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REMOTE SENSING AND GIS EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: 
A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR 
PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING 
Daniel L. Civco, Ph.D., Assistant Director 1 
Laboratory for Remote Sensing 
Natural Resources Management & Engineering 
The University of Connecticut 
Storrs, CT 06269-4087 
Ralph W. Kiefer, Ph.D., Professor 1 2 • 
Institute for Environmental Studies and 
Civil & Environmental Engineering 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 
Madison, Wl 53706 
ABSTRACT 
The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is the principal 
oraanization in the United States for providing direction, leadership and service to professionals 
at ^various levels of practice — local, regional, state, national, and, international. The many 
services and programs of the ASPRS are oriented toward photogrammetrists, remote sensing 
specialists and applicationists, and geographic information systems (GIS) users in govern 
mental, industrial, and educational sectors. This paper describes the philosophy and role of the 
ASPRS in remote sensing and GIS education by way of examples of past, current, and planned 
activities. 
KEY WORDS: Education, Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, Geographic Information Systems, 
American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 
• INTRODUCTION 
"... if anyone got to the upper limit of the air, if anyone came to 
it or reached it on wings and his head rose above it, he would, 
as, on rising from the sea, the fishes see things in our region, see 
things there, and. if his nature could endure to contemplate them, 
he would know that there is the true heaven, the true light and the 
true earth ..." 
Plato 3 
Perhaps the spirit in which Plato made this statement may have been a purely philosophical 
one that describes man's place in the universe, but it can also be interpreted in a somewhat 
literal sense that conveys the importance and essentiality of examining our earth from per 
spectives different from those to which we are normally accustomed. A statement as profound 
as this made by a thinker from more than two millenia ago demonstrates the vision necessary 
for the advancement of knowledge and the betterment of the human race. Plato could not have 
anticipated the scientific disciplines of remote sensing and geographic information systems, 
but he did prophesize that man must rise above the earth and its atmosphere in order to un 
derstand fully the world in which he lives. 
Remote sensing, within the context of this paper, can be defined as the art and science in 
volving the detection, identification, classification, delineation, mensuration, and analysis of 
1 Dr. Civco is the current Chairman of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing's Education 
Committee 
2 Dr. Kiefer is former Chairman of that committee 
5 Phaedo ca. 399 B.C. 109-110 Stephanus.