An assessment of the merits of remote sensing techniques for environmental mapping: A case study from Kerala

For a proper analysis of any ecosystem and the assessment of environment impact on it, the bearing of data on distribution properties and characteristics of land-form, water, vegetation, soil and rock and even of the typology of cultural pattern are to be evaluated on the basis of the everchanging anthropogenic involvement. The extent to which the techniques of Remote Sensing alone could attain this is yet to be ascertained. The direct method for this would be to conduct the resource surveys of specific regions exclusively and separately by remote sensing as well as by field-studies and then compare the results. An extract of a major study pursued in this line in the Coastal Zone of Kerala, India has indicated an authenticity of about seventy percent through remote sensing. Weighing on the comparative time factor involved, the procedure of mapping through remore sensing alone may be advocated.