

LIDAR projects are growing.

R-10 - Presenter, Mark Riley

Mark presented Image Acquisition Update - PPT or PDF

Resource Contract/Administrative Issues:

Digital Resource Acquisition: Presenter, John Mootz

John presented Digital Resource Acquisition - PPT or PDF

There is a concern about eliminating the small businesses industry if we move to digital acquisition. We are working with SBA to increase the threshold, and right now it is less than 6.5M for income earning on the business. We can work through subcontracting plans for small business, but really a small percentage would fall under this in terms of over-all dollars and that is what they look at. USDA's goal is to contract 35% of business to small business. In 2007 only 36% was awarded.

Raw data terminology is used differently in the digital world. All digital sensors require a lot of processes to go through to provide a product that can be used. Raw data is not usable in the field and needs at least a basic rectification to be useful. Also, frame based digital sensors are needed to pan sharpened the image.

There are many possible products that direct digital acquisition can produce that the FS may be interested in. FS regions will have to define hard requirements such as level of geo-referencing and other details (mosaic, radiometric, coverage: stereo, 3D viewing.)

Digital resource imagery will require a large amount of storage space. Also, issues with AT, raw imagery (whether geo-processed or radiometrically corrected), and GPS/IMU data formats need to be defined.

Storage and access - who stores and archives for agencies that purchase this, who provides access?

Inspection - APFO doesn't have inspection process for digital stereo, AT solutions, or GPS/IMU data and will need to be developed.

Cost - FS resource photography tends to be expensive because it is high resolution. APFO wants to work closely on building specs and requirements.

Question - Are we the only civil agency that does this type of work? Yes, we are exploring different avenues with SBA. We've just initiated the exploring of different options as we move to large business.

70% of NAIP cost is for acquisition only and the remaining 30% is for post processing. So you can see the cost for acquisition is very high.

APFO will meet with each of the Regions from the Forest Service to find out what their requirements are.

Contract Administrative Issues: Presenter, Geoff Gabbott

Geoff presented Contract Administration Items - PPT or PDF

Essentially APFO charges 3 to 15% for using their contract services. USDA agencies usually pay 3-8% and non-USDA agencies pay 15%.

Question: What is the process to submit new resource projects if APFO is requesting it be done electronically? Submitting will not change.

NRCS Activities: Presenter, Sam Brown

Sam presented NRCS Report - PPT or PDF

NRCS Update: Asked for $3M for NAIP, not sure what they will get. Informally indicating $500K. Will continue to pick up HI. Anticipating another $600K in 2008. Collecting in Alaska in aerial - $423K. 2004-2007 about $3.7M in Alaska. Acquiring imagery for hurricane preparedness (hi res-most .5 meter, pre packaged groups). Looking at 2004-2005. Homeland security / disaster efforts picking up older high res imagery to have in hand (packaged) and be able to send out.

NRCS funding is going to Elevation data. Want terrain modeling, want to do analysis. Want derivatives to do this kind of work.

Action - NRCS to determine what extent the states contribute. We need a single point of contact. We would like to see how much each state has contributed so we can give recognition.

Question - How do you know how much money you need for each state? It's very difficult to answer this. If we're going to draw this hard and fast line then some states are going to get thrown out. Using the 1/3 level. FSA has been picking up the tab because of partnerships not coming through but FSA can't keep doing this anymore.

We need to have an agreement put together by December 31.

Presenter, Steve Nechero

Steve presented NRCS NCGS Elevation Activities - PPT or PDF

FSA Activities: Presenter, Shirley Hall

Shirley presented USDA 2008 Imagery Planning Meeting - PPT or PDF

Overview of the Move to GIS Centralization: The Problem

More centralization for GIS. There is language in the Farm Bill regarding this.

Compliance changes - FSA is doing too many compliance checks. GAO audit said this.

2007 NAIP Post-mortem Meeting Review: Presenter, John Mootz

John presented 2007 NAIP Post-mortem Review - PPT or PDF

Color is not consistent across the board. The monitors are not calibrated. We are going to provide calibration. We will have a consistent color product.

QA Report & Image Quality Metrics: Presenter, David Wheeler

David presented NAIP 2007 Inspection Briefing - PPT or PDF

Question - Have you noticed a difference between the film acquisition and digital? It's a learning process for the vendor.

Action Item: We would like to know what you think of our imagery. We want your feedback. We are thinking about doing surveys. We want to know what you're using the imagery for.

Requests for Information: Presenter, John Mootz

John presented Request for Information - PPT or PDF

APFO is working on two RFI's: JPEG 200 Settings and Virtual Globe Application. The JPEG 2000 Settings RFI was released on Nov 7 and comments were due on Nov 30. APFO received 8 responses from industry and 1 response from an individual. APFO is reviewing the responses and is scheduled to publish a summary report in early January. The Virtual Globe Application RFI is still in draft and is expected to be released sometime in January or February.

Question: Will the change to JPEG 2000 compression require an ArcMap plug-in or cause any impacts to USDA Service Centers? We will review ArcMap compatibility issues before releasing our summary report but at this time we do not expect any impacts.

We need to move away from Mr. SID when going to a 4 band product.

APFO Pricing Information: Presenter, David Parry

David presented APFO Pricing 2008 - PPT or PDF

The last price change was in 1999.

Pricing is based on a 1 each order. There is room for negotiating for large orders.

We have a new online ordering system called EarthWhere.

APFO Web Services/CLU Update: Presenter, Kevin Clarke

Kevin presented FSA Geospatial Support - PPT or PDF

Image acquisition date is very valuable to the partners.

A demonstration of new technologies and data management strategies utilized within the GDW was given.

Currently the GDW hosts UTM-based web services of NAIP imagery. The application architecture utilized currently within the GDW is comprised of ArcSDE and ArcIMS. Also only the most recent years' imagery is available for any one state.

Plans are progressing to align the GDW with FSA's change in Enterprise Application Architecture, which is moving to a more centralized approach for applications and data. To align with these new plans, APFO is investigating new technologies and data management strategies to support FSA in their centralization efforts.

The demonstration illustrated the use of state-based NAIP imagery and the concept of maintaining multiple years of imagery online for each state. The demo made use of new ESRI technologies, Image Server and ArcGIS Server, for the development of the NAIP web mapping services. The technologies also leverage 4-band NAIP imagery that was acquired as a pilot in Arizona in 2007. A 4-band data product allows for a Natural Color and Color Infrared web service to be developed from the same source data. Web services from these new technologies can be incorporated into FSA's current Desktop environment, and will support other future client architectures, such as web and virtual globe applications.

It is estimated that it would take 6 months to re-position the current GDW hosted NAIP web services with those utilized the new technologies.

Also discussed was the update on CLU Replication project, which involves the replication of the CLU dataset from the 2,350 county offices to the GDW. At the request of FSA, the GDW staff have implemented topological and feature and attribute reconciliation checks to assist with cleaning up the CLU dataset. On a monthly basis the topological and feature/attribute errors will be identified and reports will be produced which will be provided back to the FSA state and county office personnel. The reports will identify those errors which need to be fixed.