Examining Our Instrumented World for Greater Understanding; N.E.S.O. Provides Access to NASA Remote Sensing Data That Describes Our World and How It Is Changing.

Abstract:

NASA Earth and Space Observations (NESO) is an interactive map and measurements tool that fosters active sharing and discussion among dispersed learners and educators in both formal and informal settings. NESO provides access to timely and relevant remote sensing data which will enable novice or non-technical users to pursue a scientific inquiry process to reach conclusions about our changing world as scientists might do. Participants in this session will gain a working knowledge of how to ask questions of NASA data using the functionality and interactivity of our tool across three platforms; a webpage, an iPad app, and NOAA’s Science on a Sphere(SOS). We will access data to create animations and time series over entire missions and allow the user to generate specific statistics and graphs.

The name NESO is derived from the web tool NEO which provided the original functionality, and Earth Science data sets. The tool has been enhanced and expanded to include Space Science data sets such as planetary, lunar, and all-sky maps, and we are continuing to expand the data catalog. Our future work includes a support web page for educators and other users with samples of analysis and lesson plans. The next phase of tool development will include layering capability, floating point data handling, and an additional server mode to drive other display technologies such as high resolution flat panel systems.