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Remote Sensing (RS) is the act of deriving data about the earths surface, from above it. Previously images were obtained through photography from aircraft for processing into maps. Now the term Remote Sensing is used most often specifically to satellite-mounted multispectral1 sensors, such as the Landsat series of satellites. This is normally available in digital format from one of the satellite agencies (see chapter 5). Some kind of RS or GIS software is required to be able to read the image, though once the basic map image has been produced, techniques other than GIS can be used to process or manipulate it (see chapter 4). Geographical Information Systems (GIS)2 are best described as software and techniques for displaying and analysing information about the earth in a digital form. GIS and RS software share many similar attributes and some software packages claim to be both RS and GIS software. They are similar fields in that they both are concerned with the digital representation of geographic phenomena and often both employ the same spatial analytical techniques to manipulate the data. Once the image (usually received as a set of layers) has been processed, there are a number of ways in which it can be used and manipulated, using manual and/or digital techniques. The research has established that a map useable for basic planning purposes can be produced with just three layers of a basic Landsat image or tile (approximately 1% of the data supplied).
Multispectral is the term used for recording images at various wavelengths, each as a separate layer related to a given defined image boundary. Singly or in combination they reveal much information about that portion of the earth's surface - what is on it, in it and what it is composed of. When combined and compared with adjoining images a much broader picture can be constructed of the earth's surface. 2 A GIS is a sophisticated database management system designed to acquire, image, visualise, and display spatially referenced (geographical) forms of data. John R Campbell - Interdisciplinary Research and GIS - ASA Monograph 39, Routeledge 2002. Max Lock Centre, University of Westminster
97164587.doc
Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing non-renewable natural resources, to urban planning. Its success is due to its unique capability to provide near real-time information of the earths surface at a variety of scales. In addition, the continuous nature of the data acquisition, the regular revisit of the sensor to previously imaged areas of the earth, and the digital nature of the data have all added to its success and reliability.
Source: http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/waves3.html
At one end of the spectrum are radio waves and microwaves that have very long wavelengths. At the shorter end of the spectrum are x-rays and gamma rays, and in the middle is the narrow range of optical wavelengths visible to human eyes. Various sections of the spectrum are of use in remote sensing. These are primarily atmospheric windows bands of wavelengths where the radiation passes easily through the atmosphere to the surface of the earth. The most commonly used are visible and infrared wavelengths: Visible portion, consisting of blue, green and red: 0.4m to 0.7m Infrared portion, consisting of near, short-wave, and thermal: 0.7m to 14m
A satellite sensing system will be designed to image a certain portion of the spectrum, i.e. to record the amount of radiation reflected or emitted at various wavelengths. In order to collect a sufficient amount of energy to provide a reliable measurement, satellite sensors will record the reflectance over an interval of wavelengths. These are referred to as channels or wavebands. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for example images at one visible channel (0.53 0.73m), one near infrared channel (0.73 1.1m), two short-wave infrared channels (1.58 1.64m and 3.5 3.9m), and two thermal infrared channels (10.3 11.3m and 11.5 12.5m). It is therefore a multispectral sensor, as it images over more than one waveband of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing
Data Structures
The way a GIS does this is to use data structures to represent geographical object. It does so in two main ways called 'raster' and 'vector'. Raster Data Structure In a raster data structure, reality is divided into an array of square pixels each of which has a value. For example, 1 may be road, 2 pasture, 3 water, etc. The image on the left below shows a raster depiction of a house, by a river with a road serving the house and continuing on past. Each pixel has a code that represents its land type. The advantage of this is that another layer can be placed showing property value, for example, over this map and a calculation can then be made pixel to pixel through the layers. This can be done with as many layers as needed.
Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing Figure 3.2: Raster Versus Vector Data Structure
Vector Data Structure The other (and most common) form of GIS data structure is the vector data structure or object approach. Geographical objects are constructed of point, lines and polygons. In the view above the house is a polygon, constructed of lines that change direction at points. Figure 3.3: Vector Depiction of an Imaginary Area
In figure 3.3, an imaginary vector depiction shows the three components used together to depict geographic objects. The points could represent cities, or oil wells any discreet location or area that can be represented as a single point on a map, depending on the scale of the map. The line could represent a road, a river, the route of an exploration or advance any linear feature. The line is constructed of a series of points, known as vertices. Each vertex defines the point at which the line changes direction. In a GIS some
Max Lock Centre, University of Westminster
97164587.doc
Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing knowledge is built into these lines, so for example the GIS can tell which direction along each line is 'forward' or 'backwards', known as the 'to' and 'from' nodes, or which county, zone is on each side of the line. The polygonal theme which could be counties, property parcels, electoral zone etcis constructed of lines (in turn defined by points) that join up to create a closed area.
metadata n., a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. OED
Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing Figure 3.4: Metadata File for Landsat Image
However, some metadata standards can be extremely exhaustive. For example, the document shown in figure 3.5 shows a file created to describe a GIS layer of wells created by the University of Wyomings Water resources Centre (http://www.wygisc.uwyo.edu/metadata/wells.html). Figure 3.5: Metadata File for Well Head GIS Layer (University of Wyoming).
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Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing only of relevance if distinct spectral changes are expected to take place over time, for example in agricultural seasons and crop rotation or rapidly developing or changing urban areas. The theory of classification allows us to perform two types of classification unsupervised or supervised. The main difference between the two is that, during an unsupervised classification, it is the computer that develops the spectral signatures that will be used in the classification process, not the user. In addition, with an unsupervised classification, pixels are assigned to a class based on their spectral characteristics alone. During the unsupervised classification, pixels will be clustered based on the natural spectral groupings present in the dataset. Exactly how the assignment of a pixel to a cluster takes place will depend on the software used. The most commonly used is the Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique (ISODATA) algorithm. Pixels are assigned to classes based on their spectral distance from a class mean. This is an iterative process, with the class means shifting after each iteration. The process ends when either a maximum number of iterations have been performed, or a maximum percentage of unchanged pixels has been reached between iterations. The various clusters created will then need to be compared to in situ data, in order to assign meaningful values to them. In contrast, a supervised classification requires some prior knowledge of the classes present within the scene, in order to create a set of training data from which the spectral characteristics of each class will be determined. The first stage is thus the training stage. This involves the identification of areas representative of each class within the image. The DN values of each area are then used to create spectral signatures for each cover type. As the classification will be based on these training sets, it is imperative that they represent the full spectral variation of each cover class. The accuracy of the final classification is determined by the quality of these training sets, so it is important to spend some time creating these as accurately as possible. Once the training sets have been identified, the image can be classified. Numerous supervised classification algorithms exist. Some of the most common ones that are typically found in image processing software are described briefly in Boxes 3.1 and 3.2.
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Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing
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Mapping Urbanisation for Urban and Regional Governance Main Report Final Report: September 2003 - DFID Research R8130 3. An Introduction to Remote Sensing
Box 3.2 Automatic Extraction of Features from Satellite Imagery is not always Practicable
In remote sensing technology, the use of algorithms to automatically extract features from satellite imagery in order to create maps, is still reasonably new and cutting edge. Armin Gruen in Switzerland and Ian Dowman in the UK have worked extensively with algorithms that can follow linear features or extract features based on their shape and / or spectral characteristics. This represents a great advantage for the cartographic industry and national mapping agencies (NMAs) have been very interested in their development. The drawback is that it is extremely expensive. The effort required in terms of images, processing, hardware, training make this a very specialised operation and so not really appropriate at present for the developing world. However, there is a reference section at the end of the report giving the key references on automatic feature extraction for mapping. In practice, Landsat imagery, for instance, either printed out or viewed on a screen can be generally and well interpreted at 1:25,000 to 1:50,000 scale by an operative trained in aerial photography and who has a local ground knowledge of the area covered. Areas of uncertain classification such as water, rock, building, road, railway, new grown grass, recently tilled land, bare earth, and so forth will still need to be identified as a query and checked on the ground. The process can be iterative and self correcting if clear records are kept. There is a need to keep field checking of general topographical 'map' classification separate from the collection of detailed 'quality' and 'quantity' land use classification. The latter should be a separate exercise once the topographical base has been verified.
Disadvantages
There will be doubtful and uncertainties of classification related to pixel size. A full field check will be necessary to resolve ground use in these areas. Datasets from multiple sources are sometimes difficult to georeference. Using images and maps that are drawn in different scales and projections can lead to difficulty combining them. The sensor performs a sweep and as such can create errors. i.e., only some of the image is directly below the sensor and so pixels toward the edge of the image may be distorted. Objects in the image can be confused or misclassified. For example, shadows may look like metalled roads. To get any level of detailed, current data and to buy specialist RS software can be expensive In some active sensing systems (such as lidar) the sensor and source are moving relative to each other distortions can creep to the image. This is a form of Doppler effect (the visual equivalent of a police siren changing pitch as it moves closer or further away from you).
Provides data about inaccessible areas - or even if theyre not inaccessible, then at least you dont have to go there. Rapid production of maps possible Easy to manipulate (relatively!) with computers and derive information for map production.
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