1. The Democratization of Spatial Data The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?
John Amos
President, SkyTruth
WV AGP
Stonewall Resort – May 13, 2013

2. This picture – the first picture ever showing the whole earth - was taken in 1972 by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt.
Now, nearly 40 years later, we’re all used to seeing satellite images of Planet Earth. Image courtesy of NASA.

3. A picture is worth 1,000 words.
This picture – the first picture ever showing the whole earth - was taken in 1972 by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt.
Now, nearly 40 years later, we’re all used to seeing satellite images of Planet Earth. Image courtesy of NASA.

4. A picture is worth 1,000 words.
It’s getting busy up there – since 1957 we’ve launched thousands of satellites into orbit (3,000 – 6,000). Governments and private companies are currently operating about 1,000 active satellites for telecommunications, intelligence-gathering and scientific research. This includes the big weather satellites parked about 22,000 miles away.

5. A picture is worth 1,000 words.
And there are also dozens of other imaging satellites in much lower orbits flying just a few hundred miles overhead. The remote sensing instruments they carry capture digital pictures of the planet at various levels of detail, and at various wavelengths – including visible light, the colors that we can see, and parts of the spectrum that would otherwise be invisible to us, like infrared and microwave energy.

10. We know where to go to help us answer that question
We know where to go to help us answer that question. Beginning this summer, SkyTruth and LightHawk joined forces to investigate Marcellus drilling. Armed with SkyTruth maps and a detailed flight plan, we flew to verify drilling activity at locations where permits had recently been issued by the state.

11. And here’s what we saw….

14. Balloon Imagery Mosaic BP Oil Spill – Oiled Marshes
Grassrootsmapping.org balloon imagery (seamless mosaic) of oiled marshes in 2010.
Courtesy GrassRootsMapping.org

15. Balloon imagery and analysis – courtesy GrassRootsMapping.org
Analysis of oil penetration into marshlands based on Grassrootsmapping.org balloon imagery (seamless mosaic) of oiled marshes in 2010.
Balloon imagery and analysis – courtesy GrassRootsMapping.org

16. Google Maps

17. Google Earth

18. 2005

20. Platforms

21. Pipelines

22. Protraction areas

23. Active oil and gas leases

24. Shipping lanes

25. Who is SkyTruth? WV-based 501(c)(3) established 2001
Satellite images + remote sensing to investigate, illustrate enviro issues
Oil and gas drilling, fracking
Pollution events (BP spill)
Mining (hardrock, coal, tar sands)
Climate change impacts
Remote monitoring and surveillance

26. Deepwater Horizon rig sinking, April 22, 2010
Independent Monitoring: BP spill proved the value of credible, independent oil pollution assessment and monitoring. For weeks, BP and federal government provided unrealistically low estimate of size of spill. Satellite image analysis by SkyTruth revealed, within first week, that spill was at least 25 times larger than official estimate. Ultimately scientists determined spill was 60 times larger than BP’s estimate of 1000 barrels per day.
Deepwater Horizon rig sinking, April 22, 2010

27. Detail from NASA/ALI satellite image, April 25, 2010
Independent Monitoring: Satellite image analysis by SkyTruth revealed, within first week, that spill was at least 25 times larger than official estimate. Ultimately scientists determined spill was 60 times larger than BP’s estimate of 1000 barrels per day.
Detail from NASA/ALI satellite image, April 25, 2010

28. Detail from NASA/MODIS satellite image, April 29, 2010
Within a week, by measuring the size of the oil slick on the images, we calculated the spill rate was at least 20,000 barrels per day. This was 20 times larger than official BP and Coast Guard estimates at the time. Months later, government scientists determined the spill rate from the failed well was about 60,000 barrels per day.
This image, taken by NASA’s Terra satellite on April 29, 2010, shows the oil slick making first landfall in the marshes of Louisiana.
Detail from NASA/MODIS satellite image, April 29, 2010

29. That got us a lot of attention
That got us a lot of attention. We did interviews for CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News and Al Jazeera. Our work was covered by NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. I had giant black gas-guzzling SUV’s whisking me from Shepherdstown to DC and back, and makeup artists painting eyebrows on my face. A very bizarre experience.

31. CrisisMappers – Haiti earthquake damage

32. SkyTruth Spill Tracker

44. Who’s analysis is correct?
Closer to home, we’re also partnering with Shepherd University faculty, staff and students, looking at inexpensive ways to acquire up-to-the-minute, high-resolution imagery to monitor impacts associated with natural gas drilling.

45. Who’s analysis is first?
Closer to home, we’re also partnering with Shepherd University faculty, staff and students, looking at inexpensive ways to acquire up-to-the-minute, high-resolution imagery to monitor impacts associated with natural gas drilling.

46. Closer to home, we’re also partnering with Shepherd University faculty, staff and students, looking at inexpensive ways to acquire up-to-the-minute, high-resolution imagery to monitor impacts associated with natural gas drilling.
Crowdsourcing FAIL

49. The Democratization of Spatial Data The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly?
John Amos
President, SkyTruth
WV AGP
Stonewall Resort – May 13, 2013