Crystal Data International's presence in Huntsville, Alabama keeps us close to the technical roots that began here with America's space program and continue in realms as diverse as NASA's advanced research and development operations of the Marshall Space Flight Center; Baron Services, one of the world's largest weather data gathering and reporting companies; the NATIONAL SPACE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CENTER (NSSTC).
The NSSTC is the home of the VON BRAUN CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND INNOVATION, its not-for-profit arm, which is a Huntsville-based science & research organization specializing in engineering solutions, science applications, hands-on learning in the areas of Global Weather, Unmanned Vehicles/Robotics, Space Power and Propulsion, Sensor Web Enabling Technologies, and Science and Exploration. The Center, a nationally-recognized research and development organization, is a collaboration between NASA and the State of Alabama through its six research universities and includes the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Huntsville is the home to the GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS CENTER located at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC). The USSRC opened in 1970 as a not-for-profit agency of the State of Alabama and is a training and service provider for geospatial applications. It is also the home of Virtual Alabama Team.
VIRTUAL ALABAMA is a Google Earth driven portal created for Alabama state and local government agencies. It combines thousands of pieces of information from across the state - including maps, photos, traffic cameras, current weather and other databases - into one, easy-to-use location. It is then fused for display using Google Earth visualization technology. Dr. Michael Jones, chief technologist with Google Earth, said that several states are developing Web sites that layer lots of government information into a quickly accessible format, but Alabama is "unique in the United States" because its web site includes data submitted by every county.
Huntsville is also home to many of the nation's most advanced geographic information system (GIS) specialty companies, several of which are active partners of Crystal Data International.
