Application Review: NASA's Eyes

Description:

NASA's Eyes, in a nutshell is a free application published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) which allows the user to connect with several NASA databases and visualise a plethora of data collected by the organisation from its spacecraft and other platforms over the years. The data are presented to in a user-friendly graphical interface and are divided into three main categories (Fig.1).

                                                  Fig.1:-NASA's Eyes Home Screen (NASA's Eyes 2015)

Application to Geography:

While the "Eyes on the Solar System," and, "Eyes on Exoplanets," features are fun (and a wee bit addictive) to play around with, Geographers will find the, "Eyes on the Earth," feature rather useful. The tool features real time tracking of orbiting spacecraft like the International Space Station (ISS), Lansat 8 and Lansat 7 (Fig.2).

                                     Fig. 2:- NASA's Eyes Real Time Orbital Tracking  (NASA's Eyes 2015)

Additionally, the application allows you to display remotely sensed data gathered by some of these orbital platforms in a visually appealing and simple to understand interface.  These are referred to as planetary, "vital signs,"  and include data such as daytime air temperatures, carbon dioxide levels and global sea levels among others (Figs. 3-5).

                                      Fig. 3:- Daytime Air Temperature Display (NASA's Eyes 2015)

                               Fig. 4:- Global Carbon Dioxide Levels Display (NASA's Eyes 2015)

                                     Fig. 5:- Sea Level Variation Display (NASA's Eyes 2015)


Limitations:

Some lagging might occur on slower PC's or with slower internet connections, additionally, the application requires a network connection to function. The data are also not downloadable from the application, and the user is restricted to a visual representation only.

Conclusion:

I must say that I personally rather enjoy this piece of software and highly recommend it to anyone. This application can be useful for visualizing many of the phenomena we geographers study and will certainly brighten up any class or lecture session.  NASA did an excellent job with this application and deserves a commendation.

Thanks for reading,

Barindra

Download Link:

http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html

References

NASA’s Eyes,. 2016. "NASA’S Eyes". http://eyes.nasa.gov/index.html.

NASA's Eyes. 2015. Pasadena, California: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.