zz Using Online Resources to Teach Remote Sensing

In a recent post, I discussed online texts that I and others have successfully used in teaching GIS. Now let’s discuss what resources might be useful to teach Remote Sensing. I have used Dr Nicholas Short’s Remote Sensing Tutorial for many years; even though much is a decade old, the fundamental theories are unchanged and are clearly presented. The Tutorial covers history, applications, image processing, and applications in geology, vegetation, urban, land use, regional studies, and more. Fundamentals of Remote Sensing from the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing is another perennial favorite—I particularly find the sections on image interpretation and analysis helpful. ITT VIS has developed a comprehensive resource with exercises and downloadable data.

Barry Rice offers a primer that covers some ground that the others do not. Dr Winterbottom’s tutorial includes exercises on a variety of topics, and Ned Horning’s work at the American Museum of Natural History is very helpful. GIS Development provides a handy overview, and the International Center for Remote Sensing Education created a remote sensing core curriculum a few years ago. The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) provides a wide variety of fundamental and special-topic remote sensing books, including Remote Sensing and Image Interpretation by Lillesand, Kiefer, and Chipman, through which many of us were introduced to the field in our university courses. The ASPRS, the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Teaching with Spatial Technology (formerly the Conference on Remote Sensing in Education), the ESRI Education User Conference, and the ESRI User Conference provide excellent networking opportunities and professional development in Remote Sensing.

As GIS and Remote Sensing share more common ground, this will shape into an exciting decade for those who came into the geospatial community from the Remote Sensing side as well as those who entered from the GIS side. As ESRI Director of Imagery Solutions Lawrie Jordan explained recently in ArcNews, ArcGIS 9.4 will for the first time include true remote sensing functionality. The remote sensing courses from ESRI will continue to expand.

What resources do you make use of when you teach Remote Sensing?