Training

on
“Remote Sensing and GIS Applications”

Basics of Remote Sensing and GIS

Dr. Deepak Patle

Teaching Faculty

Department of Soil and Water Engineering

College of Agricultural Engineering, Jabalpur
Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur
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What is Remote Sensing?
• The science and art of obtaining information about an object,
area, or phenomenon through the analysis of data acquired by a
device that is not in contact with the object, area, or investigation.
(Lillesand and Kiefer,1994)

• Remote sensing is the technique of deriving information about

objects on the surface of the earth without physically coming into
contact with them. [India's National Remote Sensing Agency
(NRSA)]

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Why Remote Sensing?
• Systematic data collection
• Information about three dimensions of real objects
• Repeatability
• Global coverage
• Convenience of selecting different scales
• The only solution sometimes for the inaccessible areas
• Multipurpose information

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Remote Sensing Process
1. Radiation by energy source
2. Interaction of energy with
atmosphere
3. Interaction of energy with the target
4. Interaction of energy with
atmosphere
5. Recording of energy by sensor
6. Transmission, reception and
processing
7. Interpretation and Analysis
8. Application
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Types of Remote Sensing
Passive Remote Sensing:
an external source of energy,
either sun or earth/ atmosphere
Sun: Wavelength (0.4 - 5 µm)
Earth: Wavelength (3 µm - 30 cm)

Active Remote Sensing:

Source of energy is part of the
remote sensor system
Radar: Wavelength (mm-m)

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Electromagnetic spectrum
• The electromagnetic spectrum is simply the full range of wave frequencies that
characterizes solar radiation.
• We are mainly concerned with the visible, infrared, and microwave portions of the
spectrum.

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Visible Range

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Infra-Red Range

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Spectral Reflectance Curve

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Spectral Reflectance Curve
Important points
• Some surfaces such as grass,
have considerably different
reflectance characteristics in
the visible and infrared regions
of the spectrum, whereas
asphalt etc are same.
• Most appropriate region of the
spectrum for differentiating
between the surfaces is the
infrared.
• Range of response in blue
band is small Graph illustrates
very low reflectance of water
surfaces in the infrared region.
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Spectral Characteristics for Water

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Spectral Characteristics for Soil

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Limitations of Remote Sensing
Although remote sensing has many advantages over ground-based survey, yet
remote sensing has not totally replaced ground-based survey methods, largely
because of some limitations with this technology, which still exist.
• Cost of data collection and data purchase.
• Problems with data analysis and interpretation.
• Potential limitations with spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions of the
various sensors.
• Problems with all weather capability as some sensors cannot ‘see’ through
cloud.

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Applications of Remote Sensing
• Assessment and monitoring of vegetation types and their status
• Agricultural property management planning and crop yield assessment
• Soil surveys including mineral and petroleum exploration
• Monitoring and planning of water resources and groundwater exploration
• Urban planning
• Forest Resource Management
• Biodiversity Mapping
• Land use land cover
• Disaster management and Mitigation
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Different Types of Remote Sensing Systems
• Optical Remote Sensing: Optical remote sensing uses satellite or airborne
cameras to measure the reflection of light from Earth's surface, enabling the
study of various phenomena and the estimation of concentrations of
substances in water or land.
• Infrared Remote Sensing: Infrared remote sensing uses infrared sensors to
detect and analyze infrared radiation emitted from the Earth's surface,
enabling measurements of land and sea surface temperatures, detection of
forest fires, and monitoring of volcanic activity, among other applications.
• Microwave Remote Sensing: Microwave remote sensing is a technique that
uses microwave radiation to gather information about the Earth's surface and
atmosphere. It can be used to monitor snow and ice, sea and land
temperatures, precipitation, and more.
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• Radar Remote Sensing: Radar remote sensing uses radar technology to
gather information about the Earth's surface by transmitting radio waves and
analyzing the reflected signals, offering all-weather and all-hour imaging
capabilities.
• Satellite Remote Sensing: Satellite remote sensing is a technology that
uses satellites in orbit to gather information about the Earth's surface,
atmosphere, and seas, enabling the monitoring of environmental changes,
natural disasters, and other phenomena.
• Airborne Remote Sensing: Airborne remote sensing involves collecting
data about the Earth's surface from aircraft, offering high-resolution imagery
and flexibility for specific areas, but with limitations in coverage and cost
compared to satellite-based systems.
• Acoustic and near-acoustic remote sensing: Acoustic and near-acoustic
remote sensing utilizes sound waves (acoustic) and their interactions with the
environment to gather information about the source and surrounding area,
spanning applications from environmental monitoring to medical imaging.
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Geographical Information System
• The geographical information system consists of two
distinct disciplines namely, Geography and
Information System.
• Geography + Information System
• Geography is the science which involves a
combination of physical and cultural disciplines, which
are used to describe, explain and help us to
understand our environment and our relationship with
it.
• Information System can be defined as an interactive
combination of people, computer hardware and
software, communications device and procedures
designed to provide a continuous flow of information
to the people who need information to make decision
or perform analysis.
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Definitions of GIS
A Geographical Information System (GIS) is a system of hardware, software and
procedures to facilitate the management, manipulation, analysis, modeling,
representation and display of geo referenced data to solve complex problems regarding
planning and management of resources.
• Arnoff:
A computer based system that provides four sets of capabilities to handle geo
referenced data: data input, data management, manipulation and analysis and data output.

• Peter Burrough:
GIS is a powerful set of tool for collecting, storing, receiving at will, transforming and
displaying spatial data from the real world for a particular set of purpose.

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 Component of GIS

Hardware Software

Geographical
Information System

Data
Procedure

Users

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 GIS- Three View of Information System
Data Base or Table View: GIS is a unique kind of data base of the world a geographic
database. It is based on structural database that describes the world in geographic
term.

Map View: GIS is a set of intelligent maps and other views that show features and
feature relationship on the earth surface. Maps of the underlying geographic
information can be constructed and used to support queries, analysis and editing of
the information.

Model View: A GIS is a set of information tools that derive new geographic database
from existing database. By combing data and applying some analytic rules, we can
create a model that helps answer the question we have posed.

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Functions of GIS
Data capture: Data capture is the operation of encoding data for inclusion into a digital
database. Various technique can capture the information. Map can be digitized, or hand traced
with a computer mouse to collect the coordinates of features. Electronic scanning device will
also convert map features into digital format.
Data source: the first requirement for source data involves knowledge of the locations for the
variables. The data sources for GIS are:
 Conventional analog map source
 Reports and Publication
 Aerial remote sensing
 Satellite imagery
 Field data source
 Existing digital map sources
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Data Integraton: A GIS makes it possible to link or integrate information that is
difficult to associate through any other means. Once we join both type of data
(spatial and attribute data) using any GIS software , our GIS is now ready for
use.

Organizing Data for Analysis: The main uses of GIS are data analysis and
presentation of spatial data. Most GIS software organize spatial data in a
thematic approach that categorize data in vertical layers.

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Limitations of GIS
GIS has a many beneficial applications, however like other technological systems, there are
also some limitations to its use.
• GIS Data are more expensive than traditional data.
• GIS integrates several individual subjects, which demands proper knowledge on all of
integrated subject.
• GIS needs specialized computer equipment and software.
• Privacy and security issues can sometimes limit distribution of data.
• Learning time on GIS software and system can be long.
• Data development and maintenance is the most costly and labour intensive work in GIS field.

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Thank you

Dr. Deepak Patle

deepak.patle@jnkvv.org