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Editor's Picks

SDI Interesting Reads – June 2016

Published Date
Author Gordon Plunkett

Find out how NASA uses satellite imagery to track changes in vegetation in Alaska and Canada, learn about the benefits from self-service portals and more in this month’s compilation of SDI Interesting Reads.

Get inspiration for your projects from this compilation of interesting articles, blog posts and other resources related to spatial data infrastructure (SDI).

NASA studies details of a greening Arctic

NASA scientists used almost 30 years of data from Landsat satellites to track changes in vegetation in Alaska and Canada. Of the more than 4 million square miles, 30 percent had increases in vegetation (greening) while only 3 percent had decreases (browning). This is the first study to produce a continent-scale map while still providing detailed information at the human scale. (Video credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Matthew Radcliff).

About the Author

Gordon Plunkett is the Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) Director at Esri Canada. He has more than 30 years of experience in GIS and Remote Sensing in both the public and private sectors. He currently sits as a member of the Community Map of Canada Steering Committee, GeoAlliance Canada Interim Board of Directors, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Technical Committee, the Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) Committee on Geomatics, the University of Laval Convergence Network Advisory Committee and the Advisory Board to the Carleton University Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre. During his career, Gordon has worked on projects in more than 20 countries and has contributed to numerous scientific conferences and publications. At Esri Canada, he is responsible for developing and supporting the company’s SDI vision, initiatives and outreach, including producing content for the SDI blog.

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