7 carrocaamic | 
/ SOFT WARE 
  
  
  
RESULTS OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY 
PILOT PROJECT OF REMOTE SENSING IN CHILE 
Carlos Escudero & Roberto Castillo 
Instituto Geográfico de Chile 
General Information 
Chile, as is the case with the majority of the developing nations, has been 
an observer rather than an actor in the technical explosion in the observation 
and inventory of Natural Resources through Remote Sensing. 
More than 10 years ago, Remote Sensing was recognized in this country as 
a technique that goes further than photogrammetry and photointerpretation 
of panchromatic photography yet no multidisciplinary program had been 
established on a national level. All previous efforts and experiences 
were undertaken separately and at an elemental level as the result of 
personal interest on the part of individual investigators and professionals 
intent on acquiring knowledge of the art. 
Origin of the Project (1) 
In July of 1975, at the Sixteenth meeting of the Board of Directors of 
the Panamerican Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH), Consulting 
Organism of the Organization of American States, Special Project Number 
75-052-18, "Utilization of Remote Sensing in the management of Natural 
Resources for the development of Latin American in three Pilot Areas" 
was approved. One of the three project areas was in Chile, which as in 
the cases of Colombia and Guatemala, effected its own preliminary study 
entitled: "Multidisciplinary Analysis and Evaluation of Imagery and of 
Remote Sensors Data in Central Chile". This preliminary study was 
approved by the PAIGH without reservations. The PAIGH would fund the 
taking and processing of the imagery while Chile would fund the planning 
of the Project, flight planning, ground control and data interpretation. 
Chile would also hold an International Symposium at which the results 
would be presented and would publish this information. 
Project Objectives 
The project had a number of objectives as follows: 
- Capacitate Chilean professionals in the uses of Remote Sensing and 
threby close the gap between Chile and the more technically developed 
nations. 
- Promote at the Institutional and Governmental level the use of Remote 
Sensing as a common working tool. 
- Make possible a multidisciplinary - multiinstitutional effort utilizing 
the capabilities of different types of Chilean professionals. 
- Evaluate at a national level the true use of these new techniques in the 
various disciplines under study.