242
May 2018
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
BOOK
REVIEW
Chapter 4 “Creating Two-dimensional Images with Sensors”
educates the user to understand how sensors work to effectively
use the two-dimensional images generated by remote sensors.
The chapter covers the details of instruments that generate
two-dimensional images, including cameras, multispectral sen-
sors, and imaging radar. In this chapter, the most fascinating
section would be “General image attributes: The Four Rs.” The
author explains the imagery attributes in great detail because
“
an understanding of four attributes of images allows practi-
tioners to evaluate different types of remote sensing images for
many applications regardless of the sensor technology used to
produce them
.” The four Rs are the characteristics of the imag-
ery resolution. They all exist in our daily practice when we, as
geospatial professionals, produce imagery or use it in our GIS
analysis. Accordingly, understanding these four Rs and apply-
ing this knowledge in our work will help us do our work efficient-
ly and deliver the best results possible to our customers.
Chapter 5, “Displaying Digital Images with GIS Software”
opens with a talk about human vision and the engineer’s abil-
ity to mimic human color perception to make color photogra-
phy, television, and remote sensing imagery. In the section
“True-color Images,” the author renders the history of “the
tristimulus theory of color vision…key to the development of
color imaging..” and reviews the theory with colorful diagrams.
He provides examples of the application in image display and
printing technology. In the section “Assigning spectral bands to
colors,” the author leads us to an even broader knowledge base
by teaching us to understand how spectral bands are assigned
to colors and how to learn to assign them in effective ways to
produce false colors to help us to gather more information in
remote processing. The section “How Software Controls Con-
trast and Brightness of Color Displays” discusses the details
and mathematics of histograms and presenting image bright-
ness. The section “Stretching the Histogram of a Single-band
Image to Enhance Contrast and Brightness” in GIS software
provides important guidelines for practitioners to understand
how to use the tools to achieve the best imagery display when
working with the imagery. The last section of the chapter intro-
duces “Pseudo Color Images” that should not be confused with
false-color images, as pointed out by the author.
Chapter 6, “Generating Three-dimensional Data with Pho-
togrammetric Measurements and Active Sensors”, introduces
the audience to another important topic regarding earth im-
agery. The author overviews the technologies that generate
three-dimensional data including photogrammetry, lidar, and
interferometric radar technology. The section “Obtaining Ver-
tical and Horizontal Positions from Aerial Photographs” in-
cludes subsections “Geometry of a Single Aerial Photography,”
“Geometry of an Overlapping Pair of Aerial Photographs,”
“Digital Surface Models and Orthophotos,” and “Incorporating
Machine Vision into Photogrammetry” which cover important
concepts, technologies, and methodologies of Photogrammetry.
The section “Obtaining Vertical and Horizontal Positions from
Lidar Sensors” presents how the lidar systems work. The last
section “Obtaining Vertical and Horizontal Positions from In-
terferometric Radar Sensors” briefly but precisely describes how
interferometric radar works to produce three-dimension data.
Chapter 7, “Image Processing,” includes a typical workflow
illustrating image processing procedures that are normally per-
formed by imager providers, image analysts and GIS software
users. The chapter provides the detailed technical knowledge and
guidelines for Imager Restoration,” “Image Rectification,” and
“Imager Enhancement.” It also discusses challenges and technolo-
gy in the “Conversion to Radiance” and “Atmospheric Correction”
in imaging processing. Toward the end of the chapter, the author
briefly prescripts “Image Processing in the Cloud” that has been
increasingly popular in the geospatial industry with advancing
internet technology. In the last section of this chapter, “Typical
Workflow for Image Processing,” a workflow chart demonstrates
the procedures used in the image processing while the summary
of each step in the flowchart is clearly stated.
Chapter 8, the final chapter, “Extracting Information from
Images” provides very important and useful guidelines for GIS
professionals to perform the tasks of imagery interpretation
and delineation using GIS software. The user will also learn
the advantages and disadvantages of automated image clas-
sification methods and how to evaluate maps generated using
these methods. In the same chapter, the author points toward
the future developments of the technology.
The book is well organized so that the user can follow along
easily. The author explains the details of each technical topic
with straightforward language and professionally. The book pro-
vides many useful examples, pictures, diagram and tables, which
makes the book easy and fun to read. Moreover, the user can
actually get hands on the GIS software and do the excises with
real data. The exercises are thoughtfully designed and the data
carefully selected. The step by step, easy follow instructions are
included in the exercise materials. These exercises help the user
to understand the book in the context of the professional industry.
The author provides detailed information in the Introduc-
tion of the book about how and where to download the 180-day
trial of ArcGIS software and associated exercise instructions
and data. The book is well written and provides very useful
guidelines for GIS professionals, as well as great resources for
students who are pursuing a geospatial career. Even if one
is already familiar with GIS software, he/she can still derive
great benefits from studying the book to get a better under-
standing of earth imagery, which should benefit them in their
daily work. My only suggestion might be that it should be more
convenient for the user if the Exercise Instructions were made
part of the book as an appendix. Regardless, it is a great book
and strongly recommended for geospatial professionals who
are working with Earth imagery and students who want to un-
derstand Earth imaging in GIS processing and analysis.
