Contextualising imagery: Conceptual design for a virtual laboratory for environmental accounting and resource management (vLEARM)

vLEARM - the Virtual Laboratory for Environmental Accounting and Resource Management - is a high-level system design for environmental accounting in Australia. vLEARM provides for the use of multiple data layers - including those that are not image-based - held in the Source Data Layer via integrative functionality in the Common Raster Data Layer. The Business Logic Layer converts raster data into user-driven environmental information through SQL queries, combinatorial algorithms, and temporal landscape models. Finally, the Presentation and Federation Layer enhances and broadens use by managing functionality across multiple platforms and/or within the Cloud, and providing a “workbench” interface that enables custom workflows to be implemented without high-level IT expertise. It is estimated that the development of a fully functional system based on the vLEARM concept will require five to 10 years. Once produced, such a system will significantly contribute realising the full value of past and future investments in digital imagery.