Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 19
Conclusions and Future Outlook
This concluding chapter summarizes the material covered in the topic and comments
on how the topic has achieved its stated objectives. We also give some personal
reflections on how we see geospatial analysis developing over the coming years in
light of new Earth observation sensors and new open source technologies.
This topic introduces readers to a set of free open source software packages that
can be used for geospatial analysis and remote sensing. A key challenge for such
a text is to ensure that readers with limited experience of the command line can
become sufficiently versed with the tools to enable them to integrate the tools into
their day-to-day workflows to complement their analysis. At the same time, the topic
aims to retain the interest of the more experienced command line geospatial analysts
through the integration of the documentation and comprehensive treatment of the
individual tools supported by code snippets.
A second challenge of the topic relates to the content and depth of explanation
necessary for different subject areas. In general, we sought to provide the maximum
explanation and detail that pertained to a tool. We focused on tools related to digital
image processing and Earth observation rather than Web services, spatial modeling
and map/graphics production.
One of the distinct advantages of free open source software is that it is under con-
tinual development and improvement. The online fora and mailing lists are extremely
active and users are frequently discussing newapplications and developments of these
libraries as well as identifying and fixing bugs. This continuous change presents some
challenges for the topic in terms of its currency, in particular when new versions of
the software packages and libraries are released. It is inevitable that new commands
and options will be added to the tools, but we fully anticipate that the core contentions
of the topic will hold notwithstanding any updates subsequent to its going to press.
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