When Mark Lucas proposed the adoption of the open source development model for the remote-sensing software industry, he scored an instant hit.
"I think it hit a nerve because there are a lot of people out there that need the technology and don't have the resources to do it themselves," said Mark Lucas, chief technical officer for ImageLinks.
Using popular industry mailing lists, Lucas proposed a new Web site last week for open-source development of remote-sensing software. Remote sensing is a general term for all kinds of data-gathering applications using remotely located cameras and other sensors, such as lasers. But it most often applies to snapshots of Earth taken from cameras mounted on high-altitude airplanes and satellites. The images are used widely for oil exploration and mapping purposes.
By Monday, the site, Remotesensing.org, already counted over 100 enthusiastic contributing programmers who planned to begin developing key software applications and algorithms immediately.
"The software algorithms are so specialized," Lucas said. Commercial applications are very good, but they cost thousands of dollars." Open source software development makes the needed code more available but still high quality, he said.
The main idea was to make critical applications for remote sensing more affordable and available. Open source calls for the free development, maintenance, and distribution of software programmed by volunteers from around the Net.
The popularity of Lucas' idea obviously feeds off the momentum of the open source ideal popularized by products like Linux, the alternative PC operating system, and the Mozilla browser project.
Perhaps more significantly, the immediate popularity of the remotesensing.org mission attests to the growth in commercial applications in the intriguing scientific field of remote sensing.
With satellites returning increasingly detailed images of Earth, the photographs are finding a wider range of commercial applications. Urban planners, for example, can see individuals' cars in their images, and developers of flight-simulation games can provide increasingly realistic details, thanks to these images.
Zeroing in makes the difference. Previously, one pixel represented 28-square meters of the Earth's surface; now it represents as few as 5-square meters.
This year, five new satellites -- three being launched in the United States and two more abroad -- will provide images that are 25 times more detailed than traditional space photographs.
The early converts to remotesensing.org can count influential NASA engineers, student programmers, and developers from commercial software companies among its converts.
"We're just overwhelmed by the quality of response we've gotten from this," Lucas said.
