RAPID Program Offers Public Access to Satellite Data.(Brief Article)

In Arkansas, farmers now can monitor their fields for daily changes in moisture levels, and forestry workers can examine forests for pest outbreaks with the click of a few buttons. University of Arkansas (U of A) researchers--working in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Arkansas State Land Information Board, PCI Geomatics, Oracle and Sun Microsystems--introduced Real-time Acquisition and Processing of Imagery Data RAPID) technology, which provides "same-day-service" conversion of Earth-orbiting Thematic Mapper satellite data into easy-to-use, publicly availab