GIS and Remote Sensing Final exam Answer key

1. GIS (Geographic Information System) is a system for:

 Capturing, managing, manipulating, displaying and analyzing spatial data. Or

GIS is a computer based system that provides:

 Data capture and preparation
 Data management, including storage and maintenance
 Data manipulation and analysis
 Data presentation where as
Remote sensing is the technique of deriving information about an objects, areas or
phenomenon on the surface of the earth without physically coming into contact
with them.
Remote Sensing is a technology for sampling electromagnetic radiation to acquire
and interpret non-immediate geospatial data from which to extract information
about features, objects, and classes on the Earth's land surface, oceans, and
atmosphere.
Application of GIS and RS in water resource application
 Site Suitability for Waste Treatment Plant
 Pipeline Route Selection
 Irrigation water management
 Surface water irrigation potential
2. a. Passive sensors measure reflected solar or terrestrial radiation and they have no
their own source of energy. E.g. camera without flash light, Landsat TM etc
Whereas Active sensors are instruments that emit EM radiation and then detect the
radiation returning from the target object or surface. They have their own source of
energy. E.g. A camera with a flash unit, Laser, Radar.

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b. Remote sensor is a device that detects EM radiation, quantifies it and, usually
records it
in an analogue or digital form. Light is Electromagnetic (EM) radiation. It Can be
modeled in 2 ways:
• by waves
• by photons (energy bearing particles)

c. Polar orbiting satellite

 polar orbit has an inclination of 90 degree they run North to South
 Considered Low Earth Orbiters (LEO), which orbit the Earth at an altitude of
approximately 600 km and 1000 km.
 Many of these satellite orbits are also sun-synchronous such that they cover each
area of the world at a constant local time.

Geostationary Satellite

 Satellites at very high altitudes (36,000km), which view the same portion of
the Earth's surface at all times have geostationary orbits
 Geostationary satellite turns with the Earth and remains over the same fixed
point of the planet at all times.
 Allows the satellites a full-disc view at a stationary position.
 Weather and communications satellites commonly have these types of
orbits.

d. Waves travel with speed of light:

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The photons EM energies which are proportional to the frequency. The energy
carried by a single photon of light is just sufficient to excite a single molecule of a
photosensitive cell of the human eye, thus contributing to vision.

e. Swath width and revisit time

Swath width is the width of the survey area covered by a complete sweep of the
scanner. This is related to flying height, and scanner half angle.
The satellite revisit time is the time elapsed between observations of the same
point on earth by a satellite. It depends on the satellite's orbit, target location, and
swath of the sensor. "Revisit" is related to the same ground trace; a projection on
to the earth of the satellite's orbit

f. Spectral resolution: The size and number of wavelengths, intervals, or divisions

of spectrum that a system is able to detect.
Fine spectral resolution=large number of similarly sized wavelengths can be
resolved.

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 Radiometric resolution: Is a detector’s ability to distinguish differences in the
strength of emitted or reflected electromagnetic radiation
• High radiometric resolution allows for the distinction between subtle differences
in signal strength

3. Landsat scene Id = “LC81700512017008LGN00”

File date = 2017-05
Space craft Id = Landsat 8
WRS path = 170
WRS Row = 51
Station Id = LGN
The true color combinations are:
Red (R) = Band4
Green (G) = Band3
Blue (B) = Band2
4. a. The geographic coordinate is the most widely used global coordinate system:
latitude (phi or ) and longitude (lambda or ).
 Lines of equal latitude are called parallels. They form circles on the surface of
the ellipsoid.
 Lines of equal longitude are called meridians. They form ellipses (meridian
ellipses) on the ellipsoid.
• Both lines form the graticule when projected onto a map plane.
Projected coordinate system is

A projected coordinate system is defined on a flat, two-dimensional surface.

Unlike a geographic coordinate system, a projected coordinate system has constant
lengths, angles, and areas across the two dimensions. A projected coordinate

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system is always based on a geographic coordinate system that is based on a sphere
or spheroid.

In a projected coordinate system, locations are identified by x,y coordinates on a

grid, with the origin at the center of the grid. Each position has two values that
reference it to that central location. One specifies its horizontal position and the
other its vertical position. The two values are called the x-coordinate and y-
coordinate. Using this notation, the coordinates at the origin are x = 0 and y = 0.

b. Cartesian coordinates (x, y), also known as planar rectangular coordinates, are
used to describe the location of any point in a map plane, unambiguously. The 2D
Cartesian coordinate system is a system of intersecting perpendicular lines, which
contains two principal axes, called the X- and Y-axis. The horizontal axis is usually
referred to as the X axis and the vertical the Y-axis (note that the X-axis is also
sometimes called Easting and the Y-axis the Northing).

Whereas geocentric coordinate system an alternative method of defining a 3D

position on the surface of the Earth (x,y,z), also known as 3D Cartesian
coordinates. The system has its origin at the mass-center of the Earth with the X-
and Y-axes in the plane of the equator.

5. Data capturing and preparation:

surveying, photogrammetry, remote sensing and the process of digitizing
(Conversion of analogue data to digital representation). Some of the data
preparation operation are:
 Data format transformation function
 Geometric transformation
 Map projection (FLAT surface)
 Merging (joining two or more maps) etc.
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 Data storage and maintenance:
 Storing data properly and understanding the data
 Raster data and vector data format
 Attaching a data base
Data manipulation and analysis
 Computation from the existing, stored spatial data
 Overlaying function ( to do pixel by pixel calculation, to find intersection,
unions, etc
 Neighborhood functions to find the nearby features, interpolation, etc
Data presentation
 Presentation in screen / print. E.g. Map Title, Map Legend, Scale indicator,
North arrow, Map datum, Map projection, and Bibliographic information/data.
Or

6. Conformal Projection
Angles and (small) shapes are correctly represented. i.e. can preserve local shape
Has drawback in that the area enclosed by a series of arcs may be greatly
distorted in the process.
No map projection can preserve shapes of larger regions.

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 Equal-area /Equivalent Projection
Areas are correctly represented, i.e. it preserve the area features.
Other properties shape, angle, and scale are distorted are distorted.
For smaller regions no visible effect.
Equidistant Projection
Distances from 1 or 2 points or along certain lines are correctly represented, i.e
preserve the distances between certain points.
Scale is not maintained correctly by any projection throughout an entire map.
However, there are in most cases one or more lines on a map along which scale
is maintained correctly.

7. 1. Energy Source or Illumination (A): it is the source of the energy for the sensor
2. Radiation and the Atmosphere (B): Is Energy that is radiated or transmitted in
the form of rays or waves or particles.
3. Interaction with the Object (C): the transfer of energy between the sensor and
the object.
4. Recording of Energy by the Sensor (D): recording the observations on a
suitable medium
(images on photographic films and videotapes or digital data on
magnetic tapes).
5. Transmission, Reception and Processing (E): The act of sending, receiving
and processing a message; or causing a message to be transmitted from the sensor
to receiver.
6. Interpretation and Analysis (F): A mental representation of the meaning or
significance of the message received from remote sensor.
7. Application (G): The act of using
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8. Raster calculation
9. Matching
Column 1 Column 2
G, O Raster A River
L, S Polygon B Concentration of soil
pollution
K, A Line C Soil sample location
B, D IDW D Sea surface temperature
C, E Point E Meteorological station
Q, N Vector F Depressions
J, R DEM G Temperature
M, P Resolution H Contours
F, Fill sink I Continuous values
H,I Isolines J Raster
K Roads
L Buildings
M Cell size
N Geographic objects
O Continuous surface
P Parcel in a cadastral system
Q Discrete field
R Altitude
S Area affected by a fire

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