Introduction to this Special Issue on
Geostatistics and Scaling of
Remote Sensing and Spatial Data
The germination of this special PE&RS issue began at the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) (RGS-IBG) annual meeting in January, 1997 held at the University of Exeter in Exeter, England. The cold and snow of an England winter were greatly tempered by the friendly and cordial discussions that ensued at the meeting on possible ways to foster both dialog and research across "the Big Pond" between geographers in the U.S. and the U.K. on the use of geostatistics and geospatial techniques for remote sensing of land surface processes. It was decided that one way to stimulate and enhance cooperation on the application of geostatistics and geospatial methods in remote sensing was to hold parallel sessions on these topics at appropriate meeting venues in 1998 in both the U.S. and the U.K. Selected papers given at these sessions would be published as a special issue of PE&RS on the U.S. side, and as a special iss~ie of Computers and Geosciences (C&G) on the U.K. side, to highlight the commonality in research on geostatistics and geospatial methods in remote sensing and spatial data analysis on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. As a consequence, a session on "Geostatistics and Geospatial Techniques for Remote Sensing of Land Surface Processes" was held at the Association of American Geographers (AAG) annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts in March, 1998, sponsored by the AAG’s Remote Sensing Specialty Group (RSSG). A similar session was held at the RGS-IBG annual meeting in Guildford, Surrey, England in January 1998, organized by the Modeling and Advanced Techniques Special Interest Group (MAT SIC) of the Remote Sensing Society (RSS).
The six papers that in part, comprise this issue of PE&RS, are the U.S. complement to such a dual journal publication effort. Both of us are co-editors of each of the journal special issues, with the lead editor of each journal being from their respective side of the Atlantic where the journals are published. The special issue of CB-G that constitutes the other half of this co-edited journal series will be published in early 1999, with 3 papers by U.S. authors being published along with 6 papers authored by individuals from the U.K. and other places in Europe.
Both of us are indebted to the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing for allowing us to use PE&RS as a vehicle to convey how geostatistics and geospatial techniques can be used to measure and analyze remote sensing and other types of spatial data. We see this special issue of PE&RS, and its complementary issue of C&G, as a testament to the vitality and interest in the application of geostatistics and geospatial techniques to remote sensing and other spatial data. We also see these special journal issues as a beginning of fruitful, and hopefully long-term relationship, between American and British geographers and other researchers interested in the geostatistical analysis of remote sensing and spatial data.
DALE A. QUATTROCHI
NASA
Global Hydrology and Climate Center
HR2O
Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama 35812
dale.quattrochi@msfc.nasa.gov
PETER M. ATKINSON
Department of Geography
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton S017 1BJ
United Kingdom
pma@soton.ac.uk
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