A virtual professional community to support effective use of remotely sensed imagery

Abstract

This paper introduces an idea of establishing the GeoTruth Virtual Professional Community (VPC) for Image Analysis in Remote Sensing - a collaborative framework for professionals, using ground truth terrestrial photographs for interpretation and analysis of satellite and aerial imagery. The proposed utility-driven community is initially formed by members involved in developing an open-source GeoTruth Engine – a collection of Web-based geo-data media tools, serving as a community-open participatory mechanism for collection, storage, distribution and analysis of geographically referenced landscape photographs and corresponding metadata. The paper investigates conceptual issues of collaborative networks related to establishing and evolving the GeoTruth VPC, describes basic life cycle development and operational principles, outlines possible implementation strategies for the GeoTruth framework, and finally elaborates on corresponding copyright and legal issues.