PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS AS 
SUBSIDY TO THE GEOTECHNIC STUDIES 
Tomoyuki Ohara 
Juércio Tavares de Mattos 
Jairo Roberto Jiménez Rueda 
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais - INPE 
Divisáo de Sensoriamento Remoto e Meteorologia - D5M 
Caixa Postal 515 
12201-970 - Sáo José dos Campos, SP, Brazil 
ISPRS Commission VII/Working Group 5 
ABSTRACT 
The diagnostic of the physical environment may be elaborated with the knowledge, study and analysis of 
the properties and characteristics of its materials, such as the physical and chemical properties of 
weathered cover and bedrock, allied with prominent physiographic and  geologic-structural 
characteristics, including the interaction with the exogenous actions (climatic variations and land use). 
The homogeneous units of relief forms (physiographical) obtained from the analysis of Landsat- TM 
imagery, constitute technical information of fundamental importance for physical environment studies. 
These homogeneous units, in conjunction with morphostructural, geologic-structural and climatic 
changes information, provide an accurate diagnostic to the geotechnic zoning for multiple use. 
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