I just got a definitive email response on how to cite ASTER data (or other data from the same source), and that there are no restrictions on their use. I am publishing a paper in ESRI's ArcUser, whose the editor also got this email, so ESRI should now be aware (if they weren't before), that these data are acceptable for publication (you don't have to only use ESRI's data).
Thanks to Janice Wilson for clarifying this!
This question/answer comes from the LPDAAC archives but the link is no longer online so I'm posting the formatted text here. Note that the naming conventions changed in 2003 (see below)
Imagery from the ASTER instrument on the Terra platform is described at the JPL website. This description text was copied from p.24 of the following PDF file http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/aster/ASTER_GeoRef_FINAL.pdf
The ASTER14DMO format file contains 15 TIF files. These include 14 bands of imagery (V1-3n and 3b, S4-S9, T10-T14), and a DEM file. If you have an HDF file see this posting first. DEM 1. Open the TIF file and right-click layer > Data… > Export Data… choose Format: GRID 2. Give it a legal filename for GRIDs (short filename, no spaces or weird characters) 3.
The following is an extensive list of providers of Aerial photographs (principally covering the USA).
This list was forwarded to Eric Schniter by friend Geoff Smick in environmental consulting, who is a co-worker of this guy:
Chris Zumwalt
GIS Technician
415-454-8868 x35
This is the list:
DEM data often arrive in the form of GeoTIFF that must be converted to GRID for further work in ArcGIS.
1. Acquire SRTM data as GeoTIFF and open in Arcmap. Right-click and Export... Export to GRID format. If you have a lot of grids you can automate this step, see below.
2. Reformat with the following command in Spatial Analyst under Raster Calculator:
setnull ( [GRIDNAME] < 0 , [GRIDNAME] )
That command sets all topographic values less than 0 (sea level) and the no-data collar area to <NULL>.
How to convert the ASTER imagery (HDF format) into a more widely readable format.
[note: in 2007 some imagery from ASTER is arriving as 15 GeoTIFF files. If your ASTER data is in TIF files see this posting instead]
The program Geomatica Freeview is a good program for browsing and viewing HDF files, but it does not allow you to export to another format.
The GPS system run by the US Government uses WGS84 datum and decimal degrees as the internal coordinate system.
If you're using a consumer-level GPS and you like to export your data to a GIS in the future, then this coordinate system is probably the most versatile. Also, if you'd like to overlay your data on web maps such as Google Maps "Mashups" then WGS84 decimal Degrees are the format that is needed. In this format you won't have to worry about keeping track of your UTM Zone and the transformation being used.
However you should use the projected UTM coordinate system if you want to make measurements while you are in the field because instead of being in the Degrees the UTM system is in Metric units. You have to use a polar projection in high latitude areas because the UTM system doesn’t extend to the polar regions.
A good review of Datums and coordinate systems is online at Peter Dana’s website
http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/datum/datum.html
Exercises: finding datasets, global coverage:
Data acquisition methods for anthropological research.