A Personal Computer-Based Image Processing System for Earth-Science Instruction

对卫星和机载扫描仪获得的数字光谱数据进行分析，已被用于改善惠蒂尔学院地球科学本科教育。最近的技术改进现在允许使用个人计算机进行图像处理，这样就可以在电视屏幕上处理和显示数字数据，而不需要大型计算设备。由此产生的数字图像类似于非常大区域的航空照片，引起了地球科学家、土地管理者、政策制定者、社会科学家和其他人的兴趣。该系统被用作一种灵活的工具，允许学生根据自己的特殊兴趣操纵数据。开设了一门面向理科生和非理科生的遥感应用新课程，并对六门低、高年级课程的实验工作进行了修改。通过这几项改进和新举措，学生们正在学习最新的数据采集和分析技术之一，从而促进他们对区域关系、空间和时空感知的重要性以及地质学与其他学科之间联系的认识。

The analysis of digital spectral data obtained by satellite and air- borne scanners is being used to improve undergraduate education in earth science at Whittier College. Recent technological improvements now permit image processing using personal computers so that the digital data can be processed and displayed on a television screen without the need for large computing facilities. The digital images thus generated resemble aerial photographs of very large areas and are of interest to earth scientists, land managers, policy makers, social scientists, and others. The system is being used as a flexible tool which allows students to manipulate the data to suit their particular interests. A new course in the applications of remote sensing has been developed, aimed at science and non-science majors, and modifications have been made in the laboratory work of six lower- and upper-division courses. Through these several improvements and new initiatives, students are being introduced to one of the most recent techniques of data acquisition and analysis, thus faciliting their appreciation of regional relationships, of the importance of spatial and space-time perceptions, and of the connections between geology and other disciplines.