During the Cold War, the U.S. government spent billions on satellite technology. Such technology and its data processing capacities could spot the most likely sites where nuclear weapons were stored and military buildups were taking place. Today, UW-Madison's Environmental Remote Sensing Center, which is part of the Institute for Environmental Studies, is using that satellite technology in partnership with NASA to help U.S. firms do such things as find suitable sites for locating a new plant or laying power lines. This information can save businesses millions of dollars and aid in environmentally responsible decision making.
Businesses use remote sensing data to help make decisions.
With these images one can detect things like roads, harbors, and extremely large buildings. Within the next few years images from commercial satellites with one-meter resolution or better will be available. At this resolution one can detect individual buildings and traffic on highways. This represents a jump in commercial applications that many in the business world are not yet aware of. Students and faculty get a real-world perspective that is reflected in the classroom.