Using Modis Subsets

One of the best ways of doing geojournalism is to use the images of MODIS Subsets (http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/). I know some people, with GIS background, might raise some caveats about the resolution of the images, but the information available is just amazing.

Distribution of NASA´s Modis subsets

By clicking in one of these red squares you can find almost everyday images of everysingle part of the planet. Even better you can ask to see the fire pixels on the image.

And more, as we journalists are not the experts in GIS, the Subsets images can be automaticaly overlayed on Google Earth. Just click on the “Download KMZ file to Google Earth” and you can place yourself on the map. I mean then you can find what the satellite image is telling us about.

This is specialy good for monitoring forest fires. On a previous http://geojournalism.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/monitoring-a-protected-area/ I have just show you how to find shapes of protected areas. If you cross this shapes and the Modis images, you can really built a new content for you readers. You do not even need to be a GIS expert!

Forestry transparency

After being in Poznan, during the 14th UN Climate Change Conference, I got even more aware of the importance of using geographical tools (and GIS in general) as a means to foster transparency.

I had the chance during two weeks to talk with different journalists from tropical countries and they told me how dificult it can be to find information about what is happening within their native forests.

I am happy to say that the Brazilian Spacy Instititute has been doing an incredible job for 20 years on providing information about deforestation in Amazon. This has been material of large interest in Brazil and the media has also played its role by monitoring and using the data for deep investigative stories.

Journalists from other countries also can bennefit from this information. And more important than that, they can call for more transparency on forestry data. This is essencial.