COURSE DESCRIPTION: Remote sensing is the science and art of collecting information about the earth from a distance and presenting it for analysis in a useful and aesthetically pleasing manner. As such, remote sensing is an interdisciplinary endeavor that requires a broad understanding of various systems on earth, in addition to possessing a familiarity with physics, cartography, computer science, geography, mathematics, geographic information systems, art, and others. The ability to think “spatially” is probably most critical for successfully understanding and practicing remote sensing. Students in this course will develop skills in these areas and greatly advance their spatial thinking skills as they choose a semester project that explores a social and/or physical application of remote sensing.

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK: Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective (2nd Edition) by John R. Jensen. (ISBN-10: 0131889508; ISBN-13: 0131889507) -This is a CLASSIC remote sensing textbook that was published in 2006 and contains 608 pages. Newer information will be provided via articles and online resources.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: - Be able to import and display various types of generic and proprietary raster data - Know the electromagnetic spectrum and atmospheric windows - Identify and understand a suite of different active and passive remote sensing systems - Develop and apply aesthetically pleasing color displays on your monitor for different bands of remotely sensed data - Understand the appropriate use of different sensors for mapping different phenomena on Earth - Become familiar with raster processing code in ArcGIS Raster Calculator and raster processing tools in ArcToolbox - Be able to apply basic remote sensing and digital image processing skills in a semester project