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Planet Completes Acquisition of Sinergise; Set to Expand Planet’s Earth Data Platform

Are you an expert in Remote Sensing or even teach it? We are looking for experts willing to help us create a free “Remote Sensing 101” textbook for introductory remote sensing courses at university level. Join our initiative!

The goal of our initiative

Our aim is to create a free textbook in the form of an eBook aimed at university courses introducing remote sensing and providing an alternative to more and more expensive textbooks. The book will consist of contributions from various remote sensing experts, which we will edit in a coherent style for an eBook.

How you can help us

We accept fully written chapters on a topic, lecture notes, slides or any other material you’re willing to provide.

What exactly do we need

While aimed at introductory courses, this being a free eBook, but there is nothing stopping us from including more advanced topics as additional content, so feel free to contribute those as well. If you would like to ensure that a particular topic is included in the book, please contact us before putting any work in it. Some topics may be too advanced or too niche to be included. This is especially true if you do not want to submit material you already have, but are only writing for this occasion.

If you are willing to contribute not on a specific topic, but to write in general, please let us know. Our first step is to collect all the contributions available now. At a later stage, we may need your help in writing on topics that are still missing but necessary for an introductory textbook and would get back to you then.

Please also let us know if you are available to proofread and review the eBook once it is at that stage.

Remote Sensing 101
Join our Remote Sensing 101 textbook initiative.

Terms of participation

If you decide to participate and contribute materials, you must agree to the following conditions:

  • This is voluntary work. There will be no reimbursement of any kind for your work and material. The eBook itself is also provided free of charge to support people interested in remote sensing and as a possible textbook for university remote sensing courses.
  • Your contribution must be CC-BY licensed for us to use it in the textbook. Please indicate this in your contribution.
  • We work with many people, so you need to understand that your contribution might not be used word for word, but in an adapted form and might also contain other material. This remixing is also necessary to give the textbook a coherent style throughout.
  • While we will try to incorporate everything we receive, we are not obliged to use your materials.
  • By sending us your contribution, you declare that you are the author and have the necessary rights. Please make sure that you also have the necessary rights for the images included.

How to start

In case of any questions please contact us via direct message on Twitter or send us an email. You can also use this email to send in your contributions, preferably as a plain text file or Word document, though all other formats will be okay as well.

Topics to be covered

While we welcome contributions on a wide range of topics, since this eBook is intended for introductory courses, we need to cover the basics of remote sensing. We are therefore particularly looking for contributions on the following topics:

  • History of Remote Sensing
  • Basic Principles of Remote Sensing (physical principles, EM spectrum, spectral signatures, thermal infrared, atmospheric effects and correction)
  • Observations/Acquisitions/Tiles
  • Rasters and Pixels, Raster Calculations
  • Resolution (Spectral, Spatial, Temporal, Radiometric, Angular)
  • Active/Passive Sensors
  • Optical Sensors
  • SAR
  • Lidar
  • Basics of Satellite Image Interpretation
  • Band Combinations
  • Remote Sensing Indices
  • Multitemporal Analysis and Time Series
  • Classification
  • Change Detection
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Remote Sensing and Meteorology
  • Digital Image Processing (visual processing, interpolation, atmospheric, radiometric and geometric correction)
  • Basic Practical Applications
  • Overview of Remote Sensing Missions
  • Where to Get Data
  • Satellite Images and Media
  • Introduction to GIS

Please consider these topics as a rough guide. Many of these topics are still quite extensive and could (and should) be broken down into more in-depth subsections. Feel free to include anything you feel is necessary based on your experience with a topic. And as mentioned earlier, you can contribute to any topic, whether it is listed here or not.

Resources

Original Contributions

Your contributions will be compiled in a consistent style and published in the eBook. We’ll also publish all original contributions here.


FAQ

  • Why are you doing this?

The main reason is to create an up-to-date introduction into RS that can be used in university courses as an alternative to more and more expensive textbooks. Being a free eBook we also hope it might find its way to other people who are interested in the RS field but who would usually not spend money on a book about it.

  • In what format should it be?

Ideally, a plain text file structured with headings would be ideal. We do however accept any other format you might be using. Don’t put effort into formatting it though, as we will reformat all contributions to fit the style of the book.

  • Will I be named as author? Can the book be cited?

We plan on naming the authors in the following way:
Chapter 1 “Chapter Name” was written by “List main author(s)” with contributions by “List minor contributors”

The eBook will be available for download on our website and as such can be either cited just like any website, or you could cite the eBook itself.

Additionally, if wanted, we will make your original unaltered contribution available for download as well on our website.

  • Can I contribute photographs?

Yes, as long as you own the rights and are willing to submit them under the CC-BY licensed.

  • Can I contribute material about RS not done via satellite but drone, plane, helicopter?

Of course, keep in mind though the submission should not be too specialized or niche. An example: A chapter about LIDAR work using a drone would be cool, while a chapter about using gimbal-stabilized-high-resolution cameras from planes to determine the skin conditions of green hopperfrogs sounds a bit niche. If you’re unsure just contact us beforehand.

  • Can I contribute chapters/material about practical applications?

Yes! While of course an introduction needs to cover the theoretical framework, practical applications are bringing RS to life, so go ahead!

You still have a question? Send us an email.