Remote sensing Definition and Brief History of Remote Sensing

There are a number of definitions of remote sens-ing and one of the most commonly accepted is as follows: “Remote sensing is the science and art of obtaining information about an object, area, or phe-nomenon through the analysis of data acquired by a device that is not in contact with the object, area, or phenomenon under investigation ” [1]. A working definition of remote sensing refers to the acquisition of information from digital geospatial data acquired from an overhead perspective, using sensors that sam-ple and record electromagnetic radiation in one or more regions of the electromagnetic spectrum that is reflected or emitted from the surface of the earth. The geospatial data might include analog data, other force fields (seismic, acoustic, or gravitational), and nonter-restrial applications (lunar and planetary surfaces and astronomical investigations). Remote sensing can be used to detect the presence, or confirm the absence, of a specific target class: mineral potential, insect infes-tations, militarily significant activity, environmental releases from industrial facilities, indications of pre-historic land use, habitat for a given species, urban monitoring, fire detection, or flood prediction [2]. The use of remote sensing techniques to map vector-borne diseases has evolved significantly over the past decades [3]. Remote sensing can trace its origins back to the earliest overhead photography, carried out from balloons during the American Civil War. Aerial photography was well established by the end of the First World War, in a decade that also saw the beginning of the science of photogrammetry. Significant developments in the period around the Second World War included the development of technology to make measurements in the IR and microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. These technologies became available for civilian use in the 1950s and 1960s. The first meteorological satellite was launched in 1960, and the term “remote Based in part on the article “Remote sensing ” by K. Campbell, which appeared in the Encyclopedia o