scope:

Remote Sensing of Human Settlements assumes a human settlement to be an ecosystem, where humans and the natural environment are interacting, from the smallest village to the complex metropolis. Section I begins with historical highlights of mapping settlements, remotely, from the 19^th century to the present, then presents basic theory regarding visible, microwave, and thermal principles, discusses methods of characterizing human settlements, image processing methods, and information extraction techniques. Section II presents thematic applications in population estimates, human health, hazards to settlements, archaeology, and the dynamics of human settlements through various techniques. Finally, Section III presents selected forward-looking thematic challenges to the remote sensing community, along with a listing of the latest and forthcoming instruments.