For these images, some of the principles and techniques of airphoto interpretation can be applied to manual analysis of the image information content. A third major group of digital processing techniques involves information extraction through the implementation of a wide range of simple to complex mathematical and statistical operations on the numerical data values in the image. Satellite remote sensing represents a technology for synoptic acquisition of spatial data and the extraction of scene-specific information. GIS provides a computer-implemented spatially oriented database for evaluating the information in conjunction with other spatially formatted data and information that may be acquired from remote sensor data, maps, surveys, and other sources of spatially referenced information. Figure 1 GIS technology should aid human dimensions studies of global change by enabling the integration and joint analysis of human science data and natural science data.
Verification refers to assessment of performance and refinement of the capability.
The type of supporting ground truth data employed in specific studies varies relative to the scale of the primary data being used. On the other hand, scientists studying the human dimensions of global change with high-resolution satellite images may need to incorporate interpretations of airphotos and information acquired in the field to corroborate their intended use of the satellite data and validate their results.