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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.
