MichiganView

1. MichiganView • http://wiki.americaview.org/display/miview/Home • The purpose of MichiganView is to promote the use of remote sensing technology in Michigan by supporting research, education, workforce development, and technology transfer. • The consortium consists of academic, non-profit, and government organizations that are interested in the public sharing of remote sensing resources and information.

2. MichiganView tasks • Publish methodology on field collection and validation of coastal invasive species (E-009) • Create implementation plan, crowd-sourcing effort for field validation of remote sensing classification of invasive species (E-021)

3. Task Description Through a non-MichiganView project, a classification map of native versus invasive Phragmites was produced for the American side of the Great Lakes basin based on SAR imagery. While a rigorous field validation campaign is ongoing for that project, we propose to utilize students and other "citizen scientists" in a pilot project to further the number of validation points while simulatneously educating K-12 students and the general public on remote sensing as applied to the control of invasive species. MichiganView would make the Phragmites classification map available online through various user-friend formats, most importantly in a format for view in Google Earth and through a web-based mapping interface so that K-12 schools can access the data. An implementation plan would then be developed that describes a) the development of a web form for the collection of crowd-sourced observations, b) how students choose sites nearby where native or invasive Phragmites are found, c) the provision of a quick video tutorial demonstrating how to identify native versus invasive Phragmites and what data to collect for field validation, d) site visits and the recording of observations, and e) how students can upload their findings and the draw conclusions about the performance, the process and the implications of remote sensing for ecosystem assessment and species identification. Drawing meaningful conclusions from the experience will be driven by follow-up lessons.  We anticipate that students in primary school (grades K-5) would learn how invasive Phragmites impacts wetlands and students in secondary school (grades 6-12) would learn how SAR data enable us to differentiate native versus invasive phragmites and how classification algorithms are applied to remote sensing data. However, the MichiganView investigators, with the help of 1-2 teachers whose classes will be participating, will need to design lessons according to the Michigan State education standards and objectives. The general public will be allowed to participate in this effort as well, accessing educational and reporting materials through the website. MichiganView will coordinate with WETMAAP as another means of sharing and distributing these educational materials.