ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS IN LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY-A REVIEW

摘要

Soil and water are important natural resources needed for the sustained quality of human life and the foundation of agricultural development. Efficient management of these natural resources is the major challenge for the agricultural scientists, planners, administrators and farmers to ensure food, water and also environmental security for the present and future generations. Soil is the essence of life. An intimate knowledge on their characteristics, classification, location, extent and distribution,potentials and problems is a prerequisite for developing rational land use planning. Soil resource inventory provides an insight into the potentialities and limitation of soil for its effective exploitation. Modern tools such as satellite Remote Sensing,Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) have been providing newer dimensions to monitor and manage soil resources for their effective utilization. Especially remote sensing techniques have reduced our field work to a considerable extent and soil boundaries are more precisely delineated than in conventional methods. Hence it is a highly proven technology that is effective for mapping and characterizing land resources.