PGC News & Announcements: June 14, 2019
Missed out on the newsletter via email? Sign up here!
PGC Welcomes Shane Loeffler
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Shane Loeffler, our newest staff member. He brings a dynamic background as an Earth scientist (M.S. Earth Sciences, UMN) and software engineer. Shane is also the originator, lead developer, and lead principal investigator on the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Flyover Country mobile app. We’re thrilled to have him join our growing team!
PGC Policy Update
Thank you for being a valued PGC user.
We want to let you know that we’ve updated our Commercial Imagery Eligibility and Usage Guidelines. Due to the enormous value in providing high-resolution satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe, Inc. via the NextView license, an agreement between the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and DigitalGlobe, Inc., and the increasing diversity of our userbase, we found it necessary to better clarify accessibility requirements and limitations to this resource.
Here is the key update to our terms of access and use:
2. Working to support a federal mission or initiative in the polar regions in affiliation with either NSF Office of Polar Programs or NASA Cryospheric Sciences Program
Imagery can be shared with other collaborators paid by and working in support of the same award so long as the award remains active.
PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES:
> Sharing of imagery with collaborators not funded under the award or collaborators at non-U.S. institutions
> Using the imagery after the term of an award has expired
> Posting the imagery to a public website without access controls
> Sharing the imagery or imagery derived products with anyone planning to sell it or use it for commercial gain
Antarctic Tasking Requests Due July 19th, 2019
PGC is working with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) to coordinate collections of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery from DigitalGlobe for the upcoming 2019-20 Antarctic field season.
Please get in touch with your PGC Point of Contact if you have federal funding and conducting Antarctic research or providing Antarctic logistics support and would like to submit tasking requests for your area(s) of interest. The deadline for requests for the upcoming Antarctic field season is July 19th, 2019.
If you submitted a request for a previous year and would like to have imagery collected for a future season contact your POC for resubmission.
PGC 2019 User Survey
PGC has launched its second annual User Survey and we would greatly appreciate your feedback!
Thanks to our survey responses last year, the PGC was able to identify automated data delivery as the most requested service and we’ve worked hard to roll out our Federal Researcher Imagery Download & Geodata Exploration (FRIDGE) system.
Your participation in this brief survey is very much appreciated and may be shared with any colleagues or collaborators who have used the PGC (past or present) for data products or geospatial support.
Start Survey
Phase 2 of PGC User Account: FTP Access
The new PGC login account now allows core users to access FTP data deliveries, in addition to web services and restricted content in our Imagery Viewers. We are working towards a more automated self-service model for data delivery. Please take a moment to review the PGC User Account Guide to learn more and stay-tuned as we continue to develop this system.
Users with verified current federal funding gain access to the high resolution imagery viewer applications, web services, as well as the public content on our website. Users that do not meet our requirements for access to restricted content have access to online public content only.
To create a new account, visit https://users.pgc.umn.edu and click the Request an Account button. PGC staff will review submissions and respond with account confirmations.
Antarctic Logistics Workshop Recap
In early May, a few PGC staff members made a 2-day visit to the Antarctic Support Contract in Centennial, Colorado. The first day, PGC led a full-day workshop covering all things PGC in different sessions of varying depths – from an intro to who we are and what we do, to focused specifics on PGC products and services, and an afternoon session covering technical and demonstrative topics. The second day was dedicated to field planning collaborative PGC-ASC projects for the upcoming Antarctic season.
If you are an ASC contractor and missed us, please contact Mike Cloutier for presentation slides and information.
PGC in the News
NGA Director, Robert Sharp, praises PGC partnership and high-resolution digital elevation models in keynote speech at GEOINT Symposium 2019. Read Article.
PGC Director, Paul Morin, presents at the Blue Waters Symposium 2019, “The World is Upside Down: Why we have better topography of the poles than the rest of the planet.” [photo]
Hometown Highlight: Claire Porter receives 2019 Mounds Park Academy Alumni Association Award. Read Article.
Blue Waters Interviews Claire Porter on ArcticDEM Research. Read Article.
Read the original PGC Newsletter post here.