In some situations, UAS offer many advantages over other aerial (aircraft and
satellite)-borne sensors:
• Rapid deployment [68], e.g., fine-scale inspection of hydrologic behavior of
varied land use classes, associated storm drains, and drainage systems during
and immediately after rainfall/snowmelt events.
• More economical mapping [69, 70], especially over small areas [71–73], e.g.,
spot updates of areas within broader surveys (such as the NLCD) believed to
have changed since original compilation.
• Flown at very low altitudes (as low as a several hundred millimeters) and thus
obtain extremely fine detail of a specific area [74].
• Used as a substitute for manual field data collection, such as animal surveys [48],
situations harmful to human life [75], or validation of information derived from
the coarser detail acquired from higher altitudes.
• Used to investigate problematic areas not clearly identifiable on conventional
imagery, e.g., flown under cloud cover [70, 76] or in areas masked by shadows or
large buildings.
Some specific examples of existing UAS remote sensing applications include:
• Slope and small stream mapping within Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
precinct [71].
• Elephant population survey in Burkina Faso, Africa. Researchers found that
UAVs were extremely useful in monitoring elephant populations, and of special
importance, the elephants seemed to ignore the UAS as they were flying
overhead [77].
• Marine mammal survey in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Researchers were able
to identify several species of mammals, fly the UAS repeatedly within the same
flight time over multiple altitudes, and repeat the flight pattern over the course of
several consecutive days [69].
• Test flights over Mt. Etna, Italy. Researchers analyzed gas composition of
volcanic plumes (where gaseous plumes are fatal to humans) [75].
• Orthoimages and digital surface model development at an 11 cm spatial resolution for an agricultural region in C ordoba, Spain. Researchers used the resultant
images to classify two types of agricultural land uses—terraces and
non-terraces [78].
• Rangeland vegetation species classification in southern New Mexico
(USA) [79].
We anticipate that future applications of UAS technology in environmental and
land use observations will be especially useful in urban areas, where the use of
manned vehicles is restricted due to space and safety concerns, for imaging largescale agricultural fields (where locating a small area of insect infestation may be
difficult at higher altitudes), and in forest evaluations (where a tree canopy may
prevent observation by sensors from above).
Land Use/Land Cover Monitoring and Geospatial Technologies: An Overview
27
satellite)-borne sensors:
• Rapid deployment [68], e.g., fine-scale inspection of hydrologic behavior of
varied land use classes, associated storm drains, and drainage systems during
and immediately after rainfall/snowmelt events.
• More economical mapping [69, 70], especially over small areas [71–73], e.g.,
spot updates of areas within broader surveys (such as the NLCD) believed to
have changed since original compilation.
• Flown at very low altitudes (as low as a several hundred millimeters) and thus
obtain extremely fine detail of a specific area [74].
• Used as a substitute for manual field data collection, such as animal surveys [48],
situations harmful to human life [75], or validation of information derived from
the coarser detail acquired from higher altitudes.
• Used to investigate problematic areas not clearly identifiable on conventional
imagery, e.g., flown under cloud cover [70, 76] or in areas masked by shadows or
large buildings.
Some specific examples of existing UAS remote sensing applications include:
• Slope and small stream mapping within Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
precinct [71].
• Elephant population survey in Burkina Faso, Africa. Researchers found that
UAVs were extremely useful in monitoring elephant populations, and of special
importance, the elephants seemed to ignore the UAS as they were flying
overhead [77].
• Marine mammal survey in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Researchers were able
to identify several species of mammals, fly the UAS repeatedly within the same
flight time over multiple altitudes, and repeat the flight pattern over the course of
several consecutive days [69].
• Test flights over Mt. Etna, Italy. Researchers analyzed gas composition of
volcanic plumes (where gaseous plumes are fatal to humans) [75].
• Orthoimages and digital surface model development at an 11 cm spatial resolution for an agricultural region in C ordoba, Spain. Researchers used the resultant
images to classify two types of agricultural land uses—terraces and
non-terraces [78].
• Rangeland vegetation species classification in southern New Mexico
(USA) [79].
We anticipate that future applications of UAS technology in environmental and
land use observations will be especially useful in urban areas, where the use of
manned vehicles is restricted due to space and safety concerns, for imaging largescale agricultural fields (where locating a small area of insect infestation may be
difficult at higher altitudes), and in forest evaluations (where a tree canopy may
prevent observation by sensors from above).
Land Use/Land Cover Monitoring and Geospatial Technologies: An Overview
27