----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "John C Fouke" <[log in to unmask]> To: Maps-L Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 8:14:11 AM Subject: Fw: USGS SPOT 4/5 North American Data Buy Note the *.ppt slides. ----- Forwarded by John C Fouke/RGIO/USGS/DOI on 06/25/2010 08:05 AM ----- Brad Quayle/WO/USDAFS 06/23/2010 11:00 AM cc Subject USGS SPOT 4/5 North American Data Buy Greetings Everyone, In December 2009, the USGS EROS instituted a data agreement with SPOT Image Corporation to acquire and distribute SPOT imagery for the continental United States through December 16, 2010. The primary objective of the data buy is to ensure the availability of mid-resolution multispectral satellite data in the advent of a potential of a gap in Landsat data continuity. As part of the data buy agreement, one of the receiving stations at EROS collects both SPOT 4 and SPOT 5 nadir acquisitions between 50o N and 23.5o N. All data are processed on site at EROS using a SPOT processing system. The acquired SPOT 4/5 data are available for free access via the USGS EarthExplorer website ( http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) approximately 12-24 hours following acquisition. All SPOT data on Earth Explorer are provided as L1A products with L1Gst products anticipated to be available starting in mid to late June. Please note that free access to SPOT 4/5 data in EarthExplorer is limited to federal, state or local government personnel. If the SPOT - North American Data Buy does not display under the "1. Select your dataset(s)" section in Earth Explorer, it is likely that the Affiliation/Department/Agency fields in your EarthExplorer profile do not indicate that you are in the US Federal Government, Department of Agriculture and Forest Service, respectively. To correct this situation, either 1) create a new profile with the Affiliation/Department/Agency fields populated appropriately, or 2) contact Brenda Ellis at USGS EROS ([log in to unmask]) and she can modify your existing profile. Please also note that the license agreement limits the use/distribution of these image data to federal, state and local governments. For more information on the SPOT North America Data Buy, please see the recent USGS press release ( http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2495) and the attached presentation. As a follow-on to this effort to ensure continuity of the availability of Landsat-like data to government users, it is anticipated that the USGS will issue an additional contract for the provision of mid-resolution satellite data for calendar year 2011.