5. OPERATIONALIZATION OF EARTH OBSERVATION
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the public sector case, the decision process happens at a slower pace, the
taxpayer is both customer and investor, but the essential criterion is the
same. The public must, in the long run, perceive value commensurate with
the cost in order for the endeavor to continue to be supported. Thus, in both
cases, the key is to be able to satisfy a need for information at a cost
perceived by the consumer to be commensurate with the value of the product
delivered.
Looked at from a business viewpoint, the operational user is the true
information consumer and hence the customer upon whom the business must
focus, if it is to be successful from an economic standpoint and generate a
return. Heretofore, aside from those involved in weather forecasting using
spaceborne sensors, there have not been many truly operational users of
Earth Observation data. In fact most of the users of data from such
spacecraft as Landsat, SPOT and ERS-1 have, up to now, been from the
scientific community. Scientific users have a vital but different role to play
than operational users. Whereas the objective of the latter group of users is
to generate wealth by extracting information of value to society, the
objective of the former group is to generate the knowledge necessary to
ultimately derive useful information from the data. This role is critical to the
overall success and when one views the system in this way, the scientific
user plays the role of being part of the system which delivers information
rather than a customer who consumes the products generated by the system.
In order to realize the return on investment required to make Earth
Observation self-sustaining, many factors, economic, technological, political
and organizational come into play. The following sections examine these
factors.
2.
AN INFORMATION DELIVERY SYSTEM
The process of sensing the Earth from space begins when radiant energy
reflected by or emitted from the Earth strikes a spaceborne sensor. The
sensor converts that radiant energy into data describing its intensity, its
wavelength(s), and in some cases its phase and/or polarization. These data
are then processed in various ways to extract information, which is of
interest to a set of users.
One can think of the process of converting radiant energy into
information of value in an operational way as an information delivery
system, where the data generated by the sensors are processed and combined
with other data to ultimately yield information which meets the requirements
of a set of operational users. As the data advances through the system its
value to society increases, reaching a maximum, and hence an ability to
37
the public sector case, the decision process happens at a slower pace, the
taxpayer is both customer and investor, but the essential criterion is the
same. The public must, in the long run, perceive value commensurate with
the cost in order for the endeavor to continue to be supported. Thus, in both
cases, the key is to be able to satisfy a need for information at a cost
perceived by the consumer to be commensurate with the value of the product
delivered.
Looked at from a business viewpoint, the operational user is the true
information consumer and hence the customer upon whom the business must
focus, if it is to be successful from an economic standpoint and generate a
return. Heretofore, aside from those involved in weather forecasting using
spaceborne sensors, there have not been many truly operational users of
Earth Observation data. In fact most of the users of data from such
spacecraft as Landsat, SPOT and ERS-1 have, up to now, been from the
scientific community. Scientific users have a vital but different role to play
than operational users. Whereas the objective of the latter group of users is
to generate wealth by extracting information of value to society, the
objective of the former group is to generate the knowledge necessary to
ultimately derive useful information from the data. This role is critical to the
overall success and when one views the system in this way, the scientific
user plays the role of being part of the system which delivers information
rather than a customer who consumes the products generated by the system.
In order to realize the return on investment required to make Earth
Observation self-sustaining, many factors, economic, technological, political
and organizational come into play. The following sections examine these
factors.
2.
AN INFORMATION DELIVERY SYSTEM
The process of sensing the Earth from space begins when radiant energy
reflected by or emitted from the Earth strikes a spaceborne sensor. The
sensor converts that radiant energy into data describing its intensity, its
wavelength(s), and in some cases its phase and/or polarization. These data
are then processed in various ways to extract information, which is of
interest to a set of users.
One can think of the process of converting radiant energy into
information of value in an operational way as an information delivery
system, where the data generated by the sensors are processed and combined
with other data to ultimately yield information which meets the requirements
of a set of operational users. As the data advances through the system its
value to society increases, reaching a maximum, and hence an ability to