NEWS RELEASE August 21, 2001 TerraFly Project High-Performance Database Research Center School of Computer Science Florida International University

Contact: Martha Gutierrez Phone: (305) 348-6262 or (305) 348-1706 | Fax: (305) 348-1705 | E-mail: Address: 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, FL 33199

Dr. Naphtali Rishe, director of the High-Performance Database Research Center at Florida International University, recently appeared on South Florida public television station WLRN to discuss the TerraFly project with host Todd Simmons.

The interview between Rishe and Simmons aired six times over a three-week period. In it, Rishe introduced the TerraFly project and discussed its potential industrial applications.

TerraFly is a new Internet-based technology that makes it possible for users to "fly over" vast land areas using only an ordinary Web browser. By using high-resolution imagery collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other sources, users can experience an overhead view of almost any location in the United States at a one-meter resolution-without the expense of standard GIS application software. The project, which is funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, and IBM, can be accessed on the Web at http://www.terrafly.com.

TerraFly is a project of the High-Performance Database Research Center (HPDRC) at Florida International University (FIU). The HPDRC and its constituent FIU-NASA Regional Applications Center (RAC) comprise 100 researchers working under the direction of Dr. Naphtali Rishe, Professor of Computer Science and the first-ever recipient of FIU's Outstanding Faculty Award. The U.S. government has funded the Center's work on database technology, the Internet, and data visualization at $17 million.

In View TerraFly video clip