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

通过卫星和机载扫描仪获得的数字光谱数据的分析正被用于改进惠蒂尔学院的地球科学本科教育。最近的技术改进现在允许使用个人计算机进行图像处理，从而可以在不需要大型计算设施的情况下在电视屏幕上处理和显示数字数据。由此产生的数字图像类似于非常大范围的航空照片，地球科学家、土地管理者、政策制定者、社会科学家和其他人都对此感兴趣。该系统被用作一种灵活的工具，允许学生操作数据以满足他们的特殊兴趣。开发了一门新的遥感应用课程，面向理科和非理科专业，并对6门下级和上级课程的实验室工作进行了修改。通过这几项改进和新举措，正在向学生介绍一种最新的数据获取和分析技术，从而有助于他们了解区域关系、空间和时空观念的重要性以及地质学和其他学科之间的联系。

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.