BEYOND GOOGLE EARTH: REMOTE SENSING IMAGERY IN THE GEOSCIENCES

No other types of geoscience information have been more in the public eye in recent years than aerial photography and satellite imagery. Remotely sensed images have become ubiquitous on television news, advertisements, and even on police drama television series like Numb3rs. Real estate websites, city and county websites, and online mapping sites such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, MapQuest and Google Earth all use imagery to impress, to illustrate geography, and to allow for analysis. Remotely sensed imagery is widely used in the earth sciences. Research applications range from fire detection, to vegetation and forest assessments, to the identification and analysis of geological features and events such as faults, drainage patterns, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.

Access to aerial and satellite imagery varies from easy and free to complicated and expensive. Satellite imagery and aerial photography is often not well represented in library catalogs and, when records are present, they are often not specific enough to allow the patron to truly tell if the imagery will be of any use. For all its presence in the media and value for research, remotely sensed imagery is still difficult to organize and access.

This presentation will introduce different types of remotely sensed imagery, describe the organization of this class of data, and illustrate the many research applications of remotely sensed imagery. The session will explore the traditional and emerging methods of access and will highlight and demonstrate important resources for aerial and satellite imagery.