Customer Reviews

Datums and Map Projections for Remote Sensing, Gis and Surveying

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Just enough math to let the user know what is at work. Good for beginners in spatial data and can then move into authors like Tobler. Chapter 5 is an excellent primer of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and discusses the importance in defining datums. All the case studies are located in the UK but can easily be applied to any location.

This book gives you just enough information to teach yourself basic projection transforms and the nuts and bolts of how they work.

The information in this book can be found in more technical books on remote sensing, but the information is usually spread over the entire text, is not clear or thorough in the explanations, and brushes over details or makes vague insinuations in situations where how to proceed in the cases of incomplete information needs to be clarified.

This is a new book for a new age - the age of the non-scientist having access to and working with GIS data. Therefore the author does not presume you are a scientist and starts at the beginning with a discussion of coordinate systems and the transformations between them. When the book shows examples, it shows them complete with calculations that include actual numbers, not just mathematical symbology, although that is there too. The book also includes several case studies - with calculations and complete explanations such as:

1. Georeferencing an image with ground control points from two different sources.

2. Combining digital map data with information that comes from two different organizations.

3. Performing a survey with a high-resolution GPS and bringing it into harmony with an existing mapping in a local coordinate system.

4. Navigating a craft with data that comes from one system while using charts that come from another.

It would be helpful to already be aware of the definitions of certain terms, although there is a very good discussion of GPS in this book. However, you really need no formal mathematical training other than having an aptitude for geometry and visualizing information. If you don't have that no book will probably be able to help you with this material.

The author has provided us with a very good book that introduces many concepts in remote sensing and GIS related to datums and map projections. The book is a great reference too.