So far, we have mostly talked about Remote Sensing in combination with physical Geography. Especially in the practicals, we mostly looked at landscape types and other aspects, that were part of the physical Geography spectrum. I told my Erasmus Geography friends, who only do Human Geography about remote sensing and they were said that they have heard of it, so I was wondering how much remote sensing can actually be used in Human Geography. I was browsing through the internet, looking for some interesting articles, I stumbled upon a very interesting way of using remote sensing in Greece. During Greece’s hard times close to bankruptcy, the tax authorities used remote sensing to catch tax evaders. Thanks to the satellites, they found out that in Athens there were over 16,000 private swimming pools, out of which only 324 were reported. The government figured out the amount of tax evaders and rich people pretending they have less wealth and income than they do (Doctorow, 2010).
Talking about problems in cities, Remote Sensing can also prove quite useful for urban issues. Transport problems has been proven as one of the biggest problems, especially in times of big population growth. Remote Sensing is able to efficiently manage the transportation problems as well as urban growth and further developments, such as pollution, water and waste management. Another popular topic is the urban heat and climate change. Remote Sensing enables people to visualize things better and get them under control more easily (Mdpi.com).
One final, interesting thing I found was created by the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), who wanted to offer refugee services in Tongo. They were using satellite images to look at the refugee camps and find displaced refugees (Tremeau 2018). To achieve that, they mapped the influx of refugees, infrastructure as well as waterways, which enabled them to offer better help in the places where it was most necessary (Remote Sensing applications, 2014).
Sources:
Doctorow, C. (2010) Satellite photos catch Greek tax-evaders, (available at https://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/satellite-photos-cat.html)
100 Earth Shattering Remote Sensing Applications & Uses (2014) (available at: https://gisgeography.com/100-earth-remote-sensing-applications-uses/)
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing/sections/urban_remote_sensing (accessed at 06.11.2019)
Tremeau, V. (2018) Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2018 (available at https://www.unhcr.org/5d08d7ee7.pdf)
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