Subject: Satellite Imagery FAQ - Contents (1/5)
Supersedes: <sci/Satellite-Imagery-FAQ/part1_827207059@rtfm.mit.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 1996 05:18:44 GMT
Summary: Satellite Imagery for Earth Observation - Contents/General
X-Last-Updated: 1996/04/16


The Satellite Imagery FAQ - contents

Last Modified: April 15th 1996: No major changes.

   * Updated addresses for listservers including IMAGRS-L and Ted Smith's Jobs
     lists.
   * Added new URLs.
   * Updated Inagery Browsers section

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Your attention is drawn to the Notice and Disclaimer below. If you haven't
already done so, please read them, particularly if you are going to use or
reproduce any of the information in this document!

(the Notice hasn't changed, it's just been moved to a friendlier place)!
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This FAQ is the work of several authors, without whose valuable contributions,
suggestions and encouragement it would not have been possible.

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Subject: Introduction

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Introduction

This FAQ deals with imagery of Earth from Space. It aims to combine some very
brief introductory material with a guide to the numerous resources available on
(and off) the Internet. It is the work of members of the IMAGRS-L (Image
Processing & Remote Sensing) LISTSERV. We hope it will be of value to those
whose work, studies or casual interest involve Remote Sensing of the Earth.

I have also included a couple of Remote Sensing answers. The philosophy here is
simple: if it's somewhat relevant, and someone's posted (and I've seen) a good
piece, then it may get included.

This is an Internet document, and is generally updated monthly. If you have an
out-of-date version (e.g. printout, CDROM), you can get a more up-to-date
version from the addresses below.

Call for Contributions: There are gaps in this FAQ. In addition, much of the
material comprises my very brief and sketchy entries to cover what would
otherwise be gaping holes! If you can fill any (or all :-) of them, please
help!

If you are on the WWW, you should use the InterFAQ at
http://pobox.com/~satfaq/RS to submit material. Otherwise please mail me.
Material I can just cut-and-paste in is most likely to be useful/used.

Nick Kew (satfaq@pobox.com)
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This FAQ has five parts, loosely classified as:

  1. Contents & other meta-information (this document).
  2. General Questions
  3. Technical Questions
  4. List of RS satellites & instruments, with pointers to information on the
     Net. Note that this does not appear in the Table of Contents, but is used
     as html links from elsewhere in the FAQ.
  5. Further Reading (long!)

For newsgroup comp.infosystems.gis, they are merged into a single file, to
ensure the GIS-L gateway rejects it and doesn't flood readers mailboxes
(someone please tell me if this fails!!!)
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Subject: Table of Contents

Contents

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Subject: General Questions (2/5)

   * Imagery
       1. What are basic classes of imagery, and their sources?
             + Geostationary Weather Satellites (Meteosat, GOES)
             + Earth Observation Imagery
                  + Colour
                  + Resolution
                  + Types of Imagery
                  + 3-dimensional Imagery
             + Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
                  + What is SAR
                  + What are the main SAR platforms?
                  + What distinguishes SAR from hi-res optical imagery?
                  + What are SAR images good for?
                  + What is the meaning of colour in a SAR image?
             + Others (silly classification - someone suggest a better one)!
                  + Radar Altimetry
                    (avoiding listing them until I/someone has something to
                    say)!
             + - What about the military? ("If I knew I couldn't say; if they
               told me I wouldn't believe them" :-)
                  + Didn't President Clinton declassify some intelligence
                    imagery?
       2. Russian Imagery
             + What about Russian Satellite Imagery?
             + What are the characteristics of the KOSMOS satellite systems?
             + What are the characteristics of the RESURS satellite system?
             + What are the characteristics of the Okean?
             + What about all of the problems concerning Russian sources?
             + Can the film sources be provided in digital form?
             + How can I purchase Russian Imagery?
             + Are the Russian planning any future commercial satellite
               systems?
       3. What are the main Earth Observation Satellites and Sensors
       4. Where can I get such-and-such imagery?
       5. What datasets are available on CDROM
       6. How do I access the imagery catalogues?
             + CEOS IDN
             + Cintex & clients
       7. Whole-World Images
             + Why create whole-world images?
             + How do they create whole-world images?
             + Why AVHRR? Why not, say, Landsat?
             + How do they get rid of the cloud?
             + Further reading
       8. odds'n'sods
             + But isn't the Great Wall of China the only manmade feature
               visible from space? Hmmm... Doesn't this originate with moon
               landings, and the naked eye?
             + Why do the weather forecasters always get it wrong?
               What can I say? See an intro to chaos (I don't suppose the
               fractals FAQ would be any use as a reference here?)
   * General Questions
       1. What are the main National and International Remote Sensing
          programmes around the world?
       2. Where can I read about Government policies in Remote Sensing
       3. Where can I find information on RS and the Environment?
       4. Can satellite imagery be used to watch newsworthy events?
       5. Jobs and Services
             + Where can I advertise or look for a job in remote sensing?
             + Where can I advertise or look for remote sensing and related
               Services?
       6. Software (& hardware!)
             + Where can I find descriptions or reviews of software packages?
               (other than the marketing hype)!
             + Is there a list of Software Vendors?
             + Where can I find information on Software Packages?
             + What software is available in the Public Domain?
             + Something about minimum hardware requirements (storage,
               processing power..)
             + What kit do I need to receive satellite imagery on my PC?
       7. What are the Earth Observation Standards body?
             + Committe on Earth Observing Sensors (CEOS)
       8. Social & legal issues
             + How does copyright affect satellite images?

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Subject: Technical Questions (3/5)

   * Technical
       1. Image Basics
             + What is a digital image?
             + What is spatial resolution?
             + What is temporal resolution?
             + What is spectral resolution?
       2. Image Data (previously called "Image Formats")
       3. What are the different levels of imagery I can buy/download?
       4. Is there a non-proprietary image format for geographic/RS data?
       5. Do I need geocoded imagery?
       6. Instruments
             + Imaging Instruments
             + What is a Sounding Instrument?
       7. Basic Processing (TBD)
       8. Orbits: (TBD)
             + What are the orbits of EO satellites?
             + what is the advantage of a polar orbit? What can you see from a
               geostationary orbit (Meteosat)? Other orbits?
             + Is there a list the various satellite's orbits?
             + How do I convert Landsat Path/Row to Lat/Long?
       9. Data
             + How is satellite data received on the ground?
      10. Geo-referencing (someone?)
      11. I am using my images for some classification problem.
             + I need to classify a mosaic of several images. How best to do
               it?
             + How can I assess my results?
             + Is there a program to compute Kappa coefficients/assessment
               measures?
             + How good can I expect my results to be in practice?

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Subject: Further Information (5/5)

   * Further Information, tables
        o Can you point me to a good online introduction to Remote Sensing?
        o I have a question that isn't covered in the FAQ. Where should I look?
        o Related Documents and FAQs
        o Relevant Discussions on the Internet (News, Listserv, WWW)
        o WWW URL's
        o Catalogue Services
        o Terminology and Acronyms
        o Ground Stations/CEOS IDs
        o List of Addresses of some Data Suppliers.
        o List of what data they supply.
   * Applications
     Outside the scope of this document, for the time being at least. However,
       1. Phillip Ingrams "Using the Web for Geosciences" FAQ is recommended as
          a starting point for exploration on the Net.
       2. The USGS keeps a map of Earth and Environmental Science resources on
          the net at http://info.er.usgs.gov/network/science/earth/index.html.
       3. See also the WWW Virtual Library

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Subject: Contributors

Contributors

Contributed substantial material specifically for the FAQ:

   * Wim Bakker (bakker@itc.nl)
   * Peter Bolton (pbolton@clyde.pc.my)
   * Nick Kew (Nick.Kew@pobox.com)
   * W. Steven Sklaris (ssklaris@tds.com)

Substantial articles by other authors have also been included. These are
credited in situ (I'll improve this list when the document is more complete).

As a rule, I'm trying to credit all FAQ entries. The possible exceptions are
lists, which naturally tend to merge all known sources.

The FAQ continues to benefit from a variety of readers comments and
suggestions, but much remains to be done! Thanks to all who have offered
feedback!

A final word of thanks to Grant Denkinson (Grant.Denkinson@nottingham.ac.uk)
who in hosting the FAQ on his WWW server has found and corrected numerous small
errors!

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Subject: NOTICE and DISCLAIMER

NOTICE:

Copyright 1995 Nick Kew and co-authors

You are free to copy or distribute this document and its subdocuments in whole
or in part, provided:

   * You DON'T do so for profit.
   * You DO include this notice in full.

You may also include this document with a commercial product, provided you make
it absolutely clear that you are NOT charging for the information contained
herein.

Disclaimer: This is the work of individuals, not speaking for nor endorsed by
their organisations.

It is offered in good faith and in the hope that it may be of use, but is not
guaranteed to be correct, up to date or suitable for any particular purpose.
The authors accept no liability in respect of this information or its use.

WHERE TO GET A CURRENT COPY

  1. The Remote Sensing InterFAQ at http://pobox.com/~satfaq/RS
  2. At WWW servers including:
        o http://www.geog.nott.ac.uk/remote/satfaq.html
        o http://web20.mindlink.net/geo_exchange/satfaq.html
        o http://www.uni-sb.de/philfak/fb6/fr66/tpw/rem_sens/satfaq.html
        o http://pobox.com/~satfaq/people/nick/satfaq.html
  3. Posted monthly to newsgroups including sci.answers and news.answers
  4. By anonymous FTP from the rtfm archive (rtfm.mit.edu), and mirrors.
  5. If all else fails, email satfaq@pobox.com for details.

END OF NOTICE
