The Missoulian

January 16, 2003

By BETSY COHEN

A Missoula technology company has joined NASA to explore the geographical history of Lewis and Clark's journey, and how the land has changed in the past 200 years.

GCS Research has signed a three-year contract to transform NASA's huge cache of satellite imagery and the Corps of Discovery's journals into interactive, multidimensional images and maps.

The final outcome of the project will be a Web site that examines changes in plant and animal life, waterways and other environmental factors along the trail, said Alex Philp, director of GCS Research.

"Our work will help people see what the environment was like today and see at the same time what it was like 200 years ago."

Because of this unprecedented work, today's scientists and land managers will have a unique tool to further their knowledge about environmental problems and help them find solutions, Philp said.

The high-tech geographic mission also will provide valuable information about growth issues and population pressures from St. Louis to the Oregon coast, Philp said.

"This includes changes to the Missouri and Columbia river systems, to mapping the spread of invasive species, and even how population and migration have changed the face of the West," said Marco Giardino, NASA' s project director.

For Philp and his Missoula partners, Jeff Silkwood and Tim Weisenburger, this work is a journey that will take the observations of Lewis and Clark and Teddy Roosevelt' s conservation efforts in the early 1900s and launch the path for restoration in 21st century.

"This truly is the continuation of an amazing surveying effort that began 200 years ago when President Jefferson sent the explorers west," Phip said.

Under the partnership agreement, GCS Research will collect the NASA data and make it available to the public on the Internet, free of charge.

"Educators, researchers and the general public will have access to all of this information," Philp said. "You won't need to buy expensive, professional-level data processing software to access it -- all you'll need is a Web browser."

Philp said the company does not yet have a Web site, but it will have the first flush of maps and information up and running by July 2003, and have the bulk of the work available to the public in 2004.

"We will announce the Web site sometime late spring," Philp said. "And we promise it will be user friendly - that's our specialty."


Reporter Betsy Cohen can be reached at 523-5253 or at bcohen@missoulian.com.

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