Abstract
Remote sensing has traditionally been the province of Earth scientists and the national security community. Early civilian satellite instruments were designed largely to meet the needs of weather forecasting, earth systems science and natural resource management. Social science applications were, generally speaking, not even considered. However, since the late 1980s, this began to change as a number of social scientists began to apply remote sensing imagery to understand the underlying social processes behind diverse phenomena such as deforestation, desertification, and urbanization. Since that time there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity and breadth of research that can be broadly categorized under the umbrella of “social science,” with newer applications in the fields of archaeology, demography, and human health and epidemiology. Chapter 3 of this guide provides an introduction to remote sensing for non-technical audiences. Chapter 4 addresses fundamental issues in the application of remote sensing to social science research questions. Finally, Chapter 5 provides examples of social science applications in six different fields, and Chapter 6 provides a table listing the characteristics of major sensors.