We are one planet, one human race, working together to understand our world – the systems, the people, the places and the complexities that underly them all. To enhance our understanding, NASA’s Earth Science Division (ESD) employs a fleet of satellites equipped with sensors that collect petabytes worth of Earth observations aimed to help scientists and researchers learn more. NASA has the unique vantage point to see the bigger picture and identify more valuable, expansive uses of data previously siloed by a specific research question or hazard type. NASA’s ESD missions give researchers unprecedented insights into Earth’s systems and are driven by the integration and harmonization of data sources from multiple spatial scales.
NASA Earth science data provide a wealth of information to aid in our understanding of Earth’s processes, in the development of innovative solutions for real-world challenges, and in making data-based decisions. These datasets, which cover even the most remote areas of Earth, are freely and openly available to anyone but not always intuitively discoverable and accessible in GIS formats. NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) program and Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) have developed resources and tools to overcome this challenge. In this talk, we will demonstrate resources for geospatial analysts wishing to get started using NASA data. There is a growing need for NASA data to be GIS-ready for easy integration and analysis in the primary tools employed by user communities. Join us to learn about how NASA Earth Science is enabling data through services, applications and story maps and distributing content through online platforms. Learn about our Earthdata community space and GIS Data Pathfinder, developed to guide users to numerous geospatial web services and tools to access GIS-ready data. NASA advocates a collaborative culture enabled by technology that empowers the open sharing of data, information, and knowledge within the scientific community and the wider public to accelerate scientific research and understanding for societal benefit.