Speaker: Dr. Laili
Remote Sensing is one of the most
in favor technology that demanded today. As it can be applied for various
fields, many prefer the uses of remote sensing rather than other technology.
Some of the applications include town planning, agriculture, engineering,
environment and more. For the past years, remote sensing had bee collaborating
with GIS for a better data manipulation and representation.
To be in the remote sensing
industry, one should know almost everything about the technology from the basic
principle to its data capturing methods and processing to its application. One
should know the basic concept of remote sensing which the measurement of earth
surface is without being in contact directly with the surface. The data
capturing method is varies. The latest one is UAV which is the
remote-controller plane that flied over the area to be measured. The cost of
this plane is nearly RM100000. There are other methods such as satellite
imagery, LIDAR, RADAR, LANDSAT, SPOT, IKONOS and etc. The only differences of
all this images are its resolution. Some of them are having a very bad
resolution which is nearly impossible to be used for a detailed mapping. Some
is good for many applications such as soil fertility monitoring, temperature
and humidity monitoring and more. Nowadays, the use of satellite imagery is no
longer relevant as the resolution is really bad plus the presence of cloud and
haze. So, the other technology is preferred such as UAV. Even the cost to buy
it is high, the profit gained for projects using it is worth. For data
processing, one must know well the methodology to be used. The raw image
basically can’t be used directly for analysis. It must be registered first or
in other words geocoded. This is to make sure the coordinates and projection of
the image is in a good condition. Once the image geocoded, then only it can be
manipulated for other application. For manipulating the data, one should no the
characteristics of the data and what it capable to do. Some satellite image use
surface temperature for data capturing, so it is very good to be used for
temperature monitoring. Some image used light reflectivity which can be used
for vegetation and water quality monitoring. These are all depending on how
well we know about the data to manipulate them for various applications.
In Malaysia, there are three
agencies responsible for this field which is ANGKASA, MACRES and ARMA. These
agencies play different role in providing remote sensing data that can be used
for various applications mentioned earlier. The satellite receiving station in
Malaysia located in Mentakab, Pahang.
This remote sensing and GIS field
is really suitable for Geomatics students that have a high interest in this
field. Also, for whoever already doing the thesis paper regarding this field,
they should continue on working in this environment.
