That s what the UConn land use, land cover map is all about. For instance, a look at Connecticut s landscape provides instant insight into the relationship of urbanized stream corridors and the recent flooding that occurred in the wake of Tropical Storm Floyd s trip through the state. Future plans include making these maps not only web-accessible but truly interactive, so that even the casual Internet surfer with no knowledge of remote sensing or GIS can play with the data and construct a map to suit their particular interests. The NASA Center is the culmination of seven years of collaboration between the Laboratory for Earth Resource Information Systems, the University s remote sensing experts, and the Cooperative Extension System, the University s outreach education experts. In addition to its creators at UConn, the map owes its existence to a number of agencies and departments, including the state Department of Environmental Protection, which funded both the new research and its 1991 predecessor as part of their effort to protect Long Island Sound.
Landscape is a great step forward.
However, we need to do a still better job, and harnessing part of NASA's power to look inward toward Earth is the key to making the most of improving technology. That s up next for UConn s NASA Center.