The AmericaView program began as an research and education pilot project initiated by Ohio and the USGS in 1998. OhioView, as it was called, was originated by a group of universities in Ohio and the USGS in an attempt to overcome the issues that impaired academic and research use of satellite data. Primary goals of the pilot ware to reduce the cost of data used for research and reduce the time required for processing and distribution of these data.

In the early years, much of the funding went to establishing infrastructure and methodology needed for the routine acquisition, processing and delivery of Landsat and other remotely sensed data to an academic user community.

By 2000, the success of the OhioView project prompted the Congress to instruct the USGS to begin a nationwide implementation.

Texas received its first funding under this program in 2000. That year, funds were awarded to the Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS) a state agency, as well as 3 programs in other states. The Texas money was used to support data acquisition and other programs underway at TNRIS.

Later that year, a conference was held at EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to review the results of the program. P. R. Blackwell, Information Scientist with the Forest Resources Institute, Stephen F. Austin State University was asked to represent TNRIS at the meeting. During this meeting, Mr. Blackwell met Chris Doesher, USGS Program Manager for the OhioView project, and explained his vision for TexasView.

In 2001, the USGS called for a planning conference in Springfield, Maryland to further develop plans for AmericaView. Representatives from 11 states were invited to attend, including P. R. Blackwell. The result of that two day meeting was a fledgling organization call "AmericaView", a mission statement, a governance structure, and an Executive Committee, consisting of four individuals, including Mr. Blackwell.

The attendees were invited to submit proposals for the development of state-based organizations to promote the mission of AmericaView. Mr. Blackwell submitted one of 4 successful proposals and received funding which created TexasView in 2002.

The TexasView organization grew and flourished over the next several years, adding members and building a hugh archive of remotely sensed data. Today, TexasView consists of 14 University members and many federal, state and local governmental entities.