The Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) Explorer (http://HDDSExplorer.usgs.gov) is a unique collection of imagery and documents designed to assist in the response to natural and man-made disasters. Like a traditional web-based interface to an imagery archive (such as EarthExplorer), HDDS provides geographic search capabilities based on latitude and longitude boundaries and other criteria. HDDS contains imagery acquired in the aftermath of a disaster as well as imagery of the same region before the event.

Key Features

Key features in HDDS Explorer include:

• Fast, geospatial search engine
• Map viewer for viewing overlay footprints and browse overlays
• Simple, fast Graphical User Interface (GUI)
• Data access tool to search and discover data
• Text based query capability
• Input KML or shape files to define area of interest (AOI)
• Keyhole Markup Language (KML) browse/metadata export capability to interface with Google Earth
• Save or export queries, results, and map overlay for reuse
• Access to browse imagery
• User authentication service for access to restricted events and tools
• Standard product downloads
• User notifications of new acquisitions and available products through subscription services

System/Browser requirements

The following are the hardware and software requirements for using HDDS Explorer:

•  Hardware Requirements:
  
  • Any 2 GHz dual core processor or greater
  • 512 MB of RAM
• Support handheld and tablet devices via browsers
• Network Requirements:
  
  • Broadband connection 15 Mbps
  • 3G network impacts display speed
• Operating System:
  
  • Windows XP or later
  • Mac OS X 10.6 or later
  • Linux/Unix
• Browsers supported (Versions: Two most current versions):
  
  • Internet Explorer
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Opera
  • Safari