Land use/cover is two separate terminologies which are often used interchangeably

Land cover refers to the physical characteristics of earths surface, captured in the
distribution of vegetation, water, soil and other physical features of the land, including
those created solely by human activities e.g., settlements. While land-use refers to
the way in which land has been used by humans and their habitat, usually with
accent on the functional role of land for economic activities. The land use/cover
pattern of a region is an outcome of natural and socio-economic factors and their
utilization by man in time and space. Information on land use/cover and possibilities
for their optimal use is essential for the selection, planning and implementation of
land use schemes to meet the increasing demands for basic human needs and
welfare. This information also assists in monitoring the dynamics of land use
resulting out of changing demands of increasing population.

Land use affects land cover and changes in land cover affect land use. Changes in
land cover by land use do not necessarily imply degradation of the land. However,
many shifting land use patterns driven by a variety of social causes, result in land
cover changes that affects biodiversity, water and radiation budgets, trace gas
emissions and other processes that come together to affect climate and biosphere
(Riebsame et al., 1994). Land use/cover change detection is very essential for better
understanding of landscape dynamic during a known period of time having
sustainable management. Land use/cover changes is a widespread and accelerating
process, mainly driven by natural phenomena and anthropogenic activities, which in
turn drive changes that would impact natural ecosystem (Ruiz-Luna and Berlanga-
Robles, 2003 and Turner and Ruscher, 2004). Understanding landscape patterns,
changes and interactions between human activities and natural phenomenon are
essential for proper land management and decision improvement. Today, earth
resource satellites data are very applicable and useful for land use/cover change
detection studies (Yuan et al., 2005a, Yuan et al., 2005b and Brondizio et al., 1994).

With the invent of remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS)
techniques, land use/cover mapping has given a useful and detailed way to improve
the selection of areas designed to agricultural, urban and/or industrial areas of a
region Application of remotely sensed data made possible to study the changes in
land cover in less time, at low cost and with better accuracy in association with GIS
that provides suitable platform for data analysis, update and retrieval.The advent of
high spatial resolution satellite imagery and more advanced image processing and
GIS technologies, has resulted in a switch to more routine and consistent monitoring
and modeling of land use/land cover patterns. Remote-sensing has been widely
used in updating land use/cover maps and land use/cover mapping has become one
of the most important applications of remote sensing

Landsat-TM images represent valuable and continuous records of the earths

surface during the last 3 decades (USGS, 2014). Moreover, the entire Landsat
archive is now available free-of-charge to the scientific public, which represents a
wealth of information for identifying and monitoring changes in manmade and
physical environments Several studies acknowledged the importance of pre-
processing (i.e., data selection, co-registration, radiometric calibration and
normalization) in performing accurate and reliable change detection analysis

Some extensive research efforts have been made by international scholars for land
use/land cover change detection using remotely sensed images have compared land
use/ land cover change detection methods and made use of 5 methods, viz.,
traditional post-classification cross tabulation, cross correlation analysis, neural
networks, knowledge-based expert systems and image segmentation and object-
oriented classification. They observed that there are merits to each of the five
methods examined and that, at the point of their research, no single approach can
solve the land use change detection problem. Yuan et al., 2005a and Yuan et al.,
2005b developed a methodology to map and monitor land cover change using multi-
temporal Landsat TM data in the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of
Minnesota for 1986, 1991, 1998 and 2002. Their result showed that between 1986
and 2002 the amount of urban land increased from 23.7% to 32.8% of the total area,
while rural cover types of agriculture, forest and wetland decreased from 69.6% to
60.5%. Adepoju et al. (2006)examined the land use/land cover changes that have
taken place in Lagos for the last two decades due to the rapid urbanisation. A post-
classification approach was adopted by Adepoju with a maximum likelihood classifier
algorithm. El Gammal et al. (2010) have used several Landsat images of different
time periods (1972, 1982, 1987, 2000, 2003 and 2008) and processed these images
in ERDAS and ARC-GIS softwares to analyze the changes in the shores of the lake
and in its water volume. Bhagawat (2011)presented the change analysis based on
the statistics extracted from the four land use/land cover maps of the Kathmandu
Metropolitan by using GIS. According to him, land use statistics and transition
matrices are important information to analyze the changes of land use. El-Asmar et
al. (2013) have applied remote sensing indices, i.e., normalized difference water
index (NDWI) and the modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI) in the
Burullus Lagoon, North of the Nile Delta, Egypt for quantifying the change in the
water body area of the lagoon during 1973 to 2011.
In India, researches on land use/land cover have been done by various scholars,
especially by using remote sensing data. Pooja et al. (2012) have quantified land
use/cover of Gagas watershed, district Almora using survey of India topographic
sheet of the year 1965 and LISS III satellite data for the year 2008 over a period of
43 years.Rawat et al., 2013a, Rawat et al., 2013b, Rawat et al., 2013c, Rawat et al.,
2013d and Rawat et al., 2014 have carried out a study on land use/land cover of five
major towns (i.e., Ramnagar, Nainital, Bhimtal, Almora and Haldwani) of Kumaun
Himalaya in Uttarakhand (India). Based on 20 years of satellite data from 1990 to
2010 of land use/land cover change, they found that built up area has sharply
increased due to construction of new buildings in agricultural and vegetation
lands. Amin et al. (2012)carried out a study on land use/land cover mapping of
Srinagar city in Kashmir Valley. They observed that the Srinagar city has
experienced significant changes during 1990 to 2007. The analysis also showed that
changes in land use pattern have resulted in the loss of forest area, open spaces,
etc. Mehta et al. (2012) presented an integrated approach of remote sensing and
GIS for land use and land cover study of arid environment of Kutch region in Gujarat
in between year 1999 and 2009. Sharma et al. (2012) introduced land consumption
rate (LCR) and Land Absorption Coefficient (LAC) to aid in the quantitative
assessment changes between the years 1976 and 2008 in Bhagalpur city in the
state of Bihar in India. Pandey et al. (2012) presented the implementation of a
Geospatial approach for improving the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal
suitability site assessment in growing urban environment. Kumar et al. (2013) carried
out study on biomass estimation of Sariska Wildlife Reserve using forest inventory
and geospatial approach to develop a model based on the statistical correlation
between biomass measured at plot level and the associated spectral
characteristics.Singh et al. (2014) have used recent freely available satellite data of
Landsat-8 for assessing the land use pattern and their spatial variation of Orr
watershed Ashok Nagar district, M.P., India.

Geology: The main tool of Remote Sensing is the GPS. Using this GPS technology, the
scientists started to monitor the major tectonic plate movements and can monitor their
speed and directions. Another major example of the remote sensing in geology is, using
the multi-spectral satellite images / Hyper-spectral satellite images for extracting the
mineral compositions, geo-morphological features, etc.
RS and GIS has wide applications in geology, requires good knowledge and expertise in
hyper spectral data processing and interpretation and quantitative approaches used in
imaging spectroscopy for the determination of material composition.

Lithological mapping
Structural mapping
Geomorphological mapping
Mineral exploration
Hydrocarbon exploration
Sedimentation mapping and monitoring
Geo-hazard mapping
planetary mapping

1. Soil Moisture. Determining soil moisture content using active and passive sensors from
space.
Soil moisture contributes so much to understanding Earth sciences the water cycle, weather
forecasting, drought and floods.

1) Active sensors like Radarsat-2 illuminate their target and measures backscatter resulting in
high spatial resolution but low accuracy.

2) Passivesensors like SMOS measures naturally emitted microwave radiation highly accurate
but poor spatial resolution. How can we get the best of both worlds? This is what SMAP is trying
to achieve Soil Moisture Active Passive.

2. LiDAR. Mapping with laser precision using Light Detection and Ranging technology.
If Dr. Evil was a geographer, LiDAR would be his weapon of choice. I can see it now pinky in
the mouth saying bring out the laser. LiDAR measures the distance from the airborne platform
to the earth surface using laser beams. This is how LiDAR got its name Light Detection and
Ranging. What makes LiDAR so special is its densely sampled points at laser accuracy. Digital
surface models, digital elevation models and light intensity models can all be derived from LiDAR
3. Crop Insurance. Doing the detective work for fraudulent crop insurance claims.
As climate becomes less predictable and more destructive (such as droughts and floods), farmers
have to adapt to this new reality. In these cases, crop insurance can help farmers supplement
their income when their fields dont get seeded. Insurance companies and the United States
Geological Survey (USGS) are teaming to up to fight crop insurance fraud. The USGS measures
vegetation growth using Landsats red, infrared channels in combination with NDVI. Using this
information, crop insurance companies can verify seeded crops and catch fraud. Learn
more: Landsat Helps Fight Crop Insurance Fraud: Saving Millions in Government Dollars

4. Forest Stands. Identifying forest stands and tallying their area to estimate forest supplies.
Global forest supplies are being monitored because they not only provide valuable materials
(think construction, paper, packaging) but they also absorb roughly one-third of carbon dioxide
emissions. AVHRR, MODIS and SPOT quantitatively measure the loss and gain of our global
forests.

5. Wind Speed. Measuring wind speed and direction for wind farms, weather forecasting and
surfers.
Golfers, farmers, pilots, engineers and wind turbine planners need accurate wind information.
Weather balloons and GPS are a good way to do this. But its not the only way. NASAs
QuickSCAT scatterometer and wind LiDAR are making these large-scale wind observations too.
Learn more: LiDAR Wind Measurements Wind Speed at Light Speed

6. Weather Forecast. Forecasting weather to warn about natural disasters.

Remote sensing applications like weather forecasting and monitoring are fundamentally
important for businesses, athletes and tourists. In 1975, the Geostationary Operational
Environment Satellite (GOES-1) was launched to collect wind, temperature and other
atmospheric data. But GOES-1 was limited to a small portion of the Earth. A lot has changed
since then. We are now on GOES-12, 13, 14 and 15 with improving temporal, spectral, spatial and
radiometric resolution.

7. Land Cover/Use. Detecting land cover/use types for decision making.

Land cover is the physical property of the surface. Land use explains how land is being utilized.
When a mayor of a city targets a 50% urban tree canopy, spatial resolution matters. A
Landsat pixel spans multiple parcel boundaries and is not a realistic representation of tree
canopy. The Spatial Analysis Laboratory (SAL) of Vermont compared the National Land Cover
with object-based classification and found it was significantly underestimated (11% vs 39%). A
mayor would be very embarrassed to know their objective is almost exceeded. Learn
more: University of Vermont Spatial Analysis Lab

8. Vegetation Conditions. Quantifying forage and crop conditions with Normalized

Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI).
The global food supply is being monitored with satellite imagery and the Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI). Near-infrared radiation is being used to detect healthy vegetation in
agriculture. Healthy vegetation reflects green light and absorbs red and blue light. The green light
that our eyes see is chlorophyll created by plants during photosynthesis. Chlorophyll will reflect
more light in the green and near infrared spectrum compared to other wavelengths. This is why
near infrared radiation in combination with NDVI is one of the primary remote sensing
applications in agriculture and the environment.

9. Sediment Transport. Tracking sediment transport into rivers, lakes, oceans.

Sediment loading is one of the most profound anthropogenic factors on aquatic systems. It affects
industries like tourism, fisheries and ecological functioning. It would be useful to understand
exactly where suspended solids enter and leave. The reflectance of water in satellite imagery
increases with more suspended solids. But in order to monitor nutrient loading, there needs to be
repeated coverage and temporal analysis.

10. Wetland Location and Extent. Preventing the degradation and loss of wetland
ecosystems.
Once seen as a nuisance in agriculture, wetlands were being drained and lost. Now, they have
become a rare precious resource. Wetlands serve many purposes. They help purify water, control
flooding and improve shoreline stability. This is why remote sensing applications to
inventory wetlands have grown so much over the years

REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION IN AGRICULTURE

Remote sensing can be divided into three categories: ground-based,
airborne and satellite. when evaluating a remote sensing platform, spatial
and spectral resolution must also be taken into account. The spatial
resolution defines the pixel size of satellite or airborne images covering
the earth surface and relates to the dimensions of the smallest object that
can be recognized on the ground. A sensor's spectral resolution indicates
the width of spectral bands in which the sensor can collect reflected
radiance.

GROUND-BASED REMOTE SENSING According to Jackson (1986) handheld

remote sensing instruments are very useful for small-scale operational
field monitoring of biotic and abiotic stress agents. This technology has
better temporal, spectral, and spatial resolutions in comparison to
airborne and satellite remote sensing. A limiting factor of handheld remote
sensing is one of efficiency and often time reduced to evaluating small
areas when compared with aircraft and satellite mounted sensors, which
can be used to be used to evaluate much larger areas at a time.
Forecasting yield, nutritional requirements of plants, detection of pest
damage, water demands and weed control are the most commonly
undertaken problems in studies making use of opportunities of field
spectrometers in agriculture.

AIRBORNE REMOTE SENSING Up to date, airborne remote sensing is

mainly realized with the use of piloted aircrafts, however, in recent years
they are more often replaced by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), which
are aircraft remotely piloted from a ground station. UAVs are typically low
cost, light weight and low airspeed aircrafts that are well suited for
remotely sensed data gathering. Currently, there are two broad platforms
for UAVs, namely the Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing types. Fixed wing
UAVs have the advantage of being able to fly at high speeds for long
durations with simpler aerodynamic features. Some of them do not even
require a runway or launcher for takeoff and landing. The rotary wing
UAVs have the advantage of being able to take off and land vertically and
hover over a target. However, because of mechanical complexity and
shortened battery power, they have a short flight range UAVs have
several advantages; they can be deployed quickly and repeatedly, they
are flexible in terms of flying height and timing of missions and they can
obtain very high resolution imagery. This imagery allows for observation of
individual plants, patches, gaps and patterns over the landscapes that
have not previously been possible (Franklin et al. 2006, Laliberte et al.
2006). According to Nebiker et al. (2008) UAVs with a typical spatial
resolution of 120 cm could fill the resolution gap between piloted aircraft
(resolution of 0.22 m) and ground-based platforms (< 1 cm). Providing a
swath width of 50500 m and a spatial resolution of 1- 20 cm, UAV
platforms may be able to provide high resolution inputs necessary for site-
specific crop management. UAVs with a very high resolution might be
used also in agronomical research, management of specialty crops and
studies of the within-field variability. Various ultra light imaging systems,
weighing about 100 g, have been developed to be used with UAVs in
recent years. One of the lightest available multispectral camera is ADC
Micro (Tetracam, Chatsworth, CA, USA), which weights 90 g and produces
images in three channels: green (520-600 nm), red (630- 690 nm) and NIR
(760-920 nm).

SATELLITE IMAGERY Historically, satellite imagery has been used for crop
type mapping, general crop condition assessment, and crop acreage
estimation. Typically, these applications were used over large areas due to
the limited spatial resolution of sensors. Finer resolutions of more recent
satellite sensors, however, are now enabling within field assessment of
problems such as drought stress, flooding and hail damage. A growing
number of satellite remote sensing applications does not mean that this
technology is free from limitations. Stafford (2000) stressed that satellite
images can be affected by variable weather conditions. Lamb and Brown
(2001) indicated that the low-resolution satellite images beneficial only for
large-scale studies and may not be appropriate for the small-scale farms.
Additionally, satellites providing higher-resolution images, e.g., QuickBird
(2.4 m in VNIR) and ASTER (15 m), have long revisit times (1-3.5 and 16
days respectively), making them of limited utility for any application that
might require frequent images. To reduce the revisit time, satellites are
often deployed in constellations consisting of a few synchronized
satellites, which are coordinated and overlap in ground coverage.

Remote sensing has got wide range of applications in the field of coastal
engineering, including estimation of sea surface temperature, chlorophyll
content, suspended sediment concentration, yellow substance
concentration, wave characteristics, potential fishing zone (PFZ) and so on.
Various satellite remote sensing data has provided real data which can be
used to monitor coastal resources. The present paper gives an overview of
some of the applications of remote sensing in the field of satellite
oceanography. From the present review, it can be conclude that, even
though IR and microwave radiometers can be used for measuring
temperatures at different depths in oceans, better choice is to use
microwave data as it has got the advantage of penetrating through clouds
and also it gives a clear view in all weather conditions except rain. Band
ratio approach can be used for identifying different water quality
parameters. In recent past, satellite remote sensing has become an ideal
tool for identifying Potential fishing zone (PFZ).

Table 1. Ocean parameters with their importance and data used.

Parameters Data used Importance of each parameters Sea surface
temperature MODIS,AMSRE, TMI Helps in the studies of climate change
and weather forecasting. Total suspended solids DEIMOS-1,
LANDSAT,ASTER It provides information for hydrodynamic modeling of
coastal zones. Chlorophyll content Seawifs, IKONOS, IRS P4 OCM It
indicates the presence of phytoplankton and helps in identifying PFZ.
Potential fishing zone NOAA AVHRR, IRS P4 OCM Helps fishermen to
increase fish catch, to reduce fuel costs etc. Wave height and spectra
GEOSAT, ASAR (ENVISAT) Provides information for applications like
offshore operational forecasting, routine navigation etc. Chlorophyll
concentration can be measured using remote sensing. Most of the studies
of chlorophyll in water are based on empirical relationships between
(radiance) or reflectance in narrow bands (band ratio) and chlorophyll.
Various field data are collected to calibrate the statistical relationship or to
validate the developed model. It was

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214241X15000760
https://www.geospatialworld.net/article/role-of-remote-sensing-in-forest-management/
http://www.plantsci.cam.ac.uk/research/davidcoomes/publications/themed
/theme1/theme1a
http://www.grazinglandshawaii.org/2014/12/31/top-10-uses-of-remote-
sensing-applications-in-agriculture/
http://www.tankonyvtar.hu/en/tartalom/tamop425/0027_DAI6/ch01s05.htm
l
http://ucalgary.ca/geog/Virtual/Remote%20Sensing/rsforests.html

https://www.scribd.com/doc/21112946/APPLICATION-OF-REMOTE-
SENSING-IN-TOPOGRAPHIC-AND-LAND-COVER-MAPPING
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02626669409492752
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110982315000332
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topography
http://www.ccpo.odu.edu/SEES/veget/class/Chap_5/5_3.htm
http://www.iris.edu/hq/files/pro...|http://cddis.nasa.gov/docs/2009/HTS_0910.pdf |
Scientists track motions of shifting plates using GPS sensors
https://www.nap.edu/read/21729/chapter/5#64
 6.5.1 Agricultural
Agriculture plays an important role in economies of countries. The production of
food is important to everyone and producing food in a cost-effective manner is
the goal of every farmer and an agricultural agency. The satellites has an ability
to image individual fields, regions and counties on a frequent revisit cycle.
Customers can receive field-based information including crop identification,
crop area determination and crop condition monitoring (health and
viability). Satellite data are employed in precision agriculture to manage and
monitor farming practices at different levels. The data can be used to farm
optimization and spatially-enable management of technical operations. The
images can help determine the location and extent of crop stress and then can
be used to develop and implement a spot treatment plan that optimizes the use
of agricultural chemicals. The major agricultural applications of remote sensing
include the following:
vegetation

o crop type classification

o crop condition assessment (crop monitoring, damage

assessment)

o crop yield estimation

soil

o mapping of soil characteristics

o mapping of soil type

o soil erosion

o soil moisture

o mapping of soil management practices

o compliance monitoring (farming practices)

Crop type classification

Remote sensing technology can be used to prepare maps of crop type and
delineating their extent. Traditional methods of obtaining this information are
census and ground surveying. The use of satellites is advantageous as it can
generate a systematic and repetitive coverage of a large area and provide
information about the health of the vegetation. The data of crop is needed for
agricultural agencies to prepare an inventory of what was grown in certain areas
and when. This information serves to predict grain crop yield, collecting crop
production statistics, facilitating crop rotation records, mapping soil productivity,
identification of factors influencing crop stress, assessment of crop damage and
monitoring farming activity.

What kind of images can be used? There are several types of remote
sensing systems used in agriculture but the most common is a passive
system that senses the electromagnetic energy reflected from plants. The
spectral reflection of a vegetation depend on stage type, changes in the
phenology (growth), and crop health, and thus can be measured and
monitored by multi-spectral sensors. Many remote sensing sensors
operate in the green, red, and near infrared regions of the EM spectrum,
they measure both absorption and reflectance effects associated with
vegetation. Multi-spectral variations facilitate fairly precise detection,
identification and monitoring of vegetation. The observation of vegetation
phenology requires multi-temporal images (data at frequent intervals
throughout the growing season). Different sensors (multi-sensor) often
provide complementary information, and when integrated together, can
facilitate interpretation and classification of imagery. Examples include
combining high resolution panchromatic imagery with coarse resolution
multi-spectral imagery, or merging actively and passively sensed data
(SAR imagery with multi-spectral imagery).

Fig. 6-20. Some species (red color) of cultivated plant on satellite image
Crop monitoring and damage assessment
Remote sensing has a number of attributes that lend themselves to
monitoring the health of crops. The optical (VIR) sensing advantage is that
it can see the infrared, where wavelengths are highly sensitive to crop
vigour as well as crop stress and crop damage. Remote sensing imagery
also gives the required spatial overview of the land. Remote sensing can
aid in identifying crops affected by conditions that are too dry or wet,
affected by insect, weed or fungal infestations or weather related damage
(Fig. 6-21.). Images can be obtained throughout the growing season to not
only detect problems, but also to monitor the success of the treatment.
Detecting damage and monitoring crop health requires high-resolution,
multi-spectral imagery and multi-temporal imaging capabilities. One of
the most critical factors in making imagery useful to farmers is a quick
turnaround time from data acquisition to distribution of crop information.

Fig. 6-21. The problems inside the agricultural fields

Soil mapping
The disturbance of soil by land use impacts on the quality of our
environment. Salinity, soil acidification and erosion are some of the
problems. Remote sensing is a good method for mapping and prediction of
soil degradation. Soil layers that rise to the surface during erosion have
different color, tone and structure than non eroded soils thus the eroded
parts of soil can be easily identify on the images (Fig. 6-22.). Using multi-
temporal images we can study and map dynamical features - the
expansion of erosion, soil moisture. Attempts to study land degradation
processes and the necessity of degradation prediction have resulted in the
creation of erosion models. The necessary information (parameters of the
models; Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) to modeling can be often
derived from satellite images. The vegetative cover is a major factor of
soil erosion.
 Fig. 6-22. Some kind of erosion in satellite image
6.5.2 Forest mapping
One of the basic applications is forest cover typing and species
identification. Forest cover typing can consist of reconnaissance mapping
over a large area, while species inventories are highly detailed
measurements of stand contents and characteristics (tree type, height,
density). Using remote sensing data we can identify and delineate various
forest types, that would be difficult and time consuming using traditional
ground surveys. Data is available at various scales and resolutions to
satisfy local or regional demands. Requirements for reconnaissance
mapping depend on the scale of study. For mapping differences in forest
cover (canopy texture, leaf density,) are needed:

multi-spectral images, a very high resolution data is required to

get detailed species identification

multi-temporal images datasets contribute phenology

information of seasonal changes of different species

stereo photos help in the delineation and assessment of density,

tree height and species

hyper-spectral imagery can be used to generate signatures of

vegetation species and certain stresses (e.g. infestations) on trees.
Hyper-spectral data offers a unique view of the forest cover, available
only through remote sensing technology
 RADAR is more useful for applications in the humid tropics
because its all weather imaging capability is valuable for monitoring
forest

LiDAR data allows the 3-dimensional structure of the forest. The

multiple return systems are capable of detecting the elevation of land
and objects on it. The LIDAR data help estimate a tree height, a crown
area and number of trees per unit area.

Clear cut mapping and deforestation

One of an important global problem is deforestation (Fig. 6-23.). There are
many implications of it: in industrialized parts of world, pollution (acid
rain, soot and chemicals from factory smoke plumes) has damaged a large
percentage of forested land, in tropical countries, valuable rainforest is
being destroyed in an effort to clear potentially valuable agricultural and
pasture land. The loss of forests increases soil erosion, river siltation and
deposition, affecting the environment.

Fig. 6-23. Forest cuts monitoring (LANDSAT TM 1992 and 2000). Source:
http://www.hso.hu/cgi-bin/page.php?page=84)
6.5.3 Land cover
Land cover mapping is one of the most important and typical
applications of remote sensing data. Land cover corresponds to the
physical condition of the ground surface, for example, forest, grassland,
concrete pavement etc., while land use reflects human activities such as
the use of the land, for example, industrial zones, residential zones,
agricultural fields etc Initially the land cover classification system should
be established, which is usually defined as levels and classes. The level
and class should be designed in consideration of the purpose of use
(national, regional or local), the spatial and spectral resolution of the
remote sensing data, user's request and so on.
Land cover change detection is necessary for updating land cover maps
and the management of natural resources. The change is usually detected
by comparison between two multi-date images, or sometimes between an
old map and an updated remote sensing image.
 seasonal change :agricultural lands and deciduous forests
change seasonally
annual change: land cover or land use changes, which are real
changes, for example deforested areas or newly built towns.
Information on land cover and changing land cover patterns is directly
useful for determining and implementing environment policy and can be
used with other data to make complex assessments (e.g. mapping erosion
risks).

CORINE LAND COVER

CORINE LAND COVER is the largest databases, providing information on
the physical characteristics of the earth surface. Satellite images are used
as the main source data to derive land cover information. The number of
participating countries currently is 39. In the beginning of the project an
information system on the state of the European environment was
established, nomenclatures and methodologies were developed and
agreed at European level. The aim of the European Unions CLC project
was to map and get information on land cover at scale 1:100.000 for the
whole Europe. In the beginning of 1990's the land cover of the
contemporary European Union countries were mapped first time using
satellite images, common classification criteria and quality standards.
Classification was done by visual interpretation. In the 2000 (CLC2000)
the majority of the participating countries updated the CLC1990 database
using the same method of interpretation of the satellite images (Fig. 6-
24.). In addition to CLC1990 and CLC2000 also the land cover changes
(1990-2000) database was produced. CORINE Land Cover 2006 is the third
European Land Cover inventory. Multi-temporal images (SPOT-4/5 and IRS-
P6) were used to derive the minimum 5 ha land cover changes that
occurred between 2000 and 2006. Some characteristics of the CORINE
databases are as follows (Table 6-4.):

Table 6-4. Some characteristics of the CORINE databases

CORINE CORINE
1:100.000 1:50.000

Landsat
Satellite images Landsat TM ETM+ SPOT
PAN

Date of images 1990-1992 1990-1993

Number of
44 87
categories
Minimal
extension of the 25 4
area (ha)

Minimal width of
100 50
the area (m)

Fig. 6-24. Spot satellite image as input data and the result of its
interpretation. Source: http://www.fomi.hu/corine/clc50.htm
Remote sensing data has shown tremendous potential for applications in
various field for example in land use mapping and detection, geologic
mapping, water resource applications (pollution, lake-eutrophisation
assessment), wetland mapping, urban and regional planning, environment
inventory, natural disaster assessment or archaeological applications and
other. In this unit we accented some examples of touched fields to show
the remote sensing as data source and the benefits of remote sensing
applications.

Forests and Remote Sensing Overview

Remote sensing allows for efficient management of forest

resources. These resources include wood, forage, water, wildlife,
recreation, timber management, maintenance and improvement
of existing forest stands and fire control. Satellite and remote
sensing images, with airphoto interpretation, combined with
forest classification maps, will help to determine the volume of
timber harvested from an individual tree or stand of trees.

Remote sensing images will detect signs of damage of forests by

fire, insects or disease. Airphotos will also provide information
about range and wildlife habitat management, in outdoor
recreation surveys and in estimating the volumes of the standing
trees. Seasonal differences should be accounted for when viewing
airphoto/satellite images. Individual tree species will be
identifiable through shape, size, pattern, shadow, tone and
texture. Measurements include tree height/stand height, tree
crown diameter, density of stocking and stand area. Compact
Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) provides images and has
been used to calculate the Leaf Area Index for a study site in the
Kananaskis Valley.

The emphasis is placed on forest inventory techniques and

detection of plants on large-scale photographs, as well as looking
for signs of damage by fire, insects, or disease.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) assist in the management of

forests. As the size and physical terrain of forests make it difficult
to survey, GPS makes it easier, faster and more accurate to
create land surveys (within 1% of land survey accuracies using
DGPS). Also, GPS allows for measurement of timber of interest to
forestry companies and conservation groups. Forest fire
management is enhanced by the power of Differential Global
Positioning Systems (DGPS). For example, a helicopter with DGPS
gear can fly along the perimter of a fire and download an accurate
map of the fire's size. This provides useful information to destroy
the fire in the right places with the right number of firefighters.
DGPS was designed and used by the U.S. Forest Service.

LAND COVER MAPPING

Land cover is important for many scientific, resource management and
policypurposes and for a range of human activities. It can be define as key
forenvironmental information. It is an important determinant of land use
and thus of value of land to the society. Land cover varies at a range of
spatial scales from localto global, and at temporal frequencies of days to
millennia. As the need forenvironmental planning and management
became important, an accompanying callfor land cover information
emerged in parallel.Land cover actually is a product of remote sensing,
initially through aerialphotography. We can find the population of plant in
certain place through landcover mapping. Usually, people use land cover
mapping to see the change inpopulation and growth in certain place. We
can also determine the effect of landuse or human activities to the
environment especially the plant population

REMOTE SENSING IN TOPOGRAPIC MAPPINGPreviously, we have been told

about the definition of topography. As weknow, mapping shows the detail
of the physical geography of the grounddata. It shows not only naturally
covered object but also human-madefeatures. The important thing in a
topographic map are imaginary latitudeand longitude that is important to
determine the place of object on theground. The cross point between both
latitude and longitude is callcoordinate. Due to the latitude and latitude
coordinate system, each pointwill have only one coordinate. This
coordinate can easily been found by usingGlobal Positioning System (GPS)
which is also categorized as remote sensing. The other usage of remote
sensing is todraw a map correct to the ground. There will be some error
due tocarelessness of the surveyor whoconduct the project. By using
remotesensing, the data shows correctly theposition of certain object on
theground. The data from satellite or aerialphotogrammetry can gives us
thedifferences of height on the ground. This differences shown clearly in
thosedata obtained.In case of difficulties of field study,remote sensing can
help to determineand study the dangerous place or place that cannotbeen
reach by the human. From above, we can take allthe data including places
that is not easy to determine. There is many ways to studied certain place
data suchas by using geometrical correction. The data from thesatellite
been corrected by using polynomial formula.
[REMOTE SENSING APPLICATION IN TOPOGRAPHIC AND
LAND COVER MAPPING]
Page 10

Diagram 3:
the image that being captured
byusing aerial photogrammetry (above) is thenbeing change to topograph
ic map (below). Itgives exact position of the point or object on theground.

Land cover mapping is play a big role to the earth. As modern world
hasbeen created, the natural resources management should be handle
byhuman. Human life is related to nature and nature also relate to human.
It islike one interaction between all living organism on the earth.As a
consequence of steady population growth, commercial and
residentialdevelopment in theWe do land cover mapping to manage
our resources, manage the land use,plan what to do with the resources,
town planning and the most impotantthing maintain the balance of
nature.How remote sensing helps us in land cover mapping?By using
remote sensing, we can easilyclassify the resources on the ground
forwhich the area covered with. We candetermine the land cover due to
digitalnumber (DN) classification technique.Digital number of different
object mighthave different number. It is based onhow the electromagnetic
radiation fromthe sun (passive remote sensing) orsatellite(active remote
sensing) itself being reflected back by the object.If you using data of
Landsat TM, you canuse seven different bands to study thedifferences
between object on theground. For example; when you studiedabout plant
or vegetative covering, youcan use band 3,4 and 5. Those bandscan easily
differentiate the differenttype of vegetative. The differences also can be
determineby using certain combination of RGB(red, blue and green
combination).It gives different colour of the studie
Passive sensor methodologies[edit]
Main article: Aerial photography
Main article: Satellite imagery

Besides their role in photogrammetry, aerial and satellite imagery can be used to identify and
delineate terrain features and more general land-cover features. Certainly they have become
more and more a part of geovisualization, whether maps or GIS systems. False-color and non-
visible spectra imaging can also help determine the lie of the land by delineating vegetation and
other land-use information more clearly. Images can be in visible colours and in other spectrum

Active sensor methodologies[edit]

Satellite RADAR mapping is one of the major techniques of generating Digital Elevation Models
(see below). Similar techniques are applied in bathymetric surveys using sonar to determine the
terrain of the ocean floor. In recent years, LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging), a remote
sensing technique that uses a laser instead of radio waves, has increasingly been employed for
complex mapping needs such as charting canopies and monitoring glaciers.

Aircraft[edit]
Full-size, manned aircraft are prohibited from flights under 1000 feet, over congested areas and
500 feet above more sparsely populated locations. [24]

Radio-controlled model aircraft[edit]

A drone carrying a camera for aerial photography

Two drones that can be used to take aerial photographs

Advances in radio controlled models have made it possible for model aircraft to conduct low-
altitude aerial photography. This had benefited real-estate advertising, where commercial and
residential properties are the photographic subject when in 2014 the US Federal
Communications Commission, issued an order banning the use of "Drones" in any commercial
application related to photographs for use in real estate advertisement's. [25] This ban has since
been lifted, as the FAA Part 107 regulations for small UAS became effective on August 29, 2016.
[citation needed]

Small scale model aircraft offer increased photographic access to these previously restricted
areas. Miniature vehicles do not replace full size aircraft, as full size aircraft are capable of longer
flight times, higher altitudes, and greater equipment payloads. They are, however, useful in any
situation in which a full-scale aircraft would be dangerous to operate. Examples would include
the inspection of transformers atop power transmission lines and slow, low-level flight over
agricultural fields, both of which can be accomplished by a large-scale radio controlled helicopter.
Professional-grade, gyroscopically stabilized camera platforms are available for use under such
a model; a large model helicopter with a 26cc gasoline engine can hoist a payload of
approximately seven kilograms (15 lbs). In addition to gyroscopically stabilized footage, the use
of RC copters as reliable aerial photography tools increased with the integration of FPV (first-
person-view) technology. Many radio-controlled aircraft are now capable of utilizing Wi-Fi to
stream live video from the aircraft's camera back to the pilot's ground station. [citation needed]