Name : Dian Candra Title : Remote Sensing Usage for Land Cover Research

Remote sensing can be used as a method to collect the information for a research. Remote sensors collect data by detecting the energy that is reflected from Earth. These sensors can be on satellites or mounted on aircraft. Remote sensing can be used in a coastal research (for example: monitoring shoreline change), ocean research (for example: measuring wave height), hazard assessment (for example: earthquake and flooding) and natural resource management (for example: chart wildlife habitats). The one of problem that I want to solve by using remote sensing is how to monitoring land cover. Knowing about land cover is important for a civil engineer because it can used as a base knowledge for urban planning and urban development. Land cover is quite different from the land use term. Land cover refers to the surface cover on the ground, whether vegetation, urban infrastructure, water, bare soil or other. Identifying, delineating and mapping land cover is important for global monitoring studies, resource management, and planning activities. On the other hand, land use refers to the purpose the land serves, for example, recreation, wildlife habitat, or agriculture.The properties measured with remote sensing techniques relate to land cover, from which land use can be inferred, particularly with ancillary data or a priori knowledge. There are many various satellite imagery that can be used for land cover research. For example ASTER, Ikonos, Quickbird, MODIS, Landsat, SRTM and Orbview. Landsat 8 is one of satellite that can be used by public for free. Landsat 8 is an American Earth observation satellite, a collaboration between NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS). NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provided development, mission systems engineering, and acquisition of the launch vehicle while the USGS provided for development of the ground systems and will conduct on-going mission operations.