Summary of the workshop
16
THEME 1: MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
A first group of presentations covered the application of remote sensing and GIS on a regional or
local scale and provided various examples of the application of these techniques in an operational
framework. The examples illustrate a wide range of possibilities: global knowledge (on the
African continent scale); assistance to preparation and implementation of master plans; regular
monitoring of large study areas or; on the opposite end, information on limited areas for which
these techniques appear to be both a reliable and replicable option.
The analysis of the different presentations shows a certain number of objectives assigned to
remote sensing and to GIS, and these can be classified as follows:
Cartographic (qualitative and quantitative characterization):
• boundaries between zones (spatial segmentation tools),
• links between zones,
• linear (drainage, fractures) and surface objects, characteristic features that are stable (relief,
land use) or variable (seasonal vegetation, humidity, temperature, evapotrans-piration.) over
time.
Updated information and monitoring:
• readily available information: maps related to natural hazards,
• change of viewpoint for the description of space: from local to regional information,
• objective and complete information: uniform observations on large surfaces, particularly for
areas lacking detailed base maps,
• monitoring of change and evolving phenomena.
Regionalization:
• calculation of regional or global balances,
• extrapolation of local results.
Planning and management:
• inventories, support to the formulation of master plans,
• archive (memory of events) and creation of records,
• management of large units, conflict management.
Regional approach: description and global management of large land units
The description of large land units is related to three levels of information (Lointier):
•
• accurate mapping of boundaries and segmentation of landscape in homogenous zones. This
is the classic use of remotely sensed images for the determination of objects of hydrological
significance;
•
• qualitative mapping of the exchange of superficial and underground water between zones.
Objects are characterized by their proximity, their relative position and their thematic links:
•
• mapping of environmental response to specific events, therefore a monitoring approach.
16
THEME 1: MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
A first group of presentations covered the application of remote sensing and GIS on a regional or
local scale and provided various examples of the application of these techniques in an operational
framework. The examples illustrate a wide range of possibilities: global knowledge (on the
African continent scale); assistance to preparation and implementation of master plans; regular
monitoring of large study areas or; on the opposite end, information on limited areas for which
these techniques appear to be both a reliable and replicable option.
The analysis of the different presentations shows a certain number of objectives assigned to
remote sensing and to GIS, and these can be classified as follows:
Cartographic (qualitative and quantitative characterization):
• boundaries between zones (spatial segmentation tools),
• links between zones,
• linear (drainage, fractures) and surface objects, characteristic features that are stable (relief,
land use) or variable (seasonal vegetation, humidity, temperature, evapotrans-piration.) over
time.
Updated information and monitoring:
• readily available information: maps related to natural hazards,
• change of viewpoint for the description of space: from local to regional information,
• objective and complete information: uniform observations on large surfaces, particularly for
areas lacking detailed base maps,
• monitoring of change and evolving phenomena.
Regionalization:
• calculation of regional or global balances,
• extrapolation of local results.
Planning and management:
• inventories, support to the formulation of master plans,
• archive (memory of events) and creation of records,
• management of large units, conflict management.
Regional approach: description and global management of large land units
The description of large land units is related to three levels of information (Lointier):
•
• accurate mapping of boundaries and segmentation of landscape in homogenous zones. This
is the classic use of remotely sensed images for the determination of objects of hydrological
significance;
•
• qualitative mapping of the exchange of superficial and underground water between zones.
Objects are characterized by their proximity, their relative position and their thematic links:
•
• mapping of environmental response to specific events, therefore a monitoring approach.