A prototype mapserver was created in 2004 as a collaboration with the MODIS Rapid Response Team from NASA/GSFC's Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics to demonstrate the value NASA brings to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). When combined with other spatial layers, GIS can be used to analyze specific problems. One example was the use of GIS to analyze fires in close proximity to a satellite receiving station in Alaska of June 2004. MODIS imagery provided the coverage of fires in the region.
Currently the mapserver allows users to access and visualize selected NASA GIS data sets through sample online map viewers and as Web Map Service (WMS) layers. The map services have been demonstrated at the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites' (CEOS) International Directory Network (IDN) meeting.
The mapserver was created using ESRI's ArcIMS 9.1 software, and uses the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) connector. This allows the map services to be available as a WMS. The GCMD also provides a portal for directly accessing NASA's GIS data. See the Mapserver
Help Page for more information.
Information on how to access a WMS can be found here.
