Space photography - A valuable tool for surface mine planning

Abstract

Some plausible advantages of remote sensing from orbit in inventorying of strip-mined land areas are noted, but heavy emphasis is placed on the limitations of such information at the present state of the art, in this application, and on the different types of information extracted from high-resolution imagery by experts of differing backgrounds. Skylab multispectral sensors are described and land use categories encountered in strip mining are catalogued. While oversell of remote sensing applied to strip mining land use inventory is deprecated, planning ahead for effective use of Space Shuttle in this area in the coming years is encouraged.