Maps, Maps and More Maps: Three Approaches to Reach the Masses Lisa M. Ballagh, John C. Cartwright, and Allaina M. Wallace

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Data Set Accessibility Glacier Photograph Collection at NSIDC Methods of Distribution Google Earth (KML) GeoRSS Web Map Service

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO 3 The National Snow and Ice Data Center… Creates tools for data access Manages and distributes scientific data Performs scientific research Educates the public about the cryosphere Supports data users Slide courtesy NSIDC

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Glacier Photograph Collection History:  1880s to present  Aerial and terrestrial photos  Collection began at AGS, moved to USGS and then to WDC for Glaciology in Boulder in 1976  Photographs, slides, glass plate negatives and microfilm

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Glacier Photograph Collection History continued:  Digitization via NOAA’s Climate Database Modernization Program began in 2001  Over 13,000 photos available online  Different collections (e.g. Austin Post – microfilm at NSIDC; originals at U. of Alaska, Fairbanks)  Repeat photographs Muir Glacier in Alaska taken in 1941 by William O. Field (left) and in 2004 by Bruce Molnia (right)

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO GeoRSS What is a GeoRSS feed? XML file (RSS feed) with temporal news + location GeoRSS feed with glacier photo updates: Types: Simple and GML Example clients: - ACME - Google Maps - Mapufacture

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO GeoRSS feed in Google Maps

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO GeoRSS feed in Google Maps

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO GeoRSS file

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Web Map Service What is a Web Map Service? A service (URL) that renders map images WMS “GetCapabilities” URL for glacier photos: Interesting information about a WMS:  Consumer and provider are uncoupled  Consumer can combine data from multiple sources  Beneficial for interoperability with other data services Example clients:  Google Earth (Desktop client)  ArcMap (Desktop client)  OpenLayers (JavaScript library)

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Web Map Service Viewer using OpenLayers

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Code to create a WMS viewer via OpenLayers

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Google Earth Steps to make data/images available in Google Earth: 1. Download Google Earth ( 2. Create Keyhole Markup Language (KML) file or use GUI 3. Open/view file in Google Earth What is KML? XML-based format that shows geographic data in a viewer KML files with glacier photos: (search for glaciers) Example clients: - NASA World Wind - Google Earth

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Google Earth

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Glacier Photograph Metadata

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Sample KML Code

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Take Home Points  GeoRSS o Relevant for temporal news items with a location o Easy to implement  Web Map Service o WMS is a standard and has widespread adoption o Important for interoperability o Easy to use on the client side; more difficult to set up on the server side  Google Earth (KML) o Large user base o Beneficial for education and outreach o Implementation time varies, depending on amount of styling, size of data set, whether creating a KML file or using GUI, etc…

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Acknowledgements Thanks to: - NOAA’s Climate Database Modernization Program for funding the scanning of photographs - NOAA team at NSIDC for providing feedback - Janet Dombrowski for organizing this session!!! This work was funded by NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center L. Ballagh: J. Cartwright: A. Wallace:

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Extras: Glacier Photograph Collection Austin Post collection  Largest collection of glacier photos that we hold (100,000 photos – Alaska and Pacific NW)  Majority of images at NSIDC are on microfilm (16mm cassettes and 35mm); some prints  Original negatives are held at the U. of Alaska, Fairbanks. We've been collaborating with them to get the microfilm digitized because the originals are too fragile and too valuable to ship

GSA Annual Meeting, 31 Oct.-3 Nov. 2010, Denver, CO Extras: Web Map Service Potential sources for WMS services:  ArcGIS Online (  GeoSpatial OneStop (  Google (try a search phrase such as "service=wms" that is commonly found within a map request URL) many local institutions keep their own lists, e.g.  OneGeology (