The spatial
observation technology has greatly enhanced the ability of humankind to
monitor the whole earth in real time manner. Previously, humankind's
naked eye could only observe a small area of earth. Mankind was like
living in a black box without a complete view of the whole earth.
The invention of
spatial observation technology such as satellite is one major technology
breakthrough in human history. The sensor in the satellite can capture
the ground information from the space. This technology is named remote
sensing. It has been widely used in the exploration of natural
resources, land use environmental monitoring, disaster analysis, urban
development and national defense. For example, through monitoring the
crop growth using the remote sensing technology, a country is able to
estimate potential food shortage in advance to avoid famine.
This course introduces
students of various disciplines to gain a basic understanding of how
remote sensing technology can be used to the study of earth surface from
a global perspective. The lecturers will use large amount of remote
sensing images to illustrate the changes in the earth surface as a
result of natural process and human activities. According to the nature
of the content, the course is divided into three parts: part I. remote
sensing: beyond the naked eyes; part II: remote sensing applications in
resource and disaster management; and part III. remote sensing as a
source of information systems. Through the course study, students will
acquire basic knowledge of image capturing, image processing and image
interpretation as well as environmental changes on the earth surface.
Students will gain hand-on experience in viewing and interpreting 3-D
images through tutorials.
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