Welcome to TerraAmazon
TerraAmazon is a GIS tool designed to be a multi-user editor of geographic vectorial data stored in a TerraLib model database. It engages land use and land cover classification tools as well as spatial operations between vector data, allowing transitions analysis among other applications. TerraAmazon keeps work time records for project control. It´s functionalities are extensible through plugins, such as the already existing TerraImage (DIP) and TerraPrint (plotting).
TerraAmazon was first developed by INPE and FUNCATE in early 2005. It was initially applied to SISPRODES project and quickly conquered space in other projects, such as DETER and DETEX, among others, due to it´s multi-user characteristic. Until late 2009 TerraAmazon was used only within FUNCATE, being widely applied to many of its projects. With the creation of CRA, INPE´s Amazon Regional Center, located in Belém, TerraAmazon reached international space, having regular trainings being held in CRA´s facilities for both national and international specialists.
Nowadays, TerraAmazon is constantly being updated and having tools and system enhancements, pursuing national and international approval.
TerraAmazon is part of Brazil´s attempt to become an international reference on forest monitoring programmes.
TerraAmazon is free and open source provided under GPL license as published by Free Software Foundation at www.gnu.org.
TerraAmazon is available for download at www.terraamazon.org.
Involved Institutions
The following institutions are involved in TerraAmazon´s development process.
INPE, Brazil´s National Institute for Space Research, founded in 1961. It is engaged on many research fronts in various areas of space science and their applications. INPE is involved with TerraAmazon in the political sphere and settling agreements between countries and institutions.
INPE CRA, Amazon Regional Center, is an INPE unit settled in Belém, State of Pará, and east of the Brazilian Amazon. Founded in 2007 to support researches and fieldwork in the Amazonian region, this unit became fully operational in 2009 and since 2010 implemented the International Course on Tropical Forests Monitoring. This capacity building activity is based on the knowledge of the TerraAmazon System, for which documentation and training tutorials were developed enabling participants from Latin America, Africa and Asia countries to monitor their forests, as Brazil has been doing for more than 20 years.
FUNCATE, Foundation for Space Science, Technology and Applications, is a non-profit private organization founded in 1982. It is engaged on national projects involving land use and land cover classification, estimation of GHG emissions due to land use and land cover change as well as many others. FUNCATE has relations with Brazilian research partners, such as INPE and others. FUNCATE is involved with TerraAmazon by programming the software, developing and enhancing tools, testing, writing the user´s guides, developing and maintaining the website as well as other related activities.
TerraAmazon has the following documentation available for download at www.terraamazon.org:
User´s Guide Administrator: defines the administrator roles and presents the use of each interface related to administration procedures.
User´s Guide Operator: defines the operator roles and presents each procedure for working on multi-user environment and the use of each vectorial edition tools.
Edition Plugin User´s Guide: presents each procedure for image edition.
Digital Image Processing (DIP) Plugin User´s Guide: presents each procedure to process digital image.
Digital Terrain Model (DTM) Plugin User´s Guide: presents each procedure to model digitally terrain surfaces.