A brief history of geospatial science in the Department of Energy

James S. Bollinger; Paul M. Rich; Budhendra Bhaduri; Denise R. Bleakly

doi:10.1300/J230v04n01_02

A brief history of geospatial science in the Department of Energy

James S. Bollinger, Paul M. Rich, Budhendra Bhaduri, Denise R. Bleakly

National Security Sciences Directorate

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has a rich history of significant contributions to geospatial science spanning the past four decades. In the early years, work focused on basic research, such as development of algorithms for processing geographic data and early use of LANDSAT imagery. The emphasis shifted in the mid-1970s to development of geographic information system (GIS) applications to support programs such as the National Uranium Resource Evaluation (NURE), and later to issue-oriented GIS applications supporting programs such as environmental restoration and management (mid-1980s through present). Throughout this period, the DOE national laboratories represented a strong chorus of voices advocating the importance of geospatial science and technology in the decades to come. The establishment of a Geospatial Science Program by the DOE Office of the Chief Information Officer in 2005 reflects the continued potential of geospatial science to enhance DOE's science, projects, and operations, as is well demonstrated by historical analysis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5-27
Number of pages	23
Journal	Journal of Map and Geography Libraries
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1300/J230v04n01_02
State	Published - 2007

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by Washington Savannah River Company under Contract No. DE-AC09-96SR18500 with the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL established itself as one of the leading national institutions in the development of GIS and geospatial science in 1969–a tradition that started with regional modeling and later the analysis of the very first LANDSAT satellite (then referred to as ERTS) imagery (Dobson and Durfee 1988) (Figure 1). During the period extending from 1969 through 1976, ORNL focused its efforts on research and development in GIS with funding provided primarily from the National Science Foundation (NSF). At that time, software for processing remotely sensed or geographic data was very limited. Therefore, ORNL developed its own software to process raster and cell-based data. This

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation
U.S. Department of Energy
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Keywords

GIS
Geospatial sciences
History
U.S Department of Energy

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10.1300/J230v04n01_02

Cite this

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A brief history of geospatial science in the Department of Energy

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