Earth Has a New Look

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Nancy Lovato (818) 354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

David E. Steitz (202) 358-1730
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Howard Cohen (301) 227-3105
National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Bethesda, Md.

NEWS RELEASE: 2003-116
August 22, 2003

Earth Has a New Look

A brand new look and understanding of the place we call home. That's
what you'll get in a complete global topographic data set generated by
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

Produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the global data set,
called "SRTM30," greatly improves maps of Earth's land mass located
between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south of the equator. That's
roughly from the southern tip of Greenland to below the southern tip
of South America.

Until now, the primary source of digital elevation data for scientists
and analysts involved in global studies has been the U.S. Geological
Survey's "GTOPO30," published in 1996, which consists of elevation
measurements spaced every 30-arc-seconds. An arc-second is a measure
of latitude and longitude used by geographers that corresponds to
about 928 meters, or 1,496 feet, at the equator. This allows
identification of features roughly the size of Disneyland in
California. The SRTM30 map matches the GTOPO30 resolution, but with
its seamless quality represents a leap in global-scale accuracy.

"SRTM30 is a powerful demonstration of the benefits which accrue from
NASA's human space flight program and satellite radar mapping
technology," said Dr. John LaBrecque, manager, Solid Earth and Natural
Hazards Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington.

"The quality of previous maps of the Earth varied considerably,
because they were compiled from various data gathered by generations
of explorers and surveyors. In some places these maps are inaccurate.
Using NASA technology, six Space Shuttle astronauts mapped 80 percent
of Earth's land surface in just 10 days to produce the first 3-D map
of the Earth's surface at a known and uniform accuracy," he said.

The need for accurate topographic maps is everywhere from planning a
hike to building a highway. Knowing the exact shape and location of
mountain peaks and river valleys is as important to the safe and
efficient flight of aircraft as it is to the management of water
resources and the control of forest fires.

Newly released images representing and illustrating the new SRTM30
data products depict Earth in two ways: as an image with all the
continents shown (a common map-making method known as a Mercator
projection); and as three globe images of Earth as viewed from points
in space centered over the Americas, Africa and the western Pacific.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the images: shading
and color-coding of topographic height. The shaded image was derived
by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction,
so that northwest slopes appear bright and southeast slopes appear
dark. Color-coding depicts the lowest elevations in green, rising
through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.

The STRM30 map is one of a series of land surface products emerging
from the very successful Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).
SRTM has produced more detailed topographic data for North and South
America that resolves features approximately 90 feet square, or 10
times the global STRM30 database.

The SRTM30 data were processed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., into research-quality digital elevation data. NIMA
is providing additional processing to develop mapping products. The
U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center
in Sioux Falls, S.D., provides final archiving and distribution of the
SRTM data products.

The SRTM mission is a cooperative project of NASA, NIMA, German and
Italian space agencies. The project is part of NASA's mission to
understand and protect our home planet. The California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

The new images are available on the JPL Planetary Photojournal at
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03394 ,
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03395 and
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03396 .
Information about the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/ .

-end-

Ron Baalke spewed out:

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Nancy Lovato (818) 354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

David E. Steitz (202) 358-1730
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Howard Cohen (301) 227-3105
National Imagery and Mapping Agency, Bethesda, Md.

NEWS RELEASE: 2003-116
August 22, 2003

Earth Has a New Look

A brand new look and understanding of the place we call home. That's
what you'll get in a complete global topographic data set generated by
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

Produced by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, the global data set,
called "SRTM30," greatly improves maps of Earth's land mass located
between 60 degrees north and 60 degrees south of the equator. That's
roughly from the southern tip of Greenland to below the southern tip
of South America.

Until now, the primary source of digital elevation data for scientists
and analysts involved in global studies has been the U.S. Geological
Survey's "GTOPO30," published in 1996, which consists of elevation
measurements spaced every 30-arc-seconds. An arc-second is a measure
of latitude and longitude used by geographers that corresponds to
about 928 meters, or 1,496 feet, at the equator. This allows
identification of features roughly the size of Disneyland in
California. The SRTM30 map matches the GTOPO30 resolution, but with
its seamless quality represents a leap in global-scale accuracy.

"SRTM30 is a powerful demonstration of the benefits which accrue from
NASA's human space flight program and satellite radar mapping
technology," said Dr. John LaBrecque, manager, Solid Earth and Natural
Hazards Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington.

"The quality of previous maps of the Earth varied considerably,
because they were compiled from various data gathered by generations
of explorers and surveyors. In some places these maps are inaccurate.
Using NASA technology, six Space Shuttle astronauts mapped 80 percent
of Earth's land surface in just 10 days to produce the first 3-D map
of the Earth's surface at a known and uniform accuracy," he said.

The need for accurate topographic maps is everywhere from planning a
hike to building a highway. Knowing the exact shape and location of
mountain peaks and river valleys is as important to the safe and
efficient flight of aircraft as it is to the management of water
resources and the control of forest fires.

Newly released images representing and illustrating the new SRTM30
data products depict Earth in two ways: as an image with all the
continents shown (a common map-making method known as a Mercator
projection); and as three globe images of Earth as viewed from points
in space centered over the Americas, Africa and the western Pacific.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the images: shading
and color-coding of topographic height. The shaded image was derived
by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction,
so that northwest slopes appear bright and southeast slopes appear
dark. Color-coding depicts the lowest elevations in green, rising
through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.

The STRM30 map is one of a series of land surface products emerging
from the very successful Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM).
SRTM has produced more detailed topographic data for North and South
America that resolves features approximately 90 feet square, or 10
times the global STRM30 database.

The SRTM30 data were processed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., into research-quality digital elevation data. NIMA
is providing additional processing to develop mapping products. The
U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center
in Sioux Falls, S.D., provides final archiving and distribution of the
SRTM data products.

The SRTM mission is a cooperative project of NASA, NIMA, German and
Italian space agencies. The project is part of NASA's mission to
understand and protect our home planet. The California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

The new images are available on the JPL Planetary Photojournal at
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03394 ,
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03395 and
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA03396 .
Information about the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission is available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/srtm/ .

My attempt to re-create the final descent of Columbia was ultimately stymied by
the lack of good software that can render the earth's surface from altitudes on
the order of hundreds of thousands of feet. I used topological data that was
already available in seamless format from USGS. The datasets are HUGE when
you're talking about many square miles at 30 meter resolution. That in itself
isn't so much of a problem. The problem is that the available 3D software
manipulates *all* of the data in memory, even when your camera distance is many
miles away. Ideally, you need software that will down-sample the data
dynamically depending on your distance from the surface. That way you could
retain all the information and render the visible features all the way from
orbit down to the surface as if "you were there".

I tried many freeware and shareware programs and none was up to the task. The
commercial software I own (AutoCAD and 3DS Max) wasn't really designed for
handling detailed topo data with lots and lots of data points. The closest
thing I found that I think _might_ work is something called "Visual Nature
Studio", but they don't have a demo version and I'm loathe to spend thousands on
a piece of software that may or may not do the job.

--
bp
Proud Member of the Human O-Ring Society Since 2003

maybe try some planning software. I'm thinking CommunityViz....It
will take the data from any GIS software and give 3D views....just a
suggestion

Bruce Palmer wrote:

The closest thing I found that I think _might_ work is something
called "Visual Nature Studio", but they don't have a demo version and
I'm loathe to spend thousands on a piece of software that may or may
not do the job.

It'll do the job. So would the less expensive World Construction Set,
from the same company, and a demo version of that is available.

http://www.3dnature.com/demo6.php

Also see

http://www.digi-element.com/awb3_overview.shtml
http://www.planetside.co.uk/terragen/

Typically you'd use these programs solely for the terrain rendering.
Bring their output into your 3DS Max as background plates and animate
your shuttle in Max.

I don't have any experience with WorldBuilder or Terragen, but I know
the 3D Nature products will, for example, show the curvature of the
Earth if your altitude is high enough, and they'll handle elevation data
of unlimited size.

- Ernie http://mywebpages.comcast.net/erniew

"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:

Ironically, the 3D game engines do a much better job of this than the
so-called "professional" 3D packages. They are optimized for speed and
use every trick they can to pre-process the data to minimize the amount
of real-time manipulation.

This isn't done automagically by the game engine. It's done almost
entirely during the design process, by the humans who create the games.
And they use the "so-called" professional 3D packages for this purpose.

- Ernie http://mywebpages.comcast.net/erniew