UNESCOS Remote Sensing
activities - towards the operational use of Remote Sensing
Kumon Tokumaru, R.
Missotten, V. Moustafaev and M. Hashizume United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 1. General UNESCO is engaged in outer space activities related to Remote Sensing, communication and basic space science. In preparation of the International Space Year, UNESCO took an important step by becoming an affiliated member of SAFISY (Space Agencies forum for the International Space year) with a view to strengthening its Remote Sensing activities for the promotion of international cooperation. Some of the organization’s Remote Sensing activities in the field of training and research support are as follows :
Mongolia is a large country. Its territory stretches 2,400 km from west to east and 1,260 km from north to south. It has 220 – 260 sunny and clear days per year. Since it has immense need for its natural resources management and the demand for economic development is quite urgent, remote sensing data should be identified as a main input data. In this context, the Remote Sensing Centre of the Mongolian Academy of Science was developed in the framework of the UNDP/UNESCO MON/88/010 project (1989-1991). It is equipped with PC based modern data project processing facility to handle various types of Remote Sensing data. the personnel was trained at the ITC, 1989-1990 : one technician in the Post Graduate Course in Land information System and two others in the post Graduate Course in Digital Image Processing and Pattern Recognition. The centre has obtained satellite, airborne and ground measurements suitable for undertaking a range of projects of direct relevance to the Mongolian environment and economy. 3. Importance of National Data Archive Computing power of personal computer has tremendously increased in these ten years. PC based technology can perform sophisticated and voluminous calculation. Now we can perform registration and geo-correction tasks with PCs. Through these operation, we can utilize different sensors data sets and/or different acquisition timing data sets registered to single coordinate system. All data, varying from Landsat – MSS/TM, SPOT-XS/P, ERS-1/SAR, JERS-1/SAR, OPS, MOS-1, to IRS can be treated as if they all have same grid system. This time-sequential multiple data sets analysis could become much easier. Using PC based technology and multi-sensor/multi-spectral/multi-temporal data sets, we can obtain several merits such as :
Remote Sensing data accumulated since 1972 exist at the digital tape archives of world ground stations. However, data have not been well utilized. Data should be transferred, archived and conserved at national level. 4. Support to National Satellite Data Centres As there is a very high demand for the use of Remote Sensing technology in developing countries but is constrained by limited access to data and insufficient human resource training. Many countries have expressed support for the project proposed by the UN office of Outer SpaceAffairs (UN-OOSA) to establish Centres for space science and Technology Education, regional training institutes for Remote Sensing application. As one of the specialized agencies devoted to Remote Sensing application, UNESCO further strengthened its cooperation with UN-OOSA in the transfer knowledge and technology to Member States, inter alia, in the implementation of the recommendations made by the Second United Nations Conference on Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Spaces (UNISPACE-82). In response to the increased demand for the operational use of Remote Sensing technology for earth sciences and the environment, UNESCO continues to have discussions with international earth scientists. Through the discussions, it is noted that an infrastructure for the operational use of Remote Sensing at national level is commonly awaited by international Remote Sensing users community. It should be a type of national specialized data library which makes available to application specialists his country’s historical and contemporary satellite data. Tentatively it is designated as a "Satellite Data Centre (SDC)". UNESCO recognizes that SDC initiatives would be complementary to UN-OOSA’s project of creating regional Centres, because after undergoing training in these centres, data processing specialists could apply their knowledge in local SDCs by improving and reinforcing their country’s existing Remote Sensing data analysis for sustainable socio-economic development. Therefore, as s specialized agency in UN systems, UNESCO is willing to support this idea as much as possible within the scope of its mandate. SDC with its available satellite data and analysis capability, is suitable for countries which have no direct receiving stations for Landsat / SPOT type Remote Sensing satellite systems and no national satellite data archive system. In the first phase, SDC may have a national vocation, but at a later stage, regional contacts will be reinforced through networking and interaction with other initiatives. The SDC will provide, at a national level, the necessary infrastructure for efficient and cost-effective use of Remote Sensing information. It will create a specialized data library based on the already archived satellite data as well as on new acquisitions for different national and international space agencies. Three essential elements will be provided by the created SDC in order to effectively and efficiently utilize such as information, namely;
5. Legal Status of Satellite Data In the process of obtaining old and new data and of establishing a national multi-purpose-use archive for resource management and national development projects, some legal issues concerning the intellectual property of satellite data could emerge. 3) In UNESCO, the copyright Division, inc charge of administering the Universal Copyright Convention, adopted at Geneva in 1952, is analyzing these issues in consultation with space agencies that operate Remote Sensing sensors. References:
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