402
June 2016
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
BOOK
REVIEW
entry whose text begins with “Optical/infrared” and, if the user
goes to that article, he or she would discover two other articles
next to it whose titles also begin with “Optical /infrared.” Neither
of these latter articles are listed in the Subject Index.
The great majority of the secondary pointers in the Subject
Index point only to topics found within the item identified by
their primary term. How many secondary pointers should
a short article have? Does a four-page article on Landslides
require 19 internal secondary pointers? And does a eight-page
article on Madden-Julienne Oscillation require 37? It is clear
from the variety of problems encountered in fairly intensive
browsing that the organization and construction of the volume’s
Subject Index has not been the subject of careful planning. A
user could only conclude that, in addition to a weak Table of
Contents, the volume’s Subject Index also does not provide the
necessary strong tools needed in order to make effective use
of the contents of the book. Of course, effective use of these
search tools requires that the user have an appropriate term
or phrase in hand to define the search (I, for one, would never
have thought of having to make use of the phrase “uninhabited
airborne vehicles” as a search term.). Anticipating this is, of
course, just one of the many problems facing the editorial staff
preparing the volume.
Could these serious search problems be alleviated by making
use of the digital version of the book? While the publisher did
not make available a copy of the digital version, as placed in
the hands of the purchaser, they did make another digital
version available but only within the context of a specific reader
supplied by the publisher. Using the reader supplied by the
publisher quickly made it obvious that using the reader’s search
engine to seek out items within the overall text left one worse
off than when using the weak search tools within the printed
version. Before attempting to make use of a digital version
of the Encyclopedia, you should take care to determine the
exact format in which the publisher has furnished it (despite
a request, information on this was not provided to me by the
publisher), and that you are using a reader or readers that (a)
excepts the publishers format and (b ) also contains a strong,
dependable and flexible search engine.
What about the 170 articles that make up this encyclopedia?
Some are too short, some are too long, some are written at a too
shallow a level while a few others provide a level of technical
depth that extends beyond what one usually expects in an ency-
clopedia entry. Many of the articles present well-written and
compact overviews of their topic area together with references
to the relevant literature and a few pointers to other sections
of the Encyclopedia. Do all the articles, when taken as a whole,
effectively span the area of Earth remote-sensing? That question
is not possible to answer given that no substantive presentation
of the volume’s overall plan has been set forth.
This review has focused extensively upon the quality of the
search tools associated with the Encyclopedia. This was done
because, without substantial strength in these tools, the user
cannot possibly identify the locations of items of interest within the
many articles. Basically, if you can’t find it, you can’t use it; even
if the articles that make up the volume are of substantial quality.
Based upon my examination of the Encyclopedia of Remote
Sensing, I find that it is singularly deficient in powerful search
tools and, as a result, I am unable to recommend this expensive
volume to potential users in either its printed or digital versions.
Note from the Book Review Editor — As technology changes
the expectations of how our reference materials are presented
and stored, it is important to keep in mind that the content
with those materials is the business of our research. That our
society and our colleagues should embrace and explore new
ways of presenting and storing and manipulating their reference
material seems to be taking hold. We should understand our
own limitations and be sure to include and work closely with
people whose expertise is in technology, particularly database
management. The converse is also very true, the vessel that holds
the reference information is important but only if the research
behind the reference is solid and if the reference information
well composed. These three parts together make the whole.
ASPRS has also faced similar obstacles in the development of its
“Glossary of Mapping Sciences” database management system
that would allow for better editing and output of the terms and
definitions included in the glossary. We would like to encourage
the authors of this text and the members of our society to continue
to strive for better integration as we transition into different ways
of interacting with our reference materials.
There is certainly a balance to be struck between the art and
science of project management. We need to strike a balance
that uses the tools that we have to support the science and
layer in the art for the finesse and the flexibility, making
allowances for humans and unplanned events.
As project managers, we don’t have opportunities to run our
programs many times in a controlled environment or in a
controlled study to analyze and report our outcomes. This is a
subjective profession that requires us to have skills in the art
and the science domain to best navigate the project lifecycle
and to have the best possible chance of project success.
Raquel Charrois is the executive vice president of Continental
Mapping Consultants, Inc., a ProjectManagement Professional
(PMP), and an ASPRS Certified Photogrammetrist.
Raquel is very focused on process based approaches that
unite program and business objectives, resulting in portfolio
success.
If you have questions or topics that you would like to see
discussed, please email them to
