NASA holds crowdsourcing project to identify photos of cities taken from space

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA launches crowdsourcing project to identify photos of cities taken from space
Relaxnews
August 22, 2014 9:00 AM



http://www.citiesatnight.org/



NASA has launched a crowdsourcing project in an appeal to the public to help identify some of its 1.8 million archive photos.

Hundreds of thousands of images taken from the International Space Station of cities on the planet have been added to a public gallery as part of "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth".

The organization needs the public's help to identify cities from snapshots taken of Earth at night, in a bid to combat light pollution.

"Our main objective is to study light pollution that comes from cities," it explains.

"We want to stop the waste of energy and the destruction of the mighty ecosystem.

"Your collaboration is really important because algorithms cannot distinguish between stars, cities, and other objects (i.e., moon).

"Thus, we need your help to assess the light pollution in our world!"

Volunteers have been helping to identify locations in the images to help build maps indicating light pollution across the globe.

The projects include "Dark Skies", "Night Cities" or "Lost at Night" and have been launched in partnership with The Complutense University of Madrid.

For more information see http://www.citiesatnight.org/


http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-launches-crowdsourcing-project-identify-photos-cities-taken-130012631.html