Design and methodology for a remote sensing course

Remote sensing offers Geographic Information Systems specialists the possibility of integrating useful and powerful information into their analyses. As at least a basic knowledge of remote sensing principles and methodologies are desirable for anyone working in the geospatial industry, we include this competence as a mandatory subject in the curricula of our online master’s degree in GIS analysis. The topics of this remote sensing course have been selected based on our experience in the sector, but also with the support of tools like the body of knowledge developed by the GI2NK and EO4GEO projects. These applications can be very useful for anyone starting with the creation of new courses, as they take into consideration the recommendations of experts related to different sectors: from university to private companies, and also from the public sector. The course is fundamentally based on practical work, but since it is introductory and most of the students are not familiar with the principles of remote sensing, it is essential for them to start understanding basic concepts such as electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic spectrum, spectral signature, bands, etc. After that, they are prepared to start searching the best images for a specific project, perform image enhancements and corrections, compute indices and apply supervised and unsupervised classifications. During the course, students are encouraged to use open-source software to develop the mandatory activities and the optional ones. Most of the tutorials are based on QuantumGIS and some of its main extensions to work with raster data and remote sensing images, but there are also tutorials based on GRASS Gis and SNAP. Nevertheless, students have total freedom to choose any available software (open-source or not) to perform the mandatory activities, and the tutor is open to resolving doubts about them. Finally, the module is designed to practice with Copernicus and Landsat images. The use of these free catalogues offers the possibility to analyse phenomena from all over the world without cost, and it empowers students to carry out their own projects more economically. Also, the historical series of Landsat Images is very useful to evaluate changes over long periods of time