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Book Review–Imagery and GIS: Best Practices for Extracting Information from Imagery

reviewed by Benjamin W. Heumann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. Imagery and GIS: Best Practices for Extracting Information from Imagery is a new remote sensing textbook aimed at GIS users interested in remote sensing as a data source and rather than the technical details of creating remote sensing data. In the current state of remote sensing, where data are widely accessible, and geometric and radiometric pre-processing are often automated, this book is well suited to the majority of potential remote sensing users interested in the application of remote sensing data rather than the technical processes behind remote sensing. The book is organized into 14 chapters divided into 4 sections – “Discovering Imagery,” “Using Imagery,” “Extracting Information from Imagery,” and “Managing Imagery and GIS Data,” with acronyms, glossary, references, and index at the end of the book. Each chapter is organized with bold headings with an introduction that prepares the reader for why the information in this chapter is important and concludes with a summary that specifically considers “practical considerations” that GIS professionals using remote sensing will need to anticipate. Throughout the book, there are colorful and detailed tables, charts, and pictures that support the text, along with occasional references to ArcGIS software and products. The book also contains several real-world case studies that help connect concepts with practice. Section 1 serves as an introduction to both the book, but also fundamental concepts such as types of GIS data structures, how imagery fits into GIS and the types of maps produced from imagery, the imagery workflow, and the fundamentals of remote sensing such as the electromagnetic spectrum, types of sensors, types of platforms, and characteristics of imagery in the spatial and spectral domains. This section of the book is detailed and up-to-date without being too technical or overwhelming to new students of remote sensing. I particularly like the inclusion of a dedicated section at the end of chapter 2 (Thinking About Imagery), that outlines image workflows in 4 steps helping the reader understand how the following sections support the ultimate goal of high-quality data from remote sensing. Section 1 concludes with an entire chapter dedicated to choosing the correct imagery with helpful figures and tables detailing current and future sensors and platforms. Although this list may become quickly dated, it serves as an excellent resource. Section 2, “Using Imagery” is split into two chapters. “Working With Imagery” covers data formats, visual enhancements, filters, and mosaics, and how to access imagery in ArcMap or ArcGIS Online including incorporating remote sensing into story maps. “Imagery Processing: Controlling Unwanted Variation in the Imagery” directly refers back to the imagery workflow from section 1. This chapter does a particularly good job of describing the different factors that can affect radiometric and geometric characteristics of imagery without being too technical. Readers appreciate the sources and implications of radiometric and geometric corrections without getting into the trigonometry or physics of these corrections better suited for more advanced readers and textbooks. Section 3, “Extracting Information,” is the largest section of the book covering 5 chapters and 158 pages. This section is both detailed and broad describing a wealth of techniques from conceptualizing classification schemes, digital elevation models, elements of image interpretation, data transformations, spectral pattern analysis, incorporation of ancillary geospatial data in data exploration, classifications (including object-based image analysis and machine learning) and concludes with image change analysis. While the previous sections were well structured and approachable, I found this sec-