Abstract
In Canada, remote sensing activities have traditionally been oriented to resource management applications. Therefore, information technology developed prior to the late 1980s emphasized effective use of earth observation data for natural resource management. More recently, the increasing interest in regional and global environmental issues has led to a growing demand for accurate, timely, and objective information on the environment. Space observations will be a key data source for this purpose, and much of the technology and applications development carried out for resource management will also be of value for environmental change monitoring and assessment. Because of the special characteristics of satellite data (high volume, multiple sources, complex preprocessing requirements), these data will also strongly influence the characteristics of the information systems developed to deal with environmental information. As a national agency responsible for the reception and archiving of satellite data and for applied research in environmental applications, Canada Centre for Remote Sensing has been actively involved in the development of technology and systems required by the users of satellite data. The purpose of this paper is to outline the philosophy and basic approach to the development of earth observation data handling systems in Canada, to review systems and technology developed so far, and to discuss requirements for future developments.