PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
September 2018
533
BOOK
REVIEW
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing:
Fundamentals and Practices
Ruiliang Pu
CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, Florida. 2017. xxiv
and 466 pp, diagrams, images, tables, index. Paperback. ISBN
978-1-138-74717-3. $75.96.
Reviewed by
Stewart Walker, Sole Proprietor,
Photogrammetry4u, San Diego, California.
Dr. Ruiliang Pu, an associate professor with the School of Geo-
sciences, University of South Florida (USF), has produced an
important volume on hyperspectral remote sensing, covering
both theoretical aspects and applications based on data ac-
quired from satellites and aircraft.
The structure of the book is straightforward. After a short
introduction to imaging spectroscopy, hyperspectral remote
sensing, and its applications, for which 182 references are giv-
en - readers are provided with copious links to the literature
on every page - there are two chapters on hardware. Chapter 2
covers field spectrometers and plant biology instruments and
chapter 3, imaging spectrometers, sensors, systems, and mis-
sions, including both airborne and spaceborne, though there is
nothing about drones or the hyperspectral sensors that have
been developed in recent years to address this emerging mar-
ket. Inevitably, some of the sub-sections read like marketing
pieces from the manufacturers and there is space only to intro-
duce components of some of the systems without detailed ex-
planations. The next three chapters are on software. Chapter
4 is a welcome collation of material on radiometric correction.
Most of the well-known techniques and software products for
atmospheric correction are discussed, though your reviewer
could not find reference to QUAC until later in the book. Some
simple numerical examples would bring great didactic value to
this section. Chapter 5 is key, a presentation of data analysis
techniques. At 64 pages, it is hardly superficial, but numerical
examples would add clarity and some readers may want a sec-
ond text on the bookshelf, albeit one covering the multispec-
tral too, such as Morton Canty’s
Image Analysis, Classification
and Change Detection in Remote Sensing: With Algorithms
for ENVI/IDL and Python
. Perhaps more useful here would
be a survey of readily available spectral libraries, especially,
those mentioned elsewhere in the book, or short remarks on
methods of accuracy assessment of image classification. Chap-
ter 6, however, offers readers an overview of data processing
software, describing five leading commercial packages and a
dozen less familiar ones, some in the public domain. This is
a brave venture, because software packages continuously ap-
pear in new releases and versions, so the author can describe
only those he has used or researched. He rightly eschews a
rigorous comparison of the functionality of the packages - your
reviewer tried this in a previous life and ended up with an
enormous spreadsheet and scant wisdom!
His explanations of image acquisition and processing com-
plete, the author progresses to applications. There are three
substantial, authoritative chapters, around fifty pages each,
focused on geology and soil sciences; vegetation; and envi-
ronments. He begins chapters with explanations in physical
terms of the absorptions and spectral signatures that many of
the materials he covers should generate. The final chapter was
slightly disappointing, in that there was little on manmade
features – just a couple of pages on mine wastes and tailings,
and seven on urban environments. In a book as comprehen-
sive as this, surely these topics deserve more attention? Ar-
chaeological sites and impervious surfaces, for example, are
intriguing topics in themselves.
All chapters end with lengthy lists of references that are cit-
ed and woven into the exposition. The book ends with a handy
index.
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing: Fundamentals and Practices
book is likely to prove valuable to upperclassmen, graduate
students, and practitioners. It covers the field in depth and
draws heavily on extensive literature. It is well produced,
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 84, No. 9, September 2018, pp. 533–534.
0099-1112/18/533–534
© 2018 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.84.9.533
