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Satellite Remote Sensing for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games (continued)

Summary

The purchase of relatively inexpensive commercial satellite imagery resulted in multiple field uses. The final products were used in a variety of vital roles including the everyday planning of multiagency special operations, guidance for USDA Forest Service LEI and other Federal and State officers positioned in remote posts, dispatch controls, relief and response positions, and for briefing and planning with the Olympic event managers. They were effective tools for presenting overviews to visiting department and agency heads. The products were placed inside the Olympic command center in Salt Lake City, as well as at the onsite command station at the venue (figure 5).

As it turned out, only a few minor intrusions occurred at the venue, and onsite personnel handled them easily. Quantifying the benefits of these imagery products is difficult. However, if any major problems had occurred, these products would have been heavily used by field officers and command personnel. The command dispatchers used the imagery products daily for tracking officers and assigning locations. The products proved invaluable to the dispatchers because they allowed a view of the topography to those unfamiliar with the terrain.

More and more specialists and resource managers are expecting accurate information about the lands we manage. Remote sensing often can provide agency personnel with relevant geospatial information that serves us well in a variety of unexpected ways, such as for the 2002 Olympics. The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" still holds true today as advanced satellite imagery is used to collect data on complex terrain and vegetation features.

Figure 6—Onsite command station
at the venue with image products
in the background.

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