NASA gives Kentucky $3.1M for maps

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA has awarded $3.1 million to a Kentucky program for map data.

The Kentucky Landscape Census will provide public access to geospatial information and an Internet-based computer mapping system. Slated to begin this fall, the project has an overall price tag of $4.3 million and will be completed in 2006.

NASA awarded the money to Kentucky's Office for Technology, the project's main developer. Partners include the U.S. Geological Survey, Space Imaging LLC, and the Open GIS Consortium.

Information available through the landscape census will include locations of roads, parcels and political boundaries. Also included will be imagery from satellites and aircraft to provide information about land cover and land use.

The project will also have up-to-date "change detection" maps that show how the landscape is evolving.

The landscape census complements the work of another NASA-funded system, the Kentucky Landscape Snapshot, which provides pictures of the state's land cover. NASA provided $1.3 million for that project.