Eyes on Earth Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning

TOM ADAMSON:

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Eyes on Earth, a podcast produced at the USGS EROS Center, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Our podcast focuses on our ever-changing planet and on the people here at EROS and across the globe who use remote sensing to monitor and study the health of Earth. My name is Tom Adamson, your host for this episode.

EROS is known as the home of the Landsat archive, but its vast archive also includes millions of aerial photos dating back to the 1930s and declassified spy satellite images that date back to 1960. And a lot of that is on film. EROS has actually been working with film for its entire 50-year history. Today we're going to talk with Tim Smith, Information Management Services Archive Task Lead, and Mike Austad, Digital Lab Capture Lead, about how we're making that film accessible. First, let me ask Tim, why did EROS end up with this extensive film archive?

TIM SMITH:

Well, it's important to remember that Landsat was a film-based system in its early years, from 1972, right on up into 1992. All of the Landsat science was conducted on hard media, as well as the aerial mapping activity at the time. So it was a natural mix to have both a film archive supported by the same rather large photo lab in providing those prints and film products to the end user. All of that being done at the cost of fulfilling an order. So EROS was really accepting dollars for this exchange of products going out the door, and that would then be eclipsed later as all that data was available at no cost by the 2008 time frame.

ADAMSON:

Okay. At first it took staffing to make that film and printouts available to people. That's why it cost something. Now everyone can just download it on their own, right? 

SMITH:

Right. Since it's all digital, then it becomes an internet access capability and we still don't provide any hard media. But to the public, they can get the data at no cost.

ADAMSON:

What sources did this film come from? I think you mentioned the USGS mapping and that's where we got some of the film. Where else did it come from?

SMITH:

Yes, the mapping centers at the time we had Menlo Park, California; Denver, Colorado; Rolla, Missouri; Reston, Virginia. They were doing the heavy lifting of producing USGS maps and the time that Landsat came around. It become natural. We would certainly use Landsat imagery in that map production. So let's just consolidate the archive. Let's consolidate the use of a very large, elaborate photo lab and make that all happen.

ADAMSON:

So EROS had this state of the art film archive. How did it end up here at EROS?

SMITH:

It started together with the Landsat program, and at the time the managers felt since it's sharing the same photo technology, let's just push all of this together into one location, which was the EROS Center.

ADAMSON:

What is the purpose of scanning the film?

SMITH:

To get to a point where we no longer need that media. One of the issues we had at the time was acetate-based film syndrome called Vinegar Syndrome, where that film itself would just deteriorate over time. We needed to capture that imagery so we could avoid having to make multiple film copies of that same thing, which was very expensive at the time, would have been millions of dollars. So the thought was, if we digitally capture the imagery, we'll be able to store it online, make it available real time, and fit in with the natural flow of how our other data is going out to the public.

ADAMSON:

So we want to preserve the data because film isn't going to last forever, it sounds like, that's one of the main reasons. And we also want to make it accessible to users.

SMITH:

Yes, exactly. And that's the combined activity that goes on. And once other people heard about it, they started sending their collections to EROS, too. So it just wasn't a USGS only activity. There were 21 different external groups that felt the need to send us their collections, including the eight different NASA field centers, we had Department of Defense, Army, Air Force, Navy. They sent their imagery here, and it also included other bureau within the Department of Interior. So all they came to share and realize the archive at EROS was what they wanted to be a part of and access to the photo lab products that we made available.

ADAMSON:

Now let's talk specifically about the machines that do the scanning here at EROS. I understand they're called Phoenix scanners. Why are they called that? And where did we get them?

SMITH:

All of those were built from parts that were a part of our photo lab. So the Phoenix rising, similar to your favorite Harry Potter story, where suddenly out of nowhere this this bird, you know, flames up and comes back as a prettier creature. Well, the same thing with our photo lab. We had dismantled all those bits and parts and pieces, but now we needed to have a base by which we could transfer a film across a light table, have a digital capture system above that, and have that all automated. And EROS did all that design and development in-house. That was all generated by us in multiple phases of the Phoenix program that then became so critical to our data capture activity.

ADAMSON:

So we're going to take a roll of film out of one of these canisters right now.

MIKE AUSTAD:

[Sound of film canister opening]

And if you'll notice, each canister has a unique storage location on it so that we know what we are to capture and how to retrieve it from our archive and also how to label it when we put it into the digital storage, if you will.

ADAMSON:

Okay, that's good, Mike, I was wondering how we knew what was going on. There's barcodes on all of these canisters.

AUSTAD:

[Sounds of film being set up on a scanner]

So what we have on this Phoenix system is a supply side and we have a capture side on each one of the rolls, one's the take up, one's the supply. Once again, this is a nine-inch roll. We do have other sizes, but this particular machine right now is set up for nine inch. And what I'm going under right now is the counter and I will go over the top of the counter as well as a pressure plate, which keeps even pressure on the film. So what we have here is, is the LED lights, which are attached to fiber optics. And I have a sensor on top here, and I'll drop that bar down with the sensors on. And depending upon whether it's a color or black and white roll, it will sense the densities between the frames on the roll of film.

ADAMSON:

So it can sense when it's in between images and be able to move automatically from there?

AUSTAD:

[Sounds of scanner running in the background]

And depending on the length of the spacing in between, we can adjust how far it travels. One of the most important things is after we have captured these files, they are processed, so they are correct geometrically and usable for map making and other applications that the science world may have out there. It's also certified. We can guarantee that there's been no manipulation to that image whatsoever, which means there have been no filtration, no Photoshop corrections, if you will, or anything like that done to the file. It is as it is on the film with no manipulation.

ADAMSON:

Okay, that's it. It did one scene already?

AUSTAD:

Yes, it scanned the scene. It has completed that scan, placed it onto an external hard drive. And now you heard the advance again. And it will do the same thing step after step after step until the roll is completed. And then at the end of this process, when the film is all captured, we will evaluate the film at 100% inspection. We have two stations. One is called the capture. The other one will be the process side. We will switch from one active box to an inactive box. Those are our external hard drives. Retrieve the film, do 100% inspection to make sure that all the frames are there. There's nothing on there that shouldn't be on there. When I say that, I'm referring to dust or dirt or perhaps a little tape residue. If that is present, we will rework frame so we can assure that the customers are getting the best quality product that we can produce.

SMITH:

We're capturing every image on the roll because we're finding out that at later in time some of these other images are as valuable or more valuable than the original ones that have been titled and framed and accepted. So we are providing a perfect copy of the roll itself. This is this is getting all the imagery off the film.

ADAMSON:

How many scenes are on a typical roll of film?

AUSTAD:

On average, you're probably going to see between 150 to 180. Now, some rolls may be six frames, some may be 250. 

ADAMSON:

It looked like it only took a few moments to do one image. Does that sound right?

AUSTAD:

If you're doing a black and white, there is less data to capture because you're only capturing one band that's about a 30-second capture. With a color file, you're doubling that. So it's going to be a minute and 20 seconds or slightly longer.

ADAMSON:

An entire roll then might take several minutes or longer?

AUSTAD:

An entire roll, if it's a large roll, can take an entire shift.

ADAMSON:

Like like an eight hour day?

AUSTAD:

Yes. We have the ability to have a technician run up to four or five systems at a time.

ADAMSON:

Well, how many of these Phoenix scanners are in here?

AUSTAD:

We have 12. Of those 12 we currently have ten that are active.

ADAMSON:

How continuously are they running?

AUSTAD:

Five days a week, two shifts.

ADAMSON:

What happens to that roll of film after it's been scanned?

SMITH:

We return it to the archive and at that moment there may be a future date where the film is retrieved, boxed up and shipped to the National Archives and Records Administration because it meets the permanent record schedule that the USGS has.

ADAMSON:

How many images have we scanned in EROS' history? Any idea?

SMITH:

Over 7 million images were captured at 400 DPI to create the medium res browse product. And now we're going back through well exceeding 4 million images that are being captured at the thousand DPI, the 25 micron, which is a Phoenix V product that goes into the archive and becomes immediately available for downloading by the public.

ADAMSON:

So for example, that image that we just heard being scanned, when is that image going to be available for the public to download?

AUSTAD:

That image should be available within the next 2 to 3 days.

ADAMSON:

I see a lot of rolls of film sitting around in the room here. How many images do you think we have to go, or how many rolls of film do we have yet to scan.

SMITH:

To meet that 7 million mark that we did at 400 DPI, we've still got about 3 million images to go and this is where we're really trying to make sure that public access for a full high resolution product on any aerial piece of film that we have here. So that's that's the goal.

ADAMSON:

Okay. And are any agencies or entities still sending us more film to work with?

SMITH:

We're on the receiving end of collections from the Bureau of Land Management. We think we've got all of their film. Unfortunately, when someone retires and they realize, Hey, they've got a closet full of stuff, we get a call and then it becomes an issue of an appraisal to say, Hey, is this something that fits the archive requirements of the USGS EROS Center, and that's gone through and scrutinized by our USGS staff.

ADAMSON:

So it's possible that we keep getting more added to the scanning workload. These scanners are always going to be busy, it sounds like. I want to thank Tim Smith and Mike Austad for joining us for this episode of Eyes on Earth and to your scanning team for taking millions of aerial and satellite images from film to digital so that we can all use them. And thank you listeners. Check out our EROS Facebook and Twitter pages to watch for our newest episodes, and you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts. 

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