Publisher's Synopsis
Remotely sensed images are an indispensable tool to researchers in disciplines such as cartography, forestry and geology in which mapping by satellite or aircraft is often a far more acurate, efficient and cost-effective method than conventional survey. Most users of remote sensing data are now familiar with using photographic images prepared to standard prescriptions by others to relate colours or grey tones to what actually exists on the ground. This book is aimed at the discipline-oriented user who wishes to move away from these traditional photographic interpretation methods towards interactive analysis systems. Such systems permit the classification of the digital data in ways that enable locations and quantitative information on specific themes to be extracted and portrayed. The empasis is upon the integration of these new techniques into existing discipline skills: the user is not expected to become a 'computer operator'. The book covers the fundamental theory of image classification, and illustrates it with practical examples in the form of a structured outline of a total research project. It is therefore an essential reference manual to 'sit at the elbow' of the user working with an image processing system for remotely sensed data.
