The proposed ModelLab will support NASA applications across three critical areas of interest. First, it will address NASA's need for creative new methodologies that can harness computing power necessary to process large geospatial datasets efficiently. Efficiency in this context is largely a matter of faster processing times, and the proposed project promises to increase these speeds significantly for geospatial modeling. Second, it can assist the Langley Research Center's GIS Team, which is recognized as a leader in GIS technology. ModelLab will be designed for integration with existing geospatial data processing toolkits from both commercial and academic sources that can be aligned with Langley objectives on a project-by-project basis. Finally, ModelLab will be a tremendous addition to NASA?s Earth science education resources by providing a catalogue of geospatial models that can be used to support internal research, classroom study, and public outreach activities with available NASA datasets.
The combined user base for the ModelLab touches on aspects of virtually every government, academic, nonprofit, and commercial discipline and includes millions of individuals in organizations around the world. Broad commercialization will focus on direct sales to government, commercial, and nonprofit organizations that need to process and analyze large environmental datasets for applications ranging from climate change and risk assessment to watershed management and regional planning. Local governments in particular will provide a major marketing opportunity. Therefore, outreach efforts will be directed at the GIS, Water, Transportation, and Planning/Zoning Departments within these government units that are most likely to be facing critical geospatial data processing challenges. In addition to direct sales, OEM and licensing agreements with satellite and mapping firms will integrate ModelLab?s modeling capabilities with third-party products and services.
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