As a subsidiary of using GIS, querying and updating of
information stored could be easily maintained. A specific
system for the distribution of the results of the project was
designed and has been revised with a Chinese interface.
4. FURTHER STUDY
Following on from the DRSS study the Ministry of Agriculture
initiated the Monitoring Agricultural Land (MAL) project in
southwest China, a more comprehensive study on the
potential use of satellite data for agricultural statistics. The
MAL project aims at the acquisition of agricultural
information with high-speed, sophistication, up-to-date
facts, and dynamics. Further study would be focused on the
reduction of cost concerning time, money and labour,
including trial studies on operational or sub-operational
procedures by adopting sampling techniques and
incorporating computer aided image recognition with expert
knowledge.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The ’routine survey + GIS + remote sensing’ procedure by
using satellite image has been proved to be successful in the
monitoring of agricultural resources on the middie scale of
mapping in China. The GIS enables the full operational
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management of data and information with the advantages of
easy-handling and easy-updating.
Further research effort over the next few years will enable a
comprehensive and efficient methodology, as for both
accuracy and cost, to be devised. Such a methodology will
enable a repeat agricultural land monitoring by
thoroughgoingly using the potential of satellite remotely-
sensed data to produce information on a full range of crops,
with the precision demanded by the administrators and
planners who require access to the information.
REFERENCES
Yu, Genong 1992. Peat Resources Investigation in Rouergai
Plateau Using Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques. In
Chinese. MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT AND DISASTER
PROTECTION IN THE YANGTZE RIVER. Chengdu Mapping
Publishing House, CHENGDU. p197-202.
Zen, Liangxiu, Huamao Zhou, and Genong Yu 1994.
Remote Sensing Investigation for the Change of the
Cultivated Land in Chengdu and Chongain Regions of
Sichuan Basin. In Chinese with English abstract.
SOUTHWEST CHINA JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL
SCIENCES. 7(4):49-53.
International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996